Extramural Workforce Development: Training Project Grants

The Alaska Marine Safety Education Associationexternal icon TPG project was designed to address the high fatality rate in commercial fishing by training a national network of fishing safety instructors in a Marine Safety Instructor-Training (MSIT) course. These instructors are home based in fishing ports around the US. These instructors then deliver Emergency Drill Conductor (EDC), Stability and other required or soon-to-be-required safety courses to fishermen around the US.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, NIOSH is tasked with supporting professional level Occupational Safety & Health training to insure a steady stream of trained OSH professionals to serve the need of the American workplace. The Industrial Hygiene Training Program Grant at the University of Arizona assists NIOSH in meeting its goal of supplying qualified professional personnel, by providing Master’s level graduate training in Industrial Hygiene (IH), which is one of the four original core occupational safety and health areas.

With more than a thirty year history of providing graduate level IH training, the University of Arizona’s College of Public Healthexternal icon continues to be a leader in the IH field. Its key focuses are the MPH (ABET Accredited) and the MS in IH, but doctoral level IH study is also available (not NIOSH supported), and undergraduate Public Health students in the EOH track are exposed to IH course material. The IH Program is administratively housed in the Environmental and Occupational Health Section of the College of Public Health. The continuation of a high quality IH program in the Southwest is important to meet the strong demand for well-trained occupational health professionals in a region of the US that is experiencing high growth. This is the only such program in Arizona and there are no IH programs in the neighboring states of New Mexico and Nevada. Furthermore, the southwest is the home of the majority of the metal and non-metal mining in the US which is an inherently dangerous industry, made more hazardous by the downturn in metallic mineral prices and the accompanying layoffs. The Arizona program also serves an important function as a focal point for the information, research, and professional development needs for the region’s practicing professionals. The purpose of the MPH/MS degrees is to prepare students for Industrial Hygiene careers involving professional IH practice. IH and EOH are fundamental parts of our national public health system.

NIOSH funds a unique TPG in an Emergency Responder Training Program through the International Association of Fire Fightersexternal icon (IAFF). This grant supports a comprehensive nationwide hazardous substance training program for fire fighters, paramedics, and other emergency responders across the United States. The IAFF has had a long-standing relationship with NIOSH since 1991; the IAFF has conducted 2,946 training deliveries, trained over 62,178 students, and logged 1,270,328 contact hours. Under NIOSH funding, the IAFF currently delivers the following training: Emergency Response to Terrorism—Operations (ERT-Ops), ERT-Ops Train-the-Trainer, ERT-Ops Refresher, Confined Space Rescue, Hazardous Materials Operations – Technician (Tech), Tech Train-the-Trainer, First Responder Operations (FRO), Illicit Drug Labs, Infectious Diseases, and Chemical Process Industries.

This TPG supports the training of qualified engineers who will be prepared to enter occupational safety and health (OSH) careers in New York State and the surrounding region. Specific objectives of the program include: 1) to provide a high-quality, comprehensive OSH education to the trainees, and 2) to prepare graduates for the challenges faced by safety professionals through practical field experience and professional development activities. The program is significant because it trains MS degree-level engineers in hazard recognition and injury prevention, supporting a proactive approach to safety solutions including prevention through design initiatives. The program includes a curriculum that covers a breadth of OSH topics, OSHA certification training, a required safety internship, and a mentored capstone field project experience, which prepare graduates to enter the OSH workforce. Trainees regularly participate in professional development activities and engage with local safety professionals. The program benefits from a strong collaboration between the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department, the Toxicology Research Center, and the Atlantic OSHA Training Center. Faculty members work closely with the trainees in the courses, during the internship, and while advising their capstone project. Since its inception in 2007, the program has been successful in recruiting a diverse trainee population and producing safety professionals who have continued to careers in government, industry, and academia.

