KNOXVILLE — Manufacturers across Tennessee have taken an important step to ensure safe work environments by designating personnel to become Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) authorized outreach trainers through the state’s only OSHA Training Institute Education Center, the University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services (CIS).
Last year, OSHA chose UT CIS and North Carolina State University to serve as an OSHA Training Institute (OTI) Education Center for Region IV. UT and NCSU comprise the Southeastern OTI Education Center.
Fourteen individuals representing 12 organizations in Tennessee and one in North Carolina completed UT’s first OTI 501 Trainer Course in OSHA Standards for General Industry in January.
Using OSHA standards as a guide, instructors taught course participants the value of effective instructional approaches and the best uses of visual aids, presentations, online resources and handouts. Instructors included John Gleason from Tennessee OSHA (TOSHA), who pointed out differences in TOSHA standards and federal standards; private consultant Jim Kirk, who is a TOSHA retiree; and Bryan Lane, UT CIS consultant.
“Manufacturing jobs can be dangerous. Employees need to ‘sweat the small stuff’ and always be on the lookout for safety and health hazards,” Lane said.
“When company managers send employees to become authorized to deliver OSHA outreach training on-site, they are demonstrating a commitment to the safety of their employees. Safer working environments are a positive to any community, and UT is privileged to help the state’s manufacturers realize their goals of safer workplaces,” he said.
The OTI offers train-the-trainer courses in general industry and construction. Completing an OTI trainer course is the only way a person can earn OSHA authorization to deliver 10- and 30-hour OSHA outreach classes in general industry or construction.
Those who enroll in the trainer course must have at least five years experience in general industry safety. During the course, participants discussed ways to help employees look out for dangers in the workplace such as a faulty handrail, broken ladder or unguarded skylight or roofline. Electrical hazards, fall hazards and communication and notification requirements are among the most common dangers of which employees must be aware.
The following people became OSHA authorized outreach trainers following completion of the OTI 501 Trainer Course at UT CIS:
· Dean Beam, Required Training, LLC
· Dennis Boone, Kysor Panel Systems
· George Bowles, Bowles Health and Safety Services
· Dale Dumont, Goodman Manufacturing L.P.
· Alice Durham, USEC, Inc.
· Chris Evans, Malibu Boats West, Inc.
· H. Carlton Freeman, BIS Frucon Industrial Services
· Al Gourley, Glaxo Smith Kline
· Dennis Greer, Appalachian Valley Training Center
· Walter Idol, UT CIS
· Janet Rowe-Eikenberry, UT Medical Center
· Sheri Shanks, Cintas First Aid and Safety
· Ted Stolpe, Eagle Bend Manufacturing, Inc.
· Joseph Stringfield, Goodman Manufacturing L.P.
UT CIS is an agency of the statewide UT Institute for Public Service. The institute has 10 offices across the state and in fiscal year 2008 helped Tennessee manufacturers and communities achieve more than $1 billion in favorable economic impact.