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Hazmat Safety & Training
On the evening of April 20, 2010, a tragic explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico killing 11 workers. It was not discovered until April 24 that oil was leaking from the well pipe approximately a mile on the sea floor spewing out an estimated 5,000 barrels per day. Immediately the Worker Education and Training Program (WETP) went to work creating training tools to prepare workers for cleanup activities that lay ahead. On May 2 the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) WETP staff along with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) met with the Unified Command in Robert and Houma Louisiana to lend assistance and support to one of the most disastrous oils spills in the history of the petroleum industry.
Through the use of the WETP Emergency Support Activation Plan, the WETP and its awardees began mobilizing their experienced national network of worker safety and health experts, trainers, and support staff to assist in the recovery of the Gulf coast. This network gained much of its experience from the responses to Hurricane Katrina, the World Trade Center, Oklahoma City, and the anthrax terrorist attacks. During the ensuing years, through the evaluation of the lessons they had learned, this little known network had developed mechanisms for getting needed safety and health resources into the field: teams of trainers and subject matter experts, printed training materials, on-line electronic learning tools, personal protective equipment and other training supplies, tailored training to reach underserved minority workers, and even useful "extras" such as safety awareness “podcasts” - audio training tips available through easy download to trainers in the field.