The Occupational Health Psychology (OHP) graduate training program at the University of Connecticut (UConn) is designed to recruit and train highly qualified and diverse graduate students from areas of psychology, public health and nursing to become PhD researchers capable of conducting multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary research focusing on the behavioral aspects of occupational health. Trainees are recruited from UConn’s Industrial/Organizational (I/O) doctoral program and learn how to contribute to the OHP knowledge base and become highly capable at discovering and implementing new ways of maintaining and promoting worker health and safety. The OHP concentration is integrated within the I/O Psychology doctoral training program, which follows a scientist-practitioner model. All trainees complete a graduate seminar that covers principles of behavioral science, ergonomics and epidemiology and requires development of a multidisciplinary research proposal. In addition, trainees complete a required epidemiology course, minimally two elective graduate courses in psychology and/or public health. Research-wise, they complete a minimum of three credits of applied field or lab research, master- and dissertation-level research, and participate in faculty research labs. This combination of course content and applied research training is designed not only to equip trainees with the necessary skills to address today’s occupational health problems, but also to enable them to introduce new concepts of work organization and workplace design for enhancing worker health and productivity beyond current expectations. This enables trainees to realize the true potential of trans-disciplinary occupational health research to meet both regional and national needs. Trainees go on to jobs in academia, industry, consulting firms and government.

The Work Environment TPG at the University of Massachusetts Lowell supports academic programs in Occupational Safety/Ergonomics in the College of Engineering and Occupational Epidemiology in the College of Health Sciences. These programs have been funded by NIOSH since 1991. The mission of the program is to train work environment professionals and conduct research on the identification and evaluation of safety and health hazards and the design of safe and efficient alternatives, promoting the development of healthy and sustainable workplaces. This mission is guided by an overarching vision to design and promote systems of production that are environmentally-sound, safe, healthy and rewarding for workers, communities, and consumers. The program’s integrated curriculum has three broad academic objectives: (1) recognition and evaluation of occupational safety and health hazards; (2) control and prevention of occupational safety and health hazards; and (3) development and implementation of workplace interventions including safety and health programs, as well as other social and economic policies.

Meharry Medical Collegeexternal icon is the largest, private, historically black institution exclusively dedicated to educating health care professional and biomedical scientists. The only occupational medicine residency program in a HBCU in the US is at Meharry Medical College. The Occupational Medicine Residency program is a 2 year institutional program that supports the completion of residency requirements in occupational medicine. The program has maintained continued full accreditation since 1978 and is currently accredited until 2019.

The mission of the Occupational Medicine Residency program is to:

• Recruit qualified physicians who show evidence of commitment to a career in occupational medicine.
• Train physicians who are strongly committed to the prevention of occupational and environmental diseases; skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of occupational injury and disease; able to develop and administer occupational and environmental health programs for unions, industry, government and academic institutions; and are active in the development of scientific, legal, political and ethical questions of the field.

The academic phase consists of a course of study leading to a master’s degree that includes certified training in the five areas required by the American Board of Preventive Medicine: epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, and health administration and behavioral health. In addition, residents are required to take courses in Occupational health, occupational toxicology and Industrial Hygiene. Training is given at the Meharry Medical College’s School of Graduate Studies and Research through its CEPH accredited MSPH degree program.

The practicum phase comprises both didactic and applied components. The overall goal of the practicum year is to train the resident in the practice of occupational medicine. This occurs by providing supervised application of the knowledge, skills and attitudes of occupational medicine gained

Millersville University (MU) is one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Millersville University offers an undergraduate, ABET-accredited, degree program in Occupational Safety and Environmental Health (OSEH). The program currently enrolls 120 students and graduates approximately 35 students annually. Approximately 98% of the trainees enter the occupational safety and health workforce upon graduation. This complements NIOSH’s goal of achieving nationwide improvements in health by filling regional and national demand for occupational safety and health professionals.

