UF TREEO awarded federal grant to develop training materials for confined spaces workers, employers

The University of Florida’s Training, Research and Environmental Occupations Center (UF TREEO) has been awarded a $75,000 Training & Education Materials Development Grant from the US Department of Labor through the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program. The grant will be used to develop high-quality, compliant training materials for English and Spanish speaking workers and employers who enter confined spaces.

The UF TREEO Center’s goal is to meet the training demand by addressing the gaps in experience, skills, and language proficiency levels of the workforce. After reviewing reports from the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), UF TREEO found that many training materials in construction are not primed for Spanish-speaking workers or English-speaking workers with low-literacy rates. The funding from the Susan Harwood Grant will be a catalyst to develop quality training materials and job aids to ensure workers in these populations understand how to select, use, and maintain PPE for confined spaces.