This morning, representatives from El Paso Community College’s (EPCC) Risk Management Institute and the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) participated in a signing ceremony to renew the Alliance Cooperative Program and to announce EPCC’s OSHA Ambassador Status.
EPCC has had a long-standing relationship with OSHA in training the area’s workforce to improve workplace health and safety. This collaborative program promotes worker safety, employer responsibility and ultimately contributes to safer workplaces in our region.
At the ceremony it was announced that EPCC is now an Alliance Program Ambassador, the first ambassador program in Department of Labor’s Region Six. Ambassador status is OSHA’s recognition that an Alliance participant has built and will continue to maintain a productive cooperative relationship with the agency. This will result in more expansive outreach, programming and training to improve workplace health and safety by sharing information, guidance and access to training resources that address occupational hazards. “We have been working with EPCC for several years and we truly appreciate EPCC’s commitment to helping OSHA fulfill our mission of ensuring safe and healthy working conditions for the workers of El Paso and West Texas by providing training, outreach and education,” Diego Alvarado, Jr. Area Director OSHA-El Paso Office said. “Our combined efforts help make El Paso one of the safest places to work, not only in Texas but within our region and even the entire United States.”
Prior to signing documents to formalize EPCC’s Alliance Program Ambassador Relationship with the El Paso Area Office OSHA Department of Labor, EPCC President Dr. William Serrata described how partnership like this are one example of the college’s mission of training a skilled workforce for our region. He renewed EPCC’s commitment to the partnership and spoke of the Alliance’s impact. “EPCC is synonymous with workforce development. When employers have a workforce need, companies can turn to EPCC for training, upskilling and reskilling,” Serrata said. “We are proud of our dynamic and growing partnership with U.S. Department of Labor OSHA to improve safety in our community’s workplaces as an Alliance Program Ambassador.”
In 2022, nearly 5,000 individuals were trained and thousands of others have completed courses in critical safety and health training since the program began in 2017. The trainings reach employees and employers across a wide variety of industries and different types of businesses. For example, during the pandemic more than 2,000 individuals were trained on safety as it relates to infectious diseases, including COVID-19 and use of Personal Protective Equipment. Workers and employers also received training in fall protection, electrical safety, confined spaces, fire safety, hazardous materials awareness, sexual harassment and numerous other courses. Not only do these trainings help workers, they also promote understanding of worker rights to employers and helps ensure local employers understand their OSHA responsibilities. “EPCC is proud to work with OSHA to successfully achieve these important training and education objectives,” Blayne Primozich, Associate Vice President of Workforce and Continuing Education said. “This Alliance creates a better-trained workforce and develops employers who are informed and equipped to keep their employees safe, which ultimately creates a safer community for us all.”
The Alliance provides programming that reaches employees and employers across a wide variety of industries and different types of businesses. Cameron Neal, a project engineer intern at Jordan Foster Construction, recently completed an OSHA 30 course at EPCC about hazards in the construction industry which focused on safety to prevent accidents on work sites. He said the course provided him important information and the resources necessary to reduce risks and provide safety remedies. “I encourage anyone who has not attended an EPCC OSHA course to do so. We all have the responsibility to identify hazards, implement controls, and reduce risks to the greatest extent possible,” Neal said. “You owe it to yourself, your team and your family.”
EPCC’s Risk Management Institute builds responsive partnerships with local businesses, specifically those with higher risk of workplace fatalities, accidents, and injuries, such as construction, to offer training that promotes safety. Training is customized and convenient based on the employer’s specific needs for locations, schedules, languages, and topics. Learn more at: http://go.epcc.edu/RiskManagement.
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