The main goals of the TPG are to:   (1) provide tuition and fees support to qualified students in the OSEH program, (2) help in recruitment and retention of qualified minority and underrepresented  students, and (3) supplement student and faculty travel to professional conferences identified by NIOSH as essential to program objectives. Assessment of the OSEH Program relies on the expertise of industry professionals who generously share their knowledge of today’s work environment as members of an external advisory board. The members are charged with the responsibility to provide leadership, program assessment and guidance through their active engagement in the ongoing refinement of the OSEH curriculum. All students covered under this program are pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in OSEH. Admission to MU is granted without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, handicap, marital status or lifestyle. The laboratory facilities dedicated to the OSEH program include separate areas dedicated to safety engineering, fire prevention and control, industrial hygiene, and ergonomics.

Montana Tech conducts three NIOSH—sponsored training programs under a single grant. An undergraduate program leads to a B.S. degree in Occupational Safety and Health (OSH). There are two graduate programs leading to an M.S. degree in Industrial Hygiene (IH). One IH program is conducted on campus and the other is offered through distance delivery. The three programs are housed in the Safety, Health and Industrial Hygiene (SHIH) Department. Seven faculty members in the department are substantially involved in teaching and research in safety, health, and industrial hygiene.

The undergraduate OSH curriculum provides a comprehensive education to develop graduates with capability for serving as exceptional safety and health professionals as well as contributing to society in general. It is accredited by the Applied Science Accreditation Commission of ABET. The first two years of the program focus on foundation disciplines including general chemistry, college physics, calculus, organic chemistry, statistics and English composition. Humanities and social sciences are distributed throughout the four year curriculum. With the exception of one freshman introductory class, OSH courses are in the second through fourth years of the program. Of the 128 total hours in the curriculum, at least 48 credits are OSH courses.

The graduate programs aim to develop exceptional IH professionals. The curriculums provide a full range of IH courses and supporting electives. The on-campus program requires 37 credit hours consisting of 28 lecture courses, two hours of graduate seminar, six hours of thesis research and a one-hour technical writing seminar. A thesis or publishable paper is required and defended at an oral examination. The distance delivery program also requires 37 credit hours consisting of 34 lecture courses and a capstone written and oral comprehensive exam. Students in the distance delivery program may sit for the exam during the last semester of coursework. One of the courses in the distance delivery program, Sampling and Evaluation of Health Hazards, requires a one week residency in the summer.

The NIOSH grant provides funds for valuable program enhancement, primarily through scholarships for on campus students. Additional enhancements include student travel, faculty development, and partial summer salary for program enrichment by program managers. NIOSH support unquestionably enhances program quality and recognition.

The purpose of the Murray State Universityexternal icon training program is to strengthen the academic and professional preparation of our undergraduate and graduate-level students in occupational safety and health. This is accomplished by providing learning situations/activities designed to help the students become more effective entry-level and advanced professionals. The primary focus is as follows.

• Increased involvement of the internship supervisor in visiting intern sites to observe and improve employer-intern-university relationships.
• Development of an Occupational Safety and Health Study Abroad program that introduces our students to international issues in occupational safety and health and how culture affects these issues.
• On-going development and improvement of the online Master of Science degree program in occupational safety and health.
• On-going faculty professional development to keep abreast of changes in the occupational safety and health field.
• Development of seminars and Occupational Safety and Health Training Center courses designed to address current occupational safety and health issues.
• Support for graduate students in the form of travel and tuition and fees.

The University of North Alabama (UNA) Industrial Hygiene (IH) Program was created in the late 1970s in response to the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. It is currently one of four baccalaureate programs in the US accredited by ABET. The UNA IH Program offers a double major in IH and general chemistry. This dual-track configuration has been commended by ABET evaluators and employers of UNA graduates. The academic program at UNA prepares professionals for entry-level positions and graduate studies in the field of IH and Occupational Safety and has earned a reputation for graduating a pool of qualified industrial hygienist who are providing valuable services to workers and employers in this geographical region and beyond. The curriculum contains a central component of industrial hygiene and general chemistry with additions in allied disciplines of occupational safety and environmental compliance. The program offers nine lecture and three laboratory courses in occupational health and safety and one lecture course in environmental regulations. It is designed to serve a set of educational objectives and program outcomes that were established in consultation with members of the Program Advisory Board, alumni practicing in the Occupational, Environmental, Health and Safety field, and some employers of UNA graduates. The program outcomes also comply with general and specific criteria established by ASAC of ABET for applied science programs in industrial hygiene.

