Ryan Announces OSHA Awards Recipients

SPRINGFIELD -- Governor George H. Ryan today announced $359,000 in grants from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to conduct safety and health training programs in Illinois.

"These grants will help out in achieving safe and healthful workplaces throughout the entire State of Illinois." Ryan said. "It is very important to educate and train employers and workers in ways to reduce injuries and illnesses."

The Construction Safety Council in Hinsdale will receive two of the grants totaling $203,000. They will receive $96,000 for a grant renewal to continue to conduct three levels of training on power line hazards for construction workers and managers at risk of electrocution from power line contact. They also have been awarded $156,000 that will update fall prevention materials developed under a previous OSHA grant and utilize the materials to train workers in fall hazard awareness and supervisors in fall management.

The National Safety Council in Itasca will receive $107,000 in a grant renewal that will deliver training programs that teach trainers to conduct safety sessions addressing the control and abatement of hazards at highway construction worksites. The Council will provide periodicals to workers during training at construction sites.

"Many of the grants will focus on the injuries and illnesses in selected industries identified by OSHA's strategic plan - construction, health services and preventing amputations in manufacturing," said Assistant Secretary of Labor Charles N. Jeffress. "Others will provide training on such significant topics as ergonomics, food processing safety and silica hazards in general industry."

These grants are part of OSHA's $4,177,000 in Susan Harwood Training Grants to conduct safety and health training programs for more than 50,000 workers, supervisors and employers nationwide.

The grants are named in honor of the late Susan Harwood, a former director of the Office of Risk Assessment in OSHA's health standards directorate, who died in 1996. During her career, Harwood helped develop OSHA standards to protect workers exposed to bloodborne pathogens, cotton dust, benzene, formaldehyde, asbestos and lead in construction.