OSH News, Advocacy and Training

On the heals of the very successful CER Training at the ICWUC Health and Education Center in early October 2015 the National COSH is sending two of it's network of trainers to Cincinnati, OH to take the upcoming Disaster Train-the-Trainer training session. This is a 40 hour course and will allow them to certify trainers on disaster situations. One of the trainers being sent is from WisCOSH.

Since 1987, the International Chemical Workers Union Council (ICWUC) Center for Worker Health and Safety Education in Cincinnati, Ohio, and its nine-member union-based Consortium have built a nationally-recognized hazardous materials training program. The ICWUC continues its national multiunion training program to protect a range of collateral duty emergency responders and disaster workers, to protect thousands of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) workers who are daily exposed to a wide variety of hazardous substances, and to develop a cadre of worker trainers.

WisCOSH is pleased to announce the addition of Chemical Emergency Response to the many types of training and information offered. Most workplaces have chemicals of some kind within them. Employers are mandated to have a Hazard Communication Program in place to deal with any unplanned chemical release or spill. Does yours? Does your employer have the correct types of PPE? In the necessary sizes? Have you been trained on how to use, maintain and store it? Do you know where your HazComm Program is stored? Do you know what's in it? Have you ever held an emergency drill to ensure workers know what to do in the event of an incident?

WisCOSH can help you will all of these questions and more. WisCOSH can help you do an assessment, catalog chemicals, create a HazComm Program, train workers and management on proper procedures. More here.

The 2014-15 Susan Harwood Institutional Capacity Building Grant is ending at the end of the month, however, not before WisCOSH once again makes a visit to Riverside University High School in Milwaukee for four days. While WisCOSH has been providing information and training to the students of Riverside in work training programs for well over a decade this year these sessions will be greatly expanded.

This year WisCOSH will be visiting the classrooms of two teachers as well as three different classes. WisCOSH will provide students with information on: their basic workplace health and safety rights and how to use them to protect themselves; what a hazard is, what are the types of hazards OSHA recognizes; how hazards can hurt you and how to recognize them in your workplace. Included are small group activities and problem solving techniques using real world examples. Read More.

WisCOSH will be holding it's 37th Annual Membership Meeting and Fundraiser Dinner on Saturday, January 30, 2016 starting at 5pm. Details are still being worked out but will be posted here and on WisCOSH's FB Event page.

The menu for the Fundraiser Dinner is:
1. Choice of Roast Turkey or Glazed Ham
2. Homemade Potato Salad
3. Homemade Cole Slaw
4. Homemade Cranberry Sauce
5. Relish Assortment
6. Rolls
7. Homemade Desserts

Cost of the meal is $12/person paid in advance or $15/person at the door. Save 20% and get a table of 6 for $60!

Updated 2015-10-21 to change date of event

This year WisCOSH will once again staff a table at the Milwaukee Laborfest event on the lakefront at Summerfest Grounds. Stop by and chat, ask questions, get information on upcoming events or pick up a flier on our currently offered free OHS trainings. Whether you have a union in your workplace, you're an "at will" employee or an employer our goal is to make and keep workers safe and their work environment a healthy place to be.

Once again WisCOSH will be holding special commemorative events in Milwaukee and coordinating with workers and unions across the state to remember those workers that were killed on the job, died from illnesses they contracted due to exposures they received in the workplace or from injuries that lead to their premature demise in 2014.

Details of the day's events in Milwaukee can be found on WisCOSH's FB Events pages: Mourn The Dead and Fight Like Hell For The Living. You can get our flier here. Information on other events in WI can be found here.

Thirty-six years after it's founding WisCOSH is still fighting for worker's right to safe work in a healthy work environment. WisCOSH invites members and the general public to join us as we look back at the accomplishments made in 2014, the challenges before us in 2015 and inquire how WisCOSH can be of service to workers as we move forward. WisCOSH will also hold it's election of officers which is open to all members.

WisCOSH will have a couple special speakers discussing the pitfalls faced by multilingual workplaces and protecting workers, management, vendors and customers from the hazards that exist. This promises to be an exciting and unique experience for all.

WisCOSH will also be a fundraiser dinner served for those interested. Proceeds from the dinner will go towards to further WisCOSH's outreach, advocacy, information and training activities. WisCOSH offers many free training workshops it offers to anyone interested and not just members. Grab the flier here.