The objectives of the UNA NIOSH-TPG are threefold:

1. Promote the recruitment of qualified students in the occupational health and safety field,
2. Support the efforts of continuous academic improvement, and
3. Expand the educational opportunities and services of the IH Program.

The Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics has a unique TPG through its Occupational Health Internship Programexternal icon (OHIP). The primary goal of the OHIP is to recruit and provide training for the next generation of occupational health professionals. Over the course of the summer internship, each OHIP trainee gains an understanding of the following three training objectives that underlie the program:

• Discuss the importance of work-related health and safety hazards in determining the health of workers and the general community;
• Explain the changing nature of the workforce and importance of designing health and safety interventions to meet the needs of specific and diverse worker groups; and
• Describe the role of occupational health and safety professionals in reducing workplace health and safety hazards.

The second goal of OHIP is to increase diversity in the occupational health disciplines by actively recruiting and mentoring students from minority and immigrant backgrounds including underrepresented minorities (URM). URM individuals are those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the public health profession relative to their numbers in the general population.

The long term objectives of the Ohio State Universityexternal icon program are to 1) increase the number of engineers who understand that they have a direct effect on the safety of workers who work with the equipment and work systems engineers design, and 2) increase the number of engineers who choose to go into applied or research positions in the area of occupational safety and health.

Annually, five traineeships in Occupational Safety and Ergonomics are available in the Department of Integrated Systems Engineering (ISE) at OSU. The specific aim of the program is to use these traineeships to provide educational opportunities to engineering students at the master’s level who are interested in pursuing industrial, consulting, or academic careers in occupational safety and ergonomics or related areas. Plans of study typically require 4 semesters to complete and include a research thesis as a culminating project. Students take courses in occupational biomechanics, cognitive engineering, occupational health, industrial accident/incident prevention and control, human error and systems failure or resilience engineering, and experimental design. Students are trained in responsible research practices and have opportunities to get involved in cutting edge research that addresses a number of original NORA Priority Research Areas, including Low Back Disorders, Musculoskeletal Disorders of the Upper Extremities, Traumatic Injuries, Emerging Technologies, Organization of Work, Special Populations at Risk, Exposure Assessment Methods, and/or Intervention Effectiveness Research. Research projects, seminars, internships, a safety practicum, and other opportunities expose students to several sectors in the current NORA Sector-Based Approach such as Agriculture, Construction, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Public Safety, Service workers, and Warehousing. Students learn from OSU faculty, experienced practitioners, and from workers. While students learn about safety and ergonomics fundamentals, they also learn about emerging trends and concepts, such as resilience safety & engineering and wellness approaches to occupational safety and health. Laboratory facilities and equipment the students work with are state-of-the-art and the OSU Libraries system is second-to-none.

OSU’s College of Engineering continues to implement and refine strategies for recruiting and retaining top-notch graduate students from groups that are underrepresented in engineering, and the ISE’s NIOSH-sponsored training program actively participates in these strategies when recruiting participants for the program. The program has strong institutional support, as demonstrated by the provision of Tuition Awards for the trainees, which provide for full tuition support for up to two years per student. Advisory Board members who come from labor, state government, industry, research, and education, provide the program with important, relevant outside perspectives, as well as providing direct support to students through internships, safety practicum sponsorships, guest lectures in classes, and seminars. The training program provides Ohio, a state with more than 205,000 employers, and the surrounding region of the country with engineers with training to identify and address safety and ergonomics hazards in a wide variety of workplaces. Program graduates become valuable employees because of the breadth of their training (research methods, safety, health, ergonomics/human factors, and others), sector exposure (agriculture, manufacturing, warehousing, healthcare, and others), and instructor exposure (academics and experienced professionals), or they may opt to build upon that strong foundation of knowledge with further education and training at the doctoral level.

