Hazardous Materials Worker Health and Safety Training (U45) Cooperative Agreement

ABSTRACTThe Texas-Utah Consortium will address an immediate and critical need to prevent or reduceoccupational exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Composed of dedicated experts in medicine, publichealth, industrial hygiene, epidemiology and education, the Texas-Utah Consortium advances theNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Worker Training Program's objective to reduce work-related harm and improve disaster preparedness and response.The Texas-Utah Consortium serves as a resource for workers, responders, and residents across thecountry with a targeted focus on the population of United States Department of Health and HumanServices Public Health Regions 5, 6, and 8. In this supplemental application, the Consortium proposes toreduce and prevent occupational exposures to COVID-19 in workers responding to the pandemic and inworkers returning to the physical worksite. The Consortium will accomplish this by creating a portfolio ofonline training courses that are practical, specific, rooted in sound public health principles, and basedon current scientific knowledge relating to COVID-19. The Consortium places special emphasis ontraining workers in the essential services that are critical to maintaining the nation's infrastructure.Additionally, this training is responsive to the changing needs of employees returning to the physicalworksite. Consortium experts will work with instructional developers to adjust current curricula andcreate new course content in response to current crisis standards and stockpile shortages.Building on past successes and using evidence-based teaching techniques, the Consortium projectstraining about 500 workers within a 10-week project period. The public health impact of the Texas-UtahConsortium is a knowledgeable workforce and community with the skills and confidence to recognize andmitigate COVID-19 exposures in the workplace.