# AFC Hazardous Materials Worker Training

> **NIH NIH U45** · ALABAMA FIRE COLLEGE · 2020 · $562,009

## Abstract

With this application, the Alabama Fire College (AFC) Workplace Safety Training Program (WST) proposes
to continue delivering model NIEHS-funded training to two worker populations – members and employees
of Native American tribes nationwide and Public Safety Personnel within the southeastern U.S. Both target
populations face significant health and safety risks due to potential exposure to hazards during (1)
emergency response to uncontrolled releases of hazardous materials (hazmats), (2) emergency response
to disasters caused by terrorist attacks, accidental hazmat releases, or severe weather events, and (3) work
assessing and remediating uncontrolled hazardous waste dumps. They also face highly dangerous illicit
drug use and manufacture. All these emergencies represent significant hazards to the health and safety of
the responders and the communities they serve. The 573 federally recognized Native American tribes
include 1.9 million members living in the contiguous 48 states and Alaska on over 50 million acres of land
through which run hundreds of thousands of miles of rivers, roads, and railroad rights-of-way, making
transportation accidents a significant threat. Additionally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
there are 74,870 firefighters, 53,500 emergency medical technicians and paramedics and 137,740 police
and sheriff’s patrol officers in the southeastern states where the program has been most active: Alabama,
Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. AFC will be
joined by Native American Fish and Wildlife Society to promote the proposed training to tribal emergency
response personnel. AFC/WST will use the growing network of contacts developed over its 32-year history
(as WST) as well as the broader AFC’s leadership in North American Fire Training Directors and other
networks of training providers to carry training to public sector responders. This training will include existing
courses in topics such as hazardous materials emergency response, incident command systems, air
monitoring, mass casualty incident triage, confined space rescue, illicit drug response, and responder safety
during natural and man-made disasters. Hazardous materials training will be expanded to Hazmat
Technician level and hazardous waste worker initial and refresher training will be added to the training plan.
The training will be delivered directly by AFC instructors and through secondary training by trainees who
take the training back to their tribes and local agencies. AFC instructors are projected to directly train over
2,565 Native American responders and over 2,805 public sector responders in both programs. In addition,
peer trainers will use AFC materials to train an additional 1,080 of their peers. In total for the five years, AFC
projects to conduct over 360 classes to over 6,450 trainees in 98,600 contact hours through direct and
secondary training.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10059011
- **Project number:** 2U45ES006155-30
- **Recipient organization:** ALABAMA FIRE COLLEGE
- **Principal Investigator:** Kenneth Oldfield
- **Activity code:** U45 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $562,009
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1992-09-16 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10059011

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10059011, AFC Hazardous Materials Worker Training (2U45ES006155-30). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10059011. Licensed CC0.

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