The TPG in Occupational Safety at Ohio Universityexternal icon addresses the shortage of well-trained practitioners in a traditionally underserved area of southeastern Ohio and the Ohio River Valley. The program is in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology. Students are enrolled in the MS program in ISE. Key elements of the program include: six core courses, two mandatory internships, two mandatory seminars in writing and research, and participation in plant tours and professional activities. The core classes are: Human Factors Engineering, Industrial Ergonomics, Occupational Hygiene Laboratory, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Systems Safety, and Six Sigma. Students then take elective courses to complete their degree requirements in the Russ College, the College of Health Sciences and Professions, or other colleges at Ohio University. A specific academic focus for this project is older workers and advanced data analysis methods. Faculty for the program are well-qualified in this area as well as in the component areas of Occupational Safety research and field practice.

The Department of Occupational and Environmental Health (OEH) at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) College of Public Health provides graduate education leading to the Master of Science (MS) degree in Industrial Hygiene and Environmental Health Sciences (IH/EHS). The goal of the IH/EHS program is to prepare professional practitioners to apply scientific knowledge to the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and control of environmental hazards or stresses affecting human health. The IH/EHS degree has been prized by employers and students because graduates are prepared to direct environmental compliance programs as well as occupational health and safety programs.

The IH/EHS program at OUHSC is one of only four ABET-accredited masters level industrial hygiene programs in the south central United States. The program has been accredited by ABET since 2000. The curriculum consists of 48 semester hours of coursework, including master’s thesis research and a field practice experience, and can be completed in 21-24 months of full-time study. The OEH Department consists of 7 full-time faculty with diverse research interests and rich experience in professional practice. The Department is well equipped with laboratory and field sampling instruments in support of the training program.

The specific aims of the NIOSH TPG are: (1) to attract highly qualified and motivated students, including individuals with cultural or linguistic fluency related to underserved populations, into the industrial hygiene profession and (2) to recruit students with diverse technical backgrounds who are interested in entering the industrial hygiene field. TPG funds are used to support four traineeship slots per year, to be filled by full-time masters-level trainees. Trainees may be supported on the TPG for up to 24 months.

The program has traditionally drawn well-prepared applicants from a number of undergraduate programs in the region. Oklahoma colleges have relatively high American Indian enrollments reflecting the state’s unique ethnic mix, presenting an excellent pool of well qualified prospective trainees from under-represented minorities. Recruitment also targets individuals with work experience in the health professions, engineering, chemistry, and environmental science who wish to make the transition into industrial hygiene practice.

The University of Pennsylvaniaexternal icon (UPENN), Perelman School of Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency Program, funded by NIOSH since its inception in 1997, has graduated 112 residents to date. The purpose of this highly innovative, competency based, supervised practicum training program is to continue training physicians in Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM), who are both new to the field and making a mid-career shift to OEM. The program plans to graduate at 30 residents during this grant period, 10 directly funded by NIOSH, and in so doing increase the number of occupational medicine/preventive medicine physicians in the United States. The program helps address the national shortage of OEM physicians, the shortage of OEM physicians in underserved areas (as regards the presence of board certified OEM physicians) and the shortage of underrepresented minority OEM physicians. Successful applicants meet requirements of an ACGME-accredited clinical (PGY-1) year, have completed or substantially completed an MPH or equivalent degree.

The broad purpose of the Industrial Hygiene Program at the University of Puerto Rico is train industrial hygienists for the continuous demand of these professionals in the island, the United States Virgin Islands and ultimately the continental United States. UPR TPG is a graduate program in Industrial Hygiene at the Master of Science level, with a basic curriculum including toxicology, occupational health, environmental health, ergonomics, noise and other physical agents, biostatistics, epidemiology, principles of industrial hygiene, principles of industrial safety, environmental health and safety law, ventilation, respiratory protection, industrial hygiene laboratory, an internship and a field studies course. Five additional credit-hours are available for elective courses in the topics of advanced ergonomics design, applied statistics for industrial hygienists and exposure assessment. The duration of the training program is two years, and students are required to conduct a three-month, full-time internship in an industry of their choice where they are guided through their proposed plan of work by a mentor from UPR and a mentor from the industry. Overall, UPR’s TPG training is conducted by means of lectures, seminars, laboratory practices, field practices and research experiences.

