The USF Occupational Safety and Health Administration Training Institute Education Center (USF OTIEC) has answered to the need to provide more occupational and safety trainings online in Spanish.

“The USF OSHA Training Institute Education Center provides formal training to help workers understand the hazards that they may encounter in the workplace and, importantly, how to keep themselves safe and how to protect each other,” said Mylene Kellerman, program director of USF OTIEC. “And, we have many Spanish speaking workers in the field, especially in the state of Florida.”

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a federal regulatory agency. OSHA is part of the United States Department of Labor.  OSHA aims to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing standards, and by providing training and assistance to ensure that companies are aware of how to help protect workers from injury.

USF OTIEC is based in region four, which is one of the ten OSHA regions in the nation and focuses on the southeastern region of the U.S.  However, the OSHA 10-hour and 30-hour outreach online training courses for the Construction Industry and General Industry are available to anyone located within the U.S., according to Kellerman.

Kellerman said the online trainings focus on training workers about their rights, employer responsibilities, how to file a complaint, as well as how to recognize, abate and prevent job-related hazards.  

“From a public health perspective, it’s about making sure workers are safe and well-trained so that they can go home to their families at the end of the day,” Kellerman said.

For more information about the courses, pricing, and to sign–up for the 10 or 30-hour Outreach Trainings for the Construction Industry and/or General Industry in English and Spanish via USF online training, visit USF OTIEC’s website.

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health