# Hazmat Disaster Preparedness Training Program

> **NIH NIH U45** · SUSTAINABLE WORKPLACE ALLIANCE, INC. · 2022 · $190,049

## Abstract

The Sustainable Workplace Alliance (SWA) proposes to provide model training and
outreach to workers engaged in emergency preparation and response activities.
The overarching goal of this program is to prevent work-related harm by assisting in
teaching first responders how best to protect themselves and their communities from
exposure to hazardous materials during emergency response.
For the last seven years, SWA and its alliance partners have been leading the HAZMAT
P.A.C.T. (Pacific Atlantic & Caribbean Training) initiative, and as a continuation of that initiative,
we will focus on providing outreach in Florida, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Hawaii.
Additionally, we will service the U.S. Territories of the Pacific Islands, including American
Samoa, Guam, Palau, and the Northern Mariana Islands. These locations are especially
vulnerable to severe weather related emergencies compounded by the effects of climate
change. Our needs assessments for other grant programs have identified other emergencies
such as oil spills, overturned tanker trucks, factory fires, ammonia & chlorine leaks and first
responder exposure to opioids as being current concerns for first responders and we will
provide training in these areas. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, worker populations
in our geographic targets include nearly 94,000 workers serving as first responders, including
fire, police and paramedics.
Trainees would typically be employed as fire fighters (career and volunteer), HAZMAT response
team members, police or paramedics. Additionally, Community Emergency Response Team
members, Local Emergency Planning Committee members and first receivers at hospitals.
Over the five year duration of this Hazmat Disaster Preparedness Training Program (HDPTP),
SWA will conduct 245 classes, train 3,205 responders and cover 38,000 contact hours.
This model training and outreach program is designed to reduce injuries and death has an
obvious positive effect on public health.
By providing HDPTP outreach to first responders and citizen response teams, we will foster
whole community resiliency and develop responders that are less likely to cause harm to
themselves, the community and the environment while performing their job as a responder.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10414040
- **Project number:** 5U45ES032171-03
- **Recipient organization:** SUSTAINABLE WORKPLACE ALLIANCE, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Krystal Pree Hepburn
- **Activity code:** U45 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $190,049
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-08-04 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10414040

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10414040, Hazmat Disaster Preparedness Training Program (5U45ES032171-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10414040. Licensed CC0.

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