The AFT has won a five-year grant from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop a comprehensive health and safety training program for school employees. Working in cooperation with the United Federation of Teachers in New York, the grant will help the AFT greatly expand its existing programs in this area.

The first year will be devoted to training special education paraprofessionals and teachers, as well as bus drivers and bus mechanics--among the groups of school employees who suffer the most on-the-job injuries. The plan is to train 80 special ed paras and teachers on common hazards they face on the job (such as back and other musculoskeletal injuries, blood-borne pathogens and communicable diseases, and other injuries related to student behavior), along with their rights under OSHA and the elements of health and safety committees. That first group will then be asked to train a minimum of 10 of their colleagues in small, informal settings.

Using a similar train-the-trainer approach, the AFT also hopes to train 25 bus drivers and garage mechanics on hazards specific to their work, including musculoskeletal injuries, student behavior, asbestos in brake shoes, solvents and diesel fumes. Training in future years will target office employees, food service workers, custodial-maintenance workers, school nurses and teachers (especially science, art and vocational education).