Meeting the occupational safety and health needs of individuals with disabilities employed in sheltered workshops

Thousands of individuals with severe disabilities are employed in segregated sheltered workshops in the U.S. These sheltered workshops are community-based non-profit agencies (NPAs) that provide services, such as life skills training, as well as employment opportunities to individuals for whom mainstream employment might be difficult to secure. Many of these NPAs contract with government agencies and private companies to provide services, such as janitorial work, and/or to manufacture or assemble products. Due to the hazardous nature of the work being performed by these NPAs, the injury rate in sheltered workshops is nearly twice the rate for private industry in general. This presentation will describe an exciting new project designed to address the high injury rate among this special population of workers and to meet the specific needs of this underserved group of workplaces. An essential component of the project has been a strong partnership with a national organization that assists, monitors and provides training to many NPAs that offer sheltered employment in the country -- NISH (National Industries for the Severely Handicapped). The project has included a survey to assess the baseline health and safety knowledge and needs of NPAs; conducting health and safety training for NPA supervisors; providing a basic health and safety curriculum for use in teaching their employees with cognitive and learning disabilities; and finally, working with NISH staff members to increase their ability to help their member NPAs create safe working environments for individuals with severe disabilities. Other training options will be included in my handouts.