Tools for Trainers and Organizers

National COSH Materials:

• Introduction to Worker Health and Safety for English Speakers of Other Language Classes: A guide to providing individuals with limited English proficiency basic information about workplace dangers and rights under OSHA, with a focus on chemical exposure - while providing them with an opportunity to learn vocabulary and develop their English competency.

• Your OSHA Rights in a Nutshell: A one-page guide detailing what workers are entitled to under the OSH Act. (Also see this guide about knowing your OSHA rights.)

• The OSHA Inspection: A Step-by-Step Guide

• Whistleblower Protections: Protection from Retaliation for Reporting Safety Hazards: A guide about what to do before, during, and after filing a whistleblower complaint.

• Workplace Safety Dialogues for use in English as a Second Language classes

• Training for Youth: Recognizing and Controlling Workplace Hazards
  

For Construction Safety training materials, click here.

Other training materials on specific hazards can be found in our Hazards Information section.

Keep the Job Safe and Healthy: A Workers' Toolkit to Understanding OSHA's Legal Process. From the Occupational Safety and Health Law Project. This toolkit is a collection of information and resources that will educate workers and and their representatives about, and empower them to participate in, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) legal enforcement process when they experience on-the-job health and safety hazards.

Systems of Safety and Improving Your Workplace Violence Prevention Program. Trainings from the New Jersey Work Environment Council.

Chemical Hazards in the Workplace and Confined Spaces. Downloadable powerpoint presentation from the Rhode Island Committee.

The Day Laborers' Health and Safety Workbook and Trainer’s Companion Guide to the Day Laborers’ Health and Safety Workbook: Activities and information from New Labor and The Rutgers Occupational Training and Education Consortium.

Hazard Communication Training Guide: Developed by the CPWR, available in English and Spanish. This is a 4 hour hazard communication course that satisfies the general training requirements of OSHA’s hazard communication standard 29CFR1910.1200.

Do-it-Yourself Resources: An excellent collection of training and participatory research resources from Hazards magazine. Includes tools for doing risk mapping of the workplace, "body mapping" to identify work-related health and safety effects, and many other useful resources.

The Right To Understand: Linking Literacy to Health and Safety Training. Labor Occupational Health Program, UC-Berkeley. An excellent guide to doing low-literacy training on health and safety. Almost half of all American adults -- 90 million -- struggle with basic reading, math, and reasoning skills. This manual is designed to: Introduce health and safety trainers to the experiences and training needs of workers with limited literacy skills and to provide trainers with tools and practical tips for developing materials and programs with literacy in mind.

Health and Safety Training Kits from the Labor Occupational Health Program, UC-Berkeley. This LOHP curriculum consists of two modules: Protecting Workers from Job Hazards and How Chemicals Affect the Body. The curriculum is designed to help trainers facilitate informal classes of workers, environmental justice activists, or community residents using action-oriented, participatory methods. It is available in four languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean. Each module has lesson plans, step-by-step instructions for presenting the material, training tools, games, quizzes, and other activities. Five factsheets are also included: Identifying Job Hazards, Controlling Hazards on the Job, How Do Chemicals Get Into My Body? Workplace Chemicals and Your Health and Toxic Hazards Chart.

Labor Perspectives on Occupational Safety and Health: A Power Point presentation created for a distance learning class on occupational safety and health, by Tom O'Connor.

Confined Space Training: An awareness level "tailgate training" program produced by the New York State Bureau of Occupational Health.

Mobile Equipment Safety. A "tailgate training" program produced by the New York State Bureau of Occupational Health.

Your Health and Safety at Work: OSH Training Kits from the International Labor Organization: An excellent set of general training guides, covering a range of subjects. Available by download or paper copies can be ordered. Booklets include:

• Introduction to Occupational Health and Safety: An 18 page overview covering general background information and explaining the role of health and safety representatives in the workplace.
• Instructor's Guide to the Modules: A guide to using the workbooks including an overview of participatory training techniques such as small group activities, risk-mapping, brainstorming, etc.
• Your Body at Work:Background information on how exposure to workplace hazards can affect a worker's body and therefore his or her health. Topics discussed are: how hazardous agents can enter the body; local, systemic, acute and chronic effects; and the role of the health and safety representative in creating a safe and healthy workplace.
• Controlling Hazards: Information on various methods that can be used to control workplace hazards. Topics discussed include: eliminating hazards, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, personal protective equipment, how to choose control measures, and the role of the health and safety representative in using control methods to reduce occupational hazards.
• Chemical Hazards in the Workplace: Topics discussed include: types of chemical hazards found in the workplace, how chemicals can harm you, how to obtain and understand information about chemicals used at work, and the role of the health and safety representative in ensuring the safe use of chemicals found in the workplace.
• Noise at Work: Topics discussed include: the health effects of exposure to noise, how to measure noise, methods of noise control, and the role of the health and safety representative in controlling occupational noise.
• Legislation and Enforcement: Background information on legislation and enforcement in occupational health and safety. Legislation can include state, provincial or national legislation, or the Conventions or Recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Topics discussed include: how health and safety law is structured, common limitations of legislation and enforcement in health and safety, how unions can use health and safety legislation to make improvements in the workplace, and the role of the health and safety representative.
• Basic Information on Ergonomics. Topics discussed include information on some of the acute and chronic health problems which can result from poor ergonomic conditions at work, some basic ergonomic principles of work involving sitting, standing, and heavy manual work, ergonomic principles of tool design and job design, and the role of the health and safety representative. (Also see this fact sheet about ergonomics).
• "Mapping" Health and Safety Problems: A guide to identifying and preventing workplace injuries.
• Using Health and Safety Committees at Work: Topics discussed include: the key functions of a local union health and safety committee and of a joint labour-management health and safety committee; the importance of committee meetings, reports, training and education for committee members; collective bargaining; and principles for conducting hazard investigations at the workplace.
• Reproductive Health Hazards: Background information on how occupational hazards can affect the reproductive systems of both men and women. Topics discussed include: when and how reproductive damage occurs, what kinds of reproductive health problems can occur, how a worker can tell if a chemical or work situation is hazardous to his or her reproductive health, how workers are protected, and the role of the health and safety representative.
• Health and Safety for Women and Children: Health and safety issues for two special categories of workers: women workers and child workers. Topics discussed include some of the reproductive health issues for women workers, such as when and how reproductive damage can occur as a result of occupational exposures, what is known about some of the occupational health hazards to child workers, what are some of the recommended actions towards eliminating child labour, and the role of the health and safety representative.
• Health Care Workers Systems of Safety
• AIDS and the Workplace: Basic information on AIDS including why it is a trade union issue. The Module also contains information on how the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes the disease, is transmitted and how it is not transmitted, methods of prevention and policy issues. The question of discrimination in the workplace is discussed as well as the role of the health and safety representative in dealing with HIV/AIDS-related issues in the workplace.