The Northwest’s long-standing occupational health and safety programs, based at the University of Washington, propose a capacity building project for safety and health training of restoration forestry services workers, serving Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The Northwestern US faces catastrophic wildfire risks and a rapidly emerging need for forest fuels reduction work. This work relies heavily on manual labor conducted by small private contract forest service firms, small forest landowners, young workers, and Spanish-speaking immigrant workers. This workforce is underserved, at high-risk for injury, low-income, hard-to-reach, and often with limited English. In Year 1, we propose to:
1) Conduct a regional needs assessment through key stakeholder interviews,
2) Develop a training curriculum and materials
3) Deliver and evaluate two pilot training sessions (one in English, one in Spanish),
4) Formulate a four-year capacity building plan.
This program will be guided by internal and external Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and stakeholder advisories. The needs assessment and our previous research will inform the final training topic selection. We anticipate topics of: Struck-by Prevention & Situational Awareness, Prescribed Burning, Chainsaw Safety, Pesticide Safety, Slips, Trips & Falls, Musculoskeletal Disorders, Noise, Extreme Temperatures & Conditions, Fatigue Management, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Training for Young Workers, and Worker Rights and OSH. Based on the workforce's vast rural distribution we propose dual approach of field-based and online learning. Materials will be in English and Spanish: 1) tailgate training sheets, and 2) short video demonstrations. Field training sessions will be piloted, in English and Spanish, in Chelan County, a forest community that is ranked #1 for fire risk in Washington state and a district of active fuels reduction work.