MVCC to use $107K federal grant for workplace-safety training

UTICA, N.Y. — Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) will use a federal grant of more than $107,000 for workplace-safety training.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) awarded MVCC the grant in September, the school said in a news release.

MVCC will use the funding from OSHA’s Susan Harwood training-grant program to educate and train “high-risk” populations on topics that include workplace-violence prevention, workplace safety and health, chemical hazards, and universal reporting.

The training seeks to increase awareness, an understanding of hazard communication, workplace-violence prevention strategies, and a greater sense of security in the workplace, MVCC said.

Through this program, MVCC will provide worker training to local employers “free of charge,” the school said.

The training targets small-business owners; workers in occupations with high injury and fatality rates; and “vulnerable” workers, including those who are young, have limited English proficiency, and are “difficult to reach.”

This program will provide training for 500 workers in the region. It targets those who are either a minority or “hard-to-reach,” speak with limited English, have low-literacy skills, or those who work at a business with fewer than 250 employees, MVCC said.

The program also provides training opportunities for the unemployed.