Rick Woychik (Ph.D.) directs NIEHS as well as the National Toxicology Program. (Image courtesy NIEHS2021 Sharon BeardServed as director of the NIEHS Worker Training Program(WTP), she brings decades of experience and leadership skills to her new position. She is preceded by Joseph “Chip” Hughes, who left WTP to become Deputy Assistant Secretary for Pandemic and Emergency Response in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Mrs. Beard led the institute’s Environmental Career Worker Training Program(ECWTP) has been in existence for over 25 years. Previously, the Minority Worker Training Program was known as the ECWTP. That position required collaboration-building, long-term strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of both the job-related and socioeconomic challenges faced by workers involved in hazardous waste removal, disaster response, and related projects.
Beard is a Member of the American Public Health Association as well as the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. (Photo courtesy Sharon Beard / NIEHSMrs. Beard is an industrial hygienist. Mrs. Beard is considered a national leader in this field. Based on her outstanding contributions to industrial health and safety, she was awarded the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s 2021 Rachel Carson Award. Beard was awarded the Lorin Kerr Award by the American Public Health Association in 2013. This award recognizes Beard’s efforts in developing effective training programs to support low-income workers.
Her expertise is used to manage WTP’s day-to-day operations. The organization funds long-standing cooperative agreements as well as grants for training people on how to stay safe when working in hazardous environments. This requires collaboration from stakeholders and partners across the country. Mrs. Mrs. Environmental justice issues(https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/index.cfm?id=13). Her leadership priorities are informed by her understanding of how disadvantaged individuals — whether due to factors such as place, race, or income — are often most vulnerable to natural disasters, the negative health effects of climate change, and other environmental challenges.
Mrs. Beard serves on NIEHS Environmental Health Disparities and Environmental Justice Facultyand the White House Environmental Justice Interagency Advisory Council. She also supports the advancement of the Justice40 InitiativeThe Biden administration has led an initiative to ensure that 40% federal investments in clean energy benefits disadvantaged communities.
Recently, I spoke to Mrs. Beard to find out more about her experiences at WTP. Also, what inspired her to pursue a career working in industrial hygiene, particularly in the area of environmental worker safety and health (see sidebar). One thing that stood out in our conversation was her passion for translating research on occupational and environmental hazards into practical advice for workers exposed to potentially harmful conditions.
Hazardous materials, disasters and infectious diseases
Rick Woychik:Can you tell us about the history of WTP?
Sharon Beard: Sure. After Congress passed the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization act in 1986, our program was established. We are what I call the applied arm NIEHS. We take the research and translate it into training and tools that help workers and volunteers in hazardous materials, disaster relief, and environmental cleanup to understand potential health risks and how they can protect themselves.
Beard, shown here at a 2014 WTP meeting, earned a master’s degree in environmental science and management from Tufts University. (Photo courtesy Steve McCaw/NIEHS)We build partnerships with our grantees — labor organizations, nonprofit groups, and educational institutions, among others — to create hands-on worker training. We initially focused on hazardous material training. However, we have since expanded. WTP includes ECWTP, which assists disadvantaged workers in gaining valuable job and life skills; collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy for individuals to train at nuclear facilities; safety education related to infectious disease such as Ebola, and more recently COVID-19.
Organizations we partner with — whether we’re talking about the Center for Construction Research and Training; nonprofits that focus on vulnerable populations; or a group like OAI, Inc., which works with underrepresented and diverse worker populations — are invaluable in terms of building community trust and advancing worker health and safety. WTP supports many programs in the U.S. and has been involved in all types of emergency response activities. These include major oil spillages and 9/11, as well as climate-related disasters like hurricanes, wildfires and floods.
We also strive to make training relevant to the target population. Language justice is what I refer to. If we are training people for whom English is not their first language, then our materials are presented in their native language. This is because it is how you increase comprehension of the educational content. Peer-to-peer learning is also used. For example, a carpenter can master the content and then share that knowledge with other carpenters. This is all about effective communication, engagement, and ensuring that the training provided by our grantees has maximum effect.
I should also mention that WTP also established the National Clearinghouse for Worker Safety and Health Training. This has been integral in providing our grantees safety protocols, curricula, and technical reports as well as relevant news in the field of worker training.
Helping communities that are struggling to thrive
RW:You mentioned ECWTP, with which you have been involved since its inception back in 1995. Can you talk a little bit about the success of that program and how you are building on that success to help advance President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative?
SB:One thing I learned from my work with environmental justice groups while at Tufts University was that collaboration is crucial. NIEHS was primarily focused on partnerships with major construction companies, and we hadn’t really expanded to create more partnerships when I arrived. I focused my efforts on trying to bring together all the players so that ECWTP could succeed in helping the unemployed and the underemployed, homeless people, and individuals who might have been incarcerated.
Our grantees created effective training programs while participants gained the skills needed to be productive members within their communities. This was our goal. To transform ECWTP and achieve remarkable results, we partnered with community colleges, historically Black colleges and universities, apprenticeship programs and various non-profits.
Beard is shown here at a 2015 WTP meeting. He is a skilled teambuilder who is the perfect fit to lead WTP where collaboration and partnerships are so crucial. (Photo courtesy Steve McCaw/NIEHS)Our grantees have trained over 13,500 people to date. 70% of those people have found jobs in emergency response, construction, hazardous materials, waste handling, and environmental restoration. Some of these stories are truly amazing. Participants have gone from living in poverty, to earning over $100,000 per annum and being able afford to send their children off to college. Additionally, an Economic impact report examining ECWTP’s benefit to local communities showed that between 1995 and 2013, the program’s annual investment of $3 million led to a total gain of $1.79 billion dollars, or roughly a $100 million return each year.
ECWTP is about helping disadvantaged communities. That is why we were selected for the Justice40 pilot program. We are a natural fit because 100% of the training initiatives that we fund go directly to underserved communities. We provide the tools and resources that participants need in order to be successful. ECWTP can be used as a model for projects beyond environmental career training. I look forward to sharing what we have done and helping to inform wider efforts across the country.
Climate resilience in the most difficult-hit areas
RW:NIEHS is a key partner in the NIH’s leadership, as you all know. [National Institutes of Health]Climate Change and Health Initiative. Can you share with Environmental Factor readers some of WTP’s efforts related to enhancing climate-vulnerable workers’ health and safety?
SB:WTP has a long history helping workers in major disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spillage. We have a wealth of knowledge that is based on these experiences, which will be used to inform our training for climate-vulnerable workers.
We Published a report in 2015.The study evaluated how climate change would affect worker safety and health. Also, we are hosting an upcoming workshop, titled “Preparing Workers for the Impacts of Climate Change Through Training,” that will focus on revising our report and developing priorities for responding to future climate-related events [see second sidebar]. The report helped us to create more effective training, especially in low income areas and communities of colour, where climate-related events tend to strike hardest.
These events show that many communities suffer multiple impacts over the years such as repeated flooding. Our goal is to increase resilience so that people can protect their families and take part in emergency response activities.
WTP will continue to address the challenges of climate-vulnerable people or train the next generation in hazardous waste workers. I am confident that the large network of grantees will continue responding to the needs of their communities, and deliver incredible results. I am proud of the achievements of our program and look forward to many more years. WTP has been more effective, more inclusive, more responsive than ever, and it is all due to the collaborative approach that was adopted.
(Rick Woychik Ph.D. directs NIEHS/the National Toxicology Program.