Purdue University’sexternal icon graduate program in Occupational and Environmental Health (OEH) has been training students to serve in industrial hygiene, safety, and occupational health for more than 35 years. The program currently offers a Ph.D. and an M.S. in OEH. The M.S. program is accredited by ABET; and is the only accredited graduate OEH program in Indiana. We have developed and received approval for a 4+1 program leading to both a B.S. and a M.S. degree in Occupational Health; we anticipate celebrating graduation of our first 4+1 class in the summer of 2016. The program draws many of its applicants from Indiana and nearby states and in turn graduates of the program often serve in industrial hygiene, safety and occupational health positions in this region. The program also serves the state and surrounding region through research projects on occupational health problems in local and regional workplaces. Program faculty includes specialists in industrial hygiene, epidemiology, and toxicology and is supported by additional faculty within our School as well as across the University. Faculty members are engaged in numerous important research projects concerning ergonomics, real-time video exposure monitoring, indoor air quality, nanoparticle exposure and health impacts, characterization and development of exposure biomarkers, as well as metal neurotoxicology and epidemiology. The core curriculum for the program includes coursework in biostatistics, exposure assessment, toxicology, ergonomics, physical agents, aerosol science, epidemiology, safety and control technology. The philosophy of the program is to accept students with a solid background in the basic sciences, provide them education and training in IH core disciplines (e.g. exposure assessment, toxicology, epidemiology, engineering control technology, ergonomics), and develop their skills as critical thinkers, researchers and communicators, through classroom and laboratory instruction, student projects and thesis research.

The primary goal of the Master of Science in Occupational Health in Industrial Hygiene (MSOH-IH) program at the University of Toledo is to provide master-level education and training to full- and part-time graduate students for the purpose of increasing their knowledge, comprehension, skills and attitudes essential to the advancement of occupational health and safety science, practice and research. The MSOH-IH program addresses a NIOSH core discipline, a Healthy People 2020 Occupational Safety and Health initiative with a focus on prevention/mitigation of work-related human illnesses/ injuries via anticipation, recognition, evaluation, prevention, and control of applicable hazardous agents and factors. Students participate in multiple field experiences to reinforce classroom learning and increase their knowledge and skills. These include: 1) site tours of local industries such as glass manufacturing and foundry; 2) site visits for chemical exposure sampling; and, 3) applied noise and ventilation assessments in industrial settings. MSOH-IH students without applicable industrial hygiene experience are required to complete an internship of at least 150-hours at an approved location. NIOSH funds provide scholarships to graduate students majoring in industrial hygiene, who will be prepared for employment as highly qualified, appropriately educated, and trained occupational health and safety specialists in the northwest Ohio region and elsewhere.

The objective of the Industrial Hygiene program at Tulane University is to provide training/education for student graduates that will enable them to seek employment in government, labor, the private sector, and in academia. The NIOSH training project grant has a primary aim of increasing the number of minority and disadvantaged students in the field of industrial hygiene. The training grant is administered through Tulane University’s ABET-accredited industrial hygiene program.

The primary high-impact outcomes from our Training Grant program center around two main areas: increasing the number of qualified OS&H personnel in the local and regional workforce and practice-based internship experience in OS&H. To those ends, our program, over the past reporting period has proven extremely successful. In the aim of increasing the number of qualified OS&H personnel in the region is due to a number of factors, not least of which is the need. The current shortfall in the occupational health and safety workforce in the USA has been well documented in recent years. This shortfall has been well established for both short and long-term needs. For example, the Occupational Outlook Handbook (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012) and the National Employment Matrix (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012), both published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicate that both the overall need and growth in the field of occupational health and safety will continue to increase. For longer-term prospects in occupational health and safety, BLS states that the expected employment of occupational health and safety specialists is expected to increase around 14% by 2016. For the reporting period, July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015, the supported students have made a significant impact in increasing the overall number of qualified OS&H personnel in the region. Of the program-supported students, the first continues to pursue his DrPH with an emphasis on ergonomics and sedentary behavior in office workers and the second continues her MPH related coursework and is scheduled to graduate in May 2015. As a department, over the reporting period, we have graduated 27 total graduate students currently working in OS&H-related fields. Another significant activity of the program is the internship experience. The internships provide invaluable training for the students and often result in permanent employment upon graduation. In fact, many of the graduates are employed as specialists. Internships are required for the students with many finishing their MSPH/MPH or DrPH degrees with two full-semester internships.

