RIT Begins Occupational Safety and Health Training

University’s new center is one of only 20 OSHA training sites nationwide

The OSHA Training Institute Education Center at Rochester Institute of Technology officially launched this month with a complete schedule of 58 courses.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration selected RIT as one of only 20 training sites nationwide and one of two primary centers serving New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

More than 100 people from New York, New Jersey, Alabama, Hawaii, and Quebec and Ontario provinces are receiving training on general industry, construction industry, and electrical, machinery and machine guarding standards, ergonomics, hazardous materials, industrial hygiene, respiratory protection and recordkeeping. Courses are taught at the RIT Inn & Conference Center and the General Building Contractors Safety Training Center in Spencerport. The center also offers customized on-site training for individual companies.

Last month, OSHA awarded the center $154,011 to study small-business safety and health management. RIT is recruiting six high-hazard small businesses for a new six-module online training program in safety and health management systems.

Another OSHA grant, worth $169,101, was awarded to RIT’s Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies to develop ergonomics training for retail grocery stores. The grants to RIT were two of only 50 awarded among 308 applicants.

RIT’s OSHA Training Institute Education Center is part of the university’s College of Applied Science and Technology, the college of innovation.