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 The environmental industry has recently launched a Management-Labor Safety & Compliance Training Program designed to raise standards throughout the environmental construction industry. The program is designed to protect the public and ensure worker safety and regulation compliance during the abatement of toxic materials and to raise standards throughout the environmental construction industry. Following the announcement of the industry's new Safety & Compliance Program (Program), the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) have both offered their assistance and participation.
The Program elements are simple: 1) Safety 2) Compliance and 3) Cooperation. Training has already begun for company supervisors, foremen, handlers and union shop stewards to ensure their full understanding of DEP regulations, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements and OSHA standards. Contractors are expected to strive for state-of-the-art safety practices, and all foremen, shop stewards, and supervisors consistently monitor all work practices within the work area. Program enforcement is simple: those who ignore or evade their obligations are sanctioned; and those who achieve full compliance are rewarded.
The Program details responsibilities of both management and labor professionals, and is designed to provide improved training and education for all levels of the environmental industry and, ultimately, to provide new jobs for ECA contractors. Management and labor continue to jointly train the environmental contracting workforce—both shop stewards and superintendents and the result has been new industry-wide standards and increased worker awareness. The training aims to raise the bar on safety standards and regulation compliance and to develop the most qualified labor workforce through safety innovation and superior training. Courses are offered in English with translation to Spanish, Polish and Russian.
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