Little emphasis is given to educating physicians at both the undergraduate and post-graduate levels concerning occupational history-taking and little focus is placed in clinical encounters on discerning and reducing work-related risk factors. Since the mid-1990s, the number of accredited occupational medicine residency (OMR) programs has declined steadily (35%) in spite of a recognized shortfall of physicians with formalized training in this area.

In many specialty areas of medical practice, there is also little attention given to the special needs of non-urban populations. However, rural communities often lack the infrastructure for developing and sustaining a preventive approach to occupational disease and injury, particularly for specific work sectors such as agriculture where the hired and/or migrant workforce may constitute the majority of employees.

Over the past year, funds from the Training Project Grant (TPG) have helped to support, sustain and increase the number of occupational medicine trained physicians who have broad experience and sufficient competence to enter practice without direct supervision. The TPG has made it possible for 4 resident trainees to receive support through this funding during this year. In addition, the grant has allowed the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tylerexternal icon (UTHSCT) Occupational Medicine Residency (OMR) Program to include a dimension of training that emphasizes the occupational health needs of the rural workforce with special attention to agriculture. This includes identifying related competencies within the six general competency domains established by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and those outlined in the Preventive Medicine/Occupational Medicine program requirements. Relevant learning activities designed to help the resident gain experience with these competencies and reach target milestones also established by the ACGME are a part of the program. Such learning activities have included formal didactic training in an Agromedicine conference, multiple worksite walk-through experiences in agriculture, forestry, and fishing operations, and a supervised rotation in a Migrant and Community Health Center setting.

The TPG at Virginia Tech, housed in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, emphasizes three aspects of occupational safety and health (OSH) at the MS (thesis) and PhD levels: safety engineering, occupational ergonomics, and construction OSH. The former two aspects have been a concentration of the program for several years, while the latter emphasis was added to benefit from the growing collaboration between several academic and research units at Virginia Tech: Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISE), the Myers-Lawson School of Construction, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, and the Center for Innovation in Construction Safety and Health.

Our aims are to provide a high quality education to trainees, to have them conduct high quality basic and/or applied research, and to provide service to our profession, to industry, and to society. A key goal of our program is support the NIOSH goal of supplying qualified professionals who move on to careers that focus on occupational safety health, through both research and practice. The need for training in these areas is justified in several ways, though primarily by the continuing levels of occupational accidents, injuries and illnesses, substantial pre-doctoral interest, educational needs in contemporary OSH positions, and the national need for trained researchers and practitioners in these areas. Our program is characterized by a dual emphasis on breadth of trainee experience and the requirement for specialization, the latter emphasized by the need for a formal research project related to OSH.

A cohesive group of faculty support the program, with expertise from diverse areas of OSH. Training is achieved through a combination of formal coursework, faculty advising, research, and more general exposure through seminars and interdisciplinary interactions. Candidates for our program are MS or PhD students accepted within the Human Factors Engineering and Ergonomics graduate concentration area within the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department. Prospective trainees are also actively recruited through several means. Our program has been quite successful, based on the number of graduates, the high proportion of graduates continuing in the OSH field, faculty and student scholarly output, awards, and the continuing high number of applications received.

