Midwest Consortium for Hazardous Waste Worker Training

University Of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The Midwest Consortium for Hazardous Waste Worker Training (MWC) provides model training programs to workers and residents who may be exposed to hazardous substances. This programming is delivered by 13 training centers in 9 states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. Eight of the centers are equipment-based centers that focus most strongly on HAZWOPER and related training for workers at designated hazardous waste sites; treatment, storage, and disposal facilities; and in a broad range of emergency response roles. The five remaining centers are community-based centers that focus on helping workers and residents, particularly those from disadvantaged populations, to recognize and react to hazardous materials in their communities. From 2020 to 2024, MWC training centers provided 3,333 programs to 50,850 trainees for 422,347 contact hours, demonstrating the impressive reach of the Consortium, even through the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The long-term goal of the MWC is to improve occupational and environmental health and safety practices throughout the region it serves. In the shorter-term, the MWC's objective is to build capacity for workers to improve health and safety practices at their workplaces and for communities of workers and residents to recognize, prepare for, and recover from environmental exposures. To achieve this objective, the overall aims for the MWC are to facilitate delivery of model training programs at MWC training centers, enable training of participants who are underserved by workplace and community hazard programming, and modernize and simplify training program evaluation, providing greater insight into impacts of training. Achieving these aims will allow the MWC to continue to incorporate innovative training strategies and tactics into programming and to meet emerging needs such as to develop and deliver training on individual, workplace, and community resilience. The experienced, creative, and dedicated trainers at MWC centers have successfully trained hundreds of thousands of workers since 1987, increasing the collective training output over time and demonstrating impressive impacts. The centers provide training to workers at industrial sites, government agencies, tribal nations, healthcare systems, and elsewhere and to residents affiliated with faith-based groups, non-profit and community organizations, and neighborhood associations. Reported impacts of training demonstrate significant benefits to public health, particularly in the prevention and control of hazardous substances. Participants indicate that they learn how to act more safely and return to their workplaces and communities after training with a motivation to implement new procedures so that fundamental change will occur. From 2025 to 2030, MWC training centers will collectively provide 5,055 programs to 93,602 trainees during 841,366 contact hours.