Health aides in hospitals do hard work, especially the constant lifting and moving of patients. As a consequence, they have one of the highest on-the-job injury rates in the country.

Many paraprofessionals who work in special education programs essentially do the same strenuous work as health aides--but often without the training they need to perform their jobs safely and prevent injuries.

For years, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in New York City--which represents thousands of special ed paras--has been pushing the city board of education to develop a health and safety training program for paras. "We have more than 7,000 paras working in special ed, and they usually get no training whatsoever," says Maria Portalatin, the UFT's paraprofessional chapter chair and an AFT vice president. "We had to do something because they're thrown into situations that sometimes are very dangerous."

Instead of continuing to fight with the board of ed, the UFT developed its own training for paras. More than 2,000 were trained this year. And while Portalatin says her members love the training, "this is just like touching the tip of the iceberg" compared to what every para in the city schools should be receiving.

The UFT was able to develop and conduct the training, in part, with help from a state occupational health and safety grant. Using the union's health and safety staff and other trainers, the UFT offered the training throughout New York City's boroughs, sometimes for a full day, other times for a few hours. The union is discussing with the board of education ways to free up more time for training because paras have so few professional development days.

The typical training session covers a wide range of issues, including medical procedures and medications, blood-borne pathogens, infectious and communicable diseases, universal precautions, lifting and moving, feeding and toileting, personal protective equipment, assaults and workplace violence, and Worker's Compensation. The all-day sessions might include a half-day of health and safety training and a half-day on some other vital issue, such as violence prevention, individual education plans (or IEPs) or communication skills.

"The beauty of this training is that the paras see that this is something that is being done by the UFT, and they're really gaining a lot from it," says Portalatin. "It's getting us a lot closer to the members. It really is a wonderful program."

If the union receives additional state grants it has applied for to continue the health and safety training for paras, thousands more will be trained in coming years.