The Appalachian Training Program in Occupational Health and Safety at West Virginia University (WVU) serves a critical need to supply qualified occupational health and safety professionals for the state and region. The specific goal is a practical one: to train professionals who understand hazardous workplaces and who are prepared to serve in a “front-line” capacity to prevent, mitigate, and manage workplace injuries and disease in a rural context. Emphasis is placed on recruitment and training of graduates who will be committed to remain within the Appalachian region. The Appalachian Training Program in Occupational Health and Safety provides master’s level training in Industrial Hygiene (IH) and an Occupational Medicine Residency (OMR) for physicians. The OMR has been supported by NIOSH since 1988 and the IH program since 1980. This is the only OMR in the region and there are only two other NIOSH-supported programs providing training in IH.

These programs serve critical regional needs for qualified occupational health and safety professionals. This grant also helps connect programs based within the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources to those of the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center (HSC). This forms the basis around which larger activities are built including broader educational outreach, research, clinical service, workplace evaluation and control efforts, and national and international faculty recruitment and retention. These programs and activities benefit from the resources of a large, land-grant university and a close relationship with NIOSH-Morgantown.

The Training Project Grant (TPG) for the Environmental Health Science (EHS) degree program at Western Kentucky University (WKU) was used to support seven (7) students during the 2014-2015 academic year. The EHS program is assigned administratively to the Department of Public Health within the College of Health and Human Services. The program entails a comprehensive education of students in basic and applied sciences with a strong emphasis in environmental and occupational health assessment and control for chemical, biological, and physical factors or stressors of public health importance.

Students who successfully complete the program earn a B.S. degree. There is also a minor in Environmental Studies and a certificate program in Occupational Health and Safety. Our EHS courses are designed to meet the general education, core, and elective requirements. Key program elements and course offerings require that students complete 120 semester hours (a minimum of 70 semester hours of core courses and electives) before graduation. With regards to staffing, the EHS program comprises of five core and several adjunct faculty members who are well-qualified to teach and conduct research in Environmental/Occupational Health and Safety. Although no faculty members were directly supported by the TPG grant, it must be noted that their individual and joint contributions were helpful in not only teaching the core and elective courses, but in providing opportunities for extra-curricular activities and supervising internships and/or research.

The Master of Science degree program in Safety was approved by the University of Wisconsin-System and implemented in the fall of 1974. In 1994 the name of the program was changed to Master of Science in Risk Control. Since 1974 the program has evolved to reflect the needs, expectations and challenges of the field of health, safety and environmental regulations. The risk control perspective requires students to be competent beyond safety regulatory compliance. The philosophy of risk control attempts to extend, elevate and integrate the technical areas of safety engineering, industrial hygiene and environmental regulations from operational levels to managerial concerns. The program has an annual enrollment between 30 to 40 students. Classes are offered both in the daytime and evenings to accommodate those already professionally employed. The specific focus of the enhancement effort is in three areas: financial assistance in recruitment of qualified students, faculty teaching flexibility and development, and instructional support. Individuals with undergraduate degrees in Engineering, Technology, General Sciences, Chemistry, and Biological Science are recruited into the Master of Science in Risk Control program. Local industrial facilities are also used for field exercises.

The Yale Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program (YOEMP) provides comprehensive training for physicians in occupational and environmental medicine. The program has emphasized the selection and training of physicians seeking specialized academic and/or research careers in occupational and environmental medicine, while providing a broad base of practical and didactic experience for graduates choosing more traditional practice opportunities. There is a critical shortage of physicians formally trained in occupational and environmental medicine because of the shrinking numbers of accredited occupational and environmental medicine residency training programs nationally. The YOEMP residency program aims to train highly qualified physicians to meet the regional and national need. YOEMP has two objectives:

Primary Objective: To train physicians to be proficient in all aspects of the practice of occupational and environmental medicine, including clinical, organizational and public health components, based on sound fundamental knowledge of toxicology, epidemiology, industrial hygiene, biostatistics, human and organization behavior and clinical medicine.

Secondary Objective: To train future leaders for the still emerging discipline of occupational and environmental medicine, prepare to teach both theory and practice, and expand through rigorous scientific research the knowledge base for successful practice.