NPETE's Community College Consortium for Health & Safety

The National Partnership for Environmental Technology Education, ME submits this proposal on behalf of the Community College Consortium for Health and Safety Training (CCCHST) to provide convenient, memorable, and cost-effective training for hazardous materials and waste workers engaged in waste treatment, storage and disposal, hazardous waste generation, clean up and remedial action, emergency response and hazardous materials transportation. CCCHST membership consists of community colleges partnered with business and industry, universities, and CBOs offering a consistent and quality response to the national training need for hazardous waste workers and emergency response personnel. In 2024, CCCHST included 119 organizations employing 178 instructors located in 29 states and two U.S. territories. The goal of CCCHST is to make NIEHS-approved worker training nationally available through over 100 CCCHST organizations, whose instructors are prepared through a Train-the-Trainer model program, offering hazardous materials instruction in nearly all states of the nation. CCCHST instructors, prepared by PETE, will annually train a minimum 30,000 students, workers, and supervisors to protect themselves and their communities from exposure to hazardous materials encountered during hazardous waste site cleanup, Brownfields redevelopment, transportation of hazardous materials, and response to spills and releases of hazardous materials, offering a minimum 300,000 contact hours of instruction each year. Each year, PETE and Eastern Iowa Community Colleges (EICC), or another qualified CCCHST member, will provide an intensive 5.5-day, hands-on Great Environmental Safety Trainers (GreatEST) Train-the-Trainer Institute for up to 20 instructors entering membership in CCCHST, supplemented with Internet-supported instructor training featuring a virtual waste site, and an optional 2.5-day, hands-on Industrial Spill Response Train-the-Trainer. Annually, Refresher/Stayfresher training will be provided for all CCCHST instructors with 50 members supported with travel funds to attend the annual 2.5-day Refresher Conference. PETE will also provide direct worker training for a minimum 600 Total Military Family personnel at three (3) bases including Fort Riley (KS), Fort Sill (OK), Fort Carson (CO), and via Zoom nationally and internationally for Veterans, soon-to-retire military personnel or family members who need OSHA certifications to enhance employment opportunities. PETE and partner, Home Builders Institute, will track veterans’ career paths. PETE’s responsibilities include instructor recruitment; instructor authorization through Train-the- Trainer Institutes and Refresher courses; military training, curriculum development; site visits for quality assurance purposes; reporting numbers of students trained; website communication; working with the Advisory Board and external evaluator to determine program effectiveness; and collaborating with NIEHS and other NIEHS consortia to accomplish mutual goals and objectives.