NIH Hazardous Materials Worker Health and Safety Training (U45)

WHAT: Limited Submission Proposal for the NIH Hazardous Materials Worker Health and Safety Training (U45)

WHO:  Texas A&M University faculty, including Agriculture, Engineering and TTI personnel.

WHY:  Applicants can request support of up to $700,000 in direct costs in the first year.  Projects must be for a maximum of five years.

WHEN: Internal proposal deadline of August 3, 2009.

HOW:  Faculty should submit internal proposal to osppc@tamu.edu  for review by the internal selection committee.   

THE FINE PRINT:

The funding agency, NIH, has limited the number of proposals to one per institution.

BRIEF PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:  The NIH Hazardous Materials Worker Health and Safety Training Program is designed for cooperative agreements to support the development of model programs for the training and education or workers engaged in activities related to hazardous materials and waste generation, removal, containment, transportation and emergency response.  The major objective is to prevent work related harm by assisting in the training of workers in how best to protect themselves and their communities from exposure to hazardous materials encountered during hazardous waste operations, hazardous materials transportation, environmental restoration of contaminated facilities or chemical emergency response.   

A major goal of this program is to provide assistance to organizations in developing their institutional competency to provide appropriate model training to hazardous materials and waste workers.  Applications must cover at least two states.  The immediate goal of the program is educational in nature, designed to provide students with relevant information, problem-solving skills and the confidence needed to use these tools.  Long-term goals of the model training programs should be to assure that workers become and remain active participants in determining and improving the health and safety conditions under which they work and that avenues for collaborative employer-employee relationships in creating safe workplaces are established.

The three distinct program areas of this solicitation include:  Hazardous Waste Worker Training Program (HWWTP), Minority Worker Training Program (NWTP) and Hazmat Disaster Preparedness Training Program (HDPTP).  It is imperative that all applicants understand that they must apply for the HWWTP component in order to apply for the other program components. 

Applicants are encouraged to join with one or more nonprofit organizations in a single application and share resources in order to maximize worker group coverage, enhance the effectiveness of training and bring together appropriate academic disciplines and talents.  Also, applicants should include plans for reaching underserved workers in the proposed target populations especially those disadvantaged in education, language skills or limited in literacy.  The inclusion of institutions and organizations that have historical involvement and expertise in responding to environmental justice issues is also strongly encouraged.

Participation of minority institutions and community-based organizations from people of color communities may include the:  adaptation of curricula to address health disparities and environmental justice concerns; development of training programs that outreach to environmentally disadvantaged groups and non-English speaking populations; and delivery of high quality training that can augment efforts to promote toxic use reduction, emergency preparedness in the community, chemical process safety and pollution prevention.  Finally, additional health and safety training approaches are necessary for the areas of green remediation, green jobs, green chemistry, nanotechnology, new industrial processes and chemicals, and combustible dust.  Projects must be for a five year period.  Applicants may request up to $700,000 in direct costs in the first year. 

More information can be found at:

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-ES-09-004.html     

Internal Selection Procedures and Deadlines

July 31, 2009:  Deadline for an email of intent, including the names of the PI and co-PIs, title of internal proposal and a 1-3 sentence description of the project.  Send email of intent to osppc@tamu.edu     

August 3, 2009: Deadline to obtain signatures of approval from your department head and college dean to submit an internal proposal to the Research Policy and Development Support Office for review by the internal selection committee.  The internal proposal should include:

• An executive summary, up to three pages, based on the proposal description as outlined in the NIH program announcement;
• Summary budget;
• Project and Management Plans (including team members)

The form for completing the internal proposal is here. This completed form should be submitted electronically to osppc@tamu.edu for review by the internal selection committee.

*Once your internal proposal has been received with all of the necessary signatures, you will receive an email indicating it will be reviewed by the internal selection committee.  If you do not receive the confirmation email, please call 5-1812.*

Please read the RFP carefully for specific requirements of the program at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-ES-09-004.html         Selection of a proposal will be based on NIH guidelines.  The needs of the university’s reinvestment plan will also be taken into account. 

During the selection process, the internal selection committee may contact departments and colleges for their opinions and commitments.  They may also request additional information from PIs.

August 14, 2009: The Internal Selection Committee will notify PIs of the result of the internal competition.

October 23, 2009:  Deadline for optional, but recommended, letter of intent.

November 23, 2009:  Deadline for full proposal.