OSHA Leaders to Discuss Addressing Challenges with UMass Lowell Experts
Image by TNEC
03/29/2021
Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-578-4664, Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
WHEN: Wednesday, March 31, 10:30 a.m.
WHERE: Online
WHAT: U.S. Department of Labor representatives responsible for employee health and safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic will discuss what lies ahead for the country’s workforce during a teleconference with The New England Consortium at UMass Lowell.
Joseph Hughes Jr., deputy assistant secretary for pandemic and emergency response for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, will share his perspective on OSHA initiatives to protect workers from COVID-19 and keep them safe as they respond to natural disasters and other emergencies. Hughes will be joined by OSHA’s Galen Blanton, who will discuss these efforts specifically for New England, as the agency’s administrator for the region.
Hughes and Blanton will offer their remarks during a meeting of TNEC’s advisory board, to be held via a teleconference that will be open to reporters.
“The meeting will explore ways to apply the best practices we’ve instituted to protect workers from COVID-19 to other training opportunities that aim to keep employees healthy and safe, based on new initiatives with the Biden administration,” said UMass Lowell’s David Turcotte, the consortium’s director and a national expert in providing workplace training to first responders who also serves as an economics research professor at the university.
Launched in 1987, TNEC provides health-and-safety training programs for hazardous-materials remediation workers who clean up after natural disasters and other emergencies. Last year, the consortium expanded its reach to offer employee training programs to help stem the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.
Members of the media who would like to attend the meeting should email UMass Lowell media relations at Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu to receive Zoom credentials to log on to the session.