US Department of Labor announces $11.7M in funding for workplace safety, health hazards training

Posted on June 26th, 2022.

The U.S. Department of Labor has announced $11.7 million in Susan Harwood Training Grants to support training and education for workers and employers. The goal is to help identify and prevent workplace safety and health hazards.

Administered by the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the grants will target disadvantaged, underserved, low-income and other hard-to-reach, at-risk workers and employers. The grants are available to nonprofit organizations, including community-based, faith-based, grassroots organizations, employer associations, labor unions, joint labor/management associations, Indian tribes and public colleges and universities.

Applicants may apply in the following categories:

• Targeted Topic Training: support educational programs that identify and prevent workplace hazards and require applicants to conduct training on OSHA-designated workplace safety and health hazards;
• Training and Educational Materials Development: support the development of quality classroom-ready training and educational materials that identify and prevent workplace hazards; and,
• Capacity Building: allow organizations to develop a new training program to assess needs and formulate a plan for moving forward to a full-scale safety and health education program, expanding their capacity to provide occupational safety and health training, education and related assistance to workers and employers.

Those interested should submit applications by August 1. Applicants must register at www.grants.gov and the System of Award Management to apply.

The department says the grants honor the legacy and work of Dr. Susan Harwood who developed workplace safety guidelines for benzene, formaldehyde, bloodborne pathogens and lead in the construction industry. Harwood was also the primary author of OSHA's cotton dust standard, which virtually eliminated byssinosis, a lung disease that causes asthma-like symptoms among textile workers.

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