One Thing Leads to Another with IUOE

In 2009 we completed a massive project for the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE). We finished work on the union's manual for its 40-hour hazardous waste operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER) training. Starting in 2008 and ending in May, we rewrote, expanded, and generally overhauled the union's HAZWOPER training materials. The result was a 500-page, 18-chapter reference manual for operating engineers, who play a key role in cleaning up hazardous waste sites and were vital workers during the rescue, recovery, and cleanup operations at the World Trade Center. The new manual, which includes case studies, photographs, review questions, glossaries, discussion activities, and other features, received tremendous reviews from the trainers who began to use it during the fall.

The 40-hour manual naturally led us to take on the union's 8-hour HAZWOPER refresher manual. We completed that in the fall and will be making final revisions to it in January.

Also in 2009, we completed work on a manual for dealing with an avian influenza outbreak. We used some of our research for it in a chapter on pandemic influenza for the 8-hour course—certainly a timely piece of information with the H1N1 outbreak of 2009.

We also put the finishing touches on the IUOE's radiation worker safety and radiological dispersal device disaster response printed manuals as well as web-based training on the same topics.
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