Project SEAMIST

Nova Southeastern University, Ft Lauderdale FL

Investigators

Abstract

Waterways throughout the United States (U.S.) carry almost 70 percent of the products transported in and around the country via rivers and lakes and into coastal or inland ports. Meanwhile, hazardous materials training for workers in the maritime industry, and training related to worker safety, disaster preparedness, and incident response have been limited. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimates that 400,000 maritime workers face higher injury and fatality risks when compared to the national average. For nearly 15 years, two complementary projects, which have been funded to date by a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), including Project South East Area Maritime Industry Safety Training (SEAMIST, a Hazardous Waste Worker Training Program (HWWTP)) and Project Hazardous Material Maritime Industry Response Training Initiative (HazMIRTSI, a Hazmat Preparedness Disaster Training Program (HPDTP)) have addressed this unmet need. Specifically, SEAMIST has provided health and safety training for personnel whose jobs may require them to handle, transport, remove, or dispose of hazardous materials transported via ports and related industries. To date, our efforts throughout the U.S. have resulted in nearly 1,300 trainings, for more than 22,000 participants, logging more than 195,000 contact hours. In addition, HazMIRTSI has provided first responders with the tools to effectively handle disasters on our waterways, especially those involving hazardous agents, as well as to the general population on how to safely respond to disasters, to nearly 5,000 trainees. The expansive reach of both projects extends nationwide, which to date, has emphasized states along the Atlantic coastline, with plans to expand throughout the Gulf states and to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Both projects use innovative training methods and technologies, continuously adapting and evolving the curriculum to fit the needs of trainees. Taking into account existing and emerging hazards, we aim to expand previous efforts over the last 15 years to provide safety and hazardous preparedness training to nearly 16,000 maritime workers and those in concert with the maritime industry in both English and Spanish, disaster response training for approximately 4,500 skilled response personnel, and disaster preparedness training to 500 community members. We aim to continue to optimize our training curricula and evaluation protocols, as well as maintain specialized, cost effective, innovative, and engaging trainings, which will continue to reduce and eliminate incidences of injuries and deaths among maritime workers, the community, and first responders during and after disasters.