Trainings Take to the Web

As the economy reopens amid a viral pandemic the medical community admits it knows little about, vetted, expert information on how to stay safe on the job is an invaluable resource. MassCOSH’s COVID-19 TOOLKIT FOR WORKERS: Health and Safety Protections and How to Make Them Happen is updated regularly to provide workers with industry-specific health and safety advice and organizing tips and now includes information for workers returning to work as part of the State’s phased reopening plan. Click here to view in English or Spanish.

With in-person coronavirus trainings unsafe, MassCOSH has also taken to the internet to help workers with specific questions about their safety and their rights during a pandemic. On May 28, MassCOSH held a virtual Reopening Worker Safety Town Hall on zoom and Facebook to help answer people’s questions in real time. Reaching over 2,200 viewers, the event was translated into Spanish and Portuguese in real-time and included legal staff from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and Justice at Work to field questions. 

On June 15, MassCOSH’s Teens Lead @ Work (TL@W) program held a Reopening Massachusetts and Youth Summer Jobs Programs webinar. Attended by 32 viewers, the event provided essential information for organizations hiring teens this summer on how to ensure their safety and comply with all state guidelines.  The webinar also offered tips for programs planning all-remote, in-person or hybrid programs and ways to make these exceedingly difficult undertakings more manageable.  A recording of the webinar can be viewed here.

MassCOSH is now able to provide free worker training on a variety of health and safety topics, including infectious disease/COVID-19 virtually thanks to an OSHA Susan Harwood Training Grant.  For more information or to set up a training, contact Ben Weilerstein at ben.w@masscosh.org.  TL@W is also able to offer virtual trainings, led by teens for teens, on general health and safety, infectious disease, heat stress, and workplace violence and de-escalation, and sexual harassment contact Jenny Fernandez at jenny.fernandez@masscosh.org for more information. All trainings include an overview of workers, rights.