New UC San Diego Global Safety Center Recommends Four Mandatory Objectives

LA JOLLA, Calif., April 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of California San Diego's new global safety center, which allows construction workers worldwide to receive critical safety training based on U.S. standards, has issued four recommended mandatory objectives for international construction projects.

Under UC San Diego Extension's new International Safety Education Institute (ISEI) Construction Workplace Safety Training Program (http://isei.ucsd.edu), safety trainers across the globe help create safe local construction work sites. The recent establishment of the university safety center comes after the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) dramatically revised its global safety training program, which includes discontinuing the issue of 10- and 30-hour safety cards, in most instances, outside of the United States effective July 1, 2011.

Scott MacKay, director of the ISEI, says there is a growing international need for safety training based on U.S. OSHA standards as most countries have come to rely on the safety knowledge and best practices developed by OSHA over the years. MacKay recommends international construction companies adopt the following four safety objectives:

1. Reduce the rate of injury, illness and death in a workforce that is often unaware of the dangers associated with their jobs.

2. Provide a more positive work environment by demonstrating and promoting management concern for worker safety.

3. Provide a better-prepared local workforce for international organizations with development projects in foreign countries.

4. Promote a positive attitude toward safety on the job and encouraging workers to identify and report safety issues and prevent accidents.

"Not only is there great value from a humanitarian standpoint for safety and health, but also from a fiscal standpoint. It costs companies substantial sums to pay for injuries on the job," says MacKay.

UC San Diego Extension, a leader in delivering high-quality safety and health training to workers and management since 1992, is one of 25 OSHA Training Institute Education Centers in the United States currently authorized by OSHA to train trainers who, in turn, receive and distribute OSHA's 10- and 30-hour cards. After July 1, in most cases, these trainers must stop distributing cards outside the United States. Because of this, MacKay said, many international safety trainers might lose their livelihoods because they will no longer be able to participate in this popular program.

The UC San Diego safety center offers a train-the-trainer program committed to improving construction workplace health and safety worldwide. It is based on the 10- and 30-hour Outreach Trainer Program presented to workers in the United States.

ISEI's curriculum is designed to provide practical safety awareness and accident prevention education adapted to the specific needs of local workplaces and communities around the world. Under the new program, community-based health and safety training organizations and their safety trainers will be empowered and prepared to teach safety education and accident prevention programs inspired by the best safety principles and practices of the United States as developed by OSHA. ISEI professional training partners include safety training firms, non-profit safety organizations, labor organizations, colleges and universities, construction companies and independent contractors. Training partner requirements available at http://isei.ucsd.edu.

OSHA currently offers 10- and 30-hour outreach classes for construction, general industry and maritime workers, and 15-hour classes for disaster site workers across the globe. Under the new revisions, outreach training will be primarily limited to OSHA's jurisdiction, which includes private sector employers and their employees in the 50 states and certain territories and jurisdictions under federal authority such as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Wake Island, Johnston Island, and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands as defined in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Most classes delivered outside of OSHA's jurisdiction will not be recognized as Outreach Training Program classes, and trainers will not receive student course completion cards for those students.

"One of the ways OSHA has helped this knowledge reach workers outside the United States is by allowing international trainers to participate in the 10- and 30-hour Outreach Training program," says MacKay. "Now, OSHA is ending most accessibility to this program outside the U.S. in order to better focus its limited resources on workers in the United States."  

MacKay said ISEI will also help international companies keep their legal commitments to make sure their workers around the globe are up to par on safety training.

"There are many U.S. companies that import parts and have manufacturing plants in other countries. It is often the policy that anybody who works in a factory as a subcontractor that makes parts for a U.S. firm has to have safety training equivalent to United States workers," he adds.

Media contact: Henry DeVries at [email protected] or 858-534-9955 or 619-540-3031

SOURCE University of California San Diego Extension