Office Assistant Patricia Trainor, left, and Director Mike Flynn.

Safety

The IAM’s Safety & Health Department, in conjunction with the nonprofit IAM CREST (Corporation for Re-Employment and Safety Training), has experienced growth immediately after the last Grand Lodge Convention. However, subsequent to the 9/11 attacks, the downturn of the economy and the changes in the political landscape of Washington, requests for training services provided by the department have declined.

During these lean times and with the support of our Executive Council, our dedicated group of instructors, Vocational Counselors, and support staff continue to provide invaluable services to the members. Their efforts in facilitating safety training programs, responding expediently with guidance on safety and health issues for the representatives and providing vocational rehabilitative counseling to the injured members at Boeing are the core components of the department.

With a staff of four instructors, the department has developed a curriculum covering scores of subjects, including: General Safety and Health, OSHA 10-, 30- and 40-hour Industry Outreach, Shipbuilder/Repair Industry Outreach, Ergonomics 1 & 2, Hazardous Materials & Emergency Response, Hazard Communications, Personal & Chemical Protective Equipment, Confined Space Awareness, Lockout/Tagout, Occupational Noise Exposure, Area Inspections, Accident Investigation, Respirator, Monitoring, Toxicology, Bloodborne Pathogens, Emergency Evacuation, Emergency Action Planning, Safety Awareness and Train-the-Trainer programs.

Over 3,400 members have received training and, in some cases, the training was in Joint Labor/Management settings. Our dedicated Associate Instructors and our rank and file members from around North America have assisted us in providing this training.

IAM CREST continues to deliver OSHA 501 courses under the certification held by Eastern Michigan University. This certification has been granted to only twelve institutions by OSHA. We are fortunate to be able to provide these certified courses to our members who can use this knowledge to assist in bringing their workplaces into OSHA compliance.

There are three general categories of training:

Grant Funded
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences funds two of these worker-training programs. We have one for Department of Energy employees, which targets our members in the nuclear sector. Another grant funds training for members who work with or are exposed to hazardous materials/chemicals. During 2000 and 2001 we received grant funds from the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. We were able to provide training to our members who worked in the smaller shops. Though this program was successful, the economic pressures forced the state to rescind funding of this program.

Fee for Service Training
This training is provided by IAM CREST and funded by the employers. Some 40 employers from every sector within the IAM have requested this training. As a nonprofit corporation, IAM CREST is required by the IRS statute to apply any profits earned from our services to similar or related services. With these profits, IAM CREST has invested in the ongoing development of new curriculums, building our electronic research library, creating extensive databases for ergonomic and general safety training modules prepared for distribution and a host of resource materials available for training or upon request from our members.