Meeting the needs of low literacy workers in the construction and environmental remediation workforce: Best practices from the field

This is an abstract for a 90-minute session with the following individuals: Alonzo Emergy, Linda Delp and Racquel Penderhughes. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Worker Education and Training Program WETP) and its grantees have developed model health and safety training for workers engaged in the hazardous waste, emergency response, construction and environmental remediation workforce since 1987. During this time, many exciting, targeted and diverse tools, techniques and approaches were developed and explored to reach low literacy workers in the construction and environmental remediation workforce. Under the minority worker training program (MWTP), life skills and job readiness curricula focuses on meeting the special needs workers new to or reentering the workforce by using a worker centered life skills training to provide targeted education at the workers comprehensive level that focuses on building educational, emotional, and interpersonal scoping skills to respond to the demands of work life. Training such as building cultural competency, providing remedial education, the use of use specific illustrations to existing health material and using appropriate communication techniques have drastically increase retention and employment of students graduating from the MWTP. In particular, many of our training programs employ “Training Approaches for Worker Empowerment” that conceptualizes our core value of the training programs by using peer to peer effective adult education to empower workers to stand up for safe workplaces. These training approaches include using methods of popular education to engage participants, the right to understand: linking literacy to health & safety training, and educating for action.