Bilingual Worker Protection Outreach and Capacity Building
College of Agricultural Sciences
Agricultural Biology
Larimer
County
(Statewide)
- Agriculture
- Equal time spent on-campus and in the field
Primary Topic:
Agriculture
Other Topics:
Horticulture, Food Systems, FCS, Nutrition, & Food Safety, Emergency Management
Internship Overview:
The Federal Worker Protection Standard (WPS) mandates annual pesticide safety trainings for agricultural employees who come into contact with pesticides at work. These trainings must be provided in a manner employees can understand; specifically, they are given orally to ensure that workers of all literacy levels receive critical safety information, and in a language employees understand. Trainings must be given by someone who is ‘qualified’ through specific activities, including attending an approved Train-the-Trainer workshop. A 2015 update to the WPS also stipulates that training materials must be approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to ensure compliance with required training topics and structure.
The Colorado Environmental Pesticide Education Program (CEPEP), housed in the department of Agricultural Biology at CSU has received US EPA approval for a Fieldworker Training Kit (“the Kit”), which addresses all required training elements for an annual pesticide safety training for fieldworkers. The curriculum relies on simple language and visual elements that illustrate key health and safety messages, including short, story-telling videos, interactive posters, and representative descriptive images as the basis for discussion. Lisa Blecker, one of the internship mentors, originally developed the Kit in collaboration with the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (WCAHS) while in a previous position and has had the opportunity to test and evaluate the curriculum. It has since been updated to reflect updates to the WPS and adapted for Colorado employers.
In the face of many barriers to compliance with WPS training requirements, employers rely on brief (20-30 mins) videos . Little interaction is expected. Further, these trainings are often given as one in a string of onboarding trainings given in the first few days of seasonal employment. The Kit can be used to replace onboarding videos or to supplement them as a refresher training throughout the growing season.
The intern will assist CEPEP staff in building capacity among employers and other stakeholders already active in agricultural communities to conduct WPS trainings using the Kit. This includes establishing key contacts, coordinating and delivering an approved Train-the-Trainer workshop to qualify them to provide trainings to agricultural employees, disseminating Kits to stakeholders, and developing a mechanism to evaluate and continuously improve curriculum and trainings. Fieldworkers trained through this approach will receive a higher quality of training, and ultimately, will learn and retain more of the information delivered, as compared to the traditional training approach. Thus, this project will also support agricultural workers’ health and safety.
The Colorado Environmental Pesticide Education Program (CEPEP), housed in the department of Agricultural Biology at CSU has received US EPA approval for a Fieldworker Training Kit (“the Kit”), which addresses all required training elements for an annual pesticide safety training for fieldworkers. The curriculum relies on simple language and visual elements that illustrate key health and safety messages, including short, story-telling videos, interactive posters, and representative descriptive images as the basis for discussion. Lisa Blecker, one of the internship mentors, originally developed the Kit in collaboration with the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (WCAHS) while in a previous position and has had the opportunity to test and evaluate the curriculum. It has since been updated to reflect updates to the WPS and adapted for Colorado employers.
In the face of many barriers to compliance with WPS training requirements, employers rely on brief (20-30 mins) videos . Little interaction is expected. Further, these trainings are often given as one in a string of onboarding trainings given in the first few days of seasonal employment. The Kit can be used to replace onboarding videos or to supplement them as a refresher training throughout the growing season.
The intern will assist CEPEP staff in building capacity among employers and other stakeholders already active in agricultural communities to conduct WPS trainings using the Kit. This includes establishing key contacts, coordinating and delivering an approved Train-the-Trainer workshop to qualify them to provide trainings to agricultural employees, disseminating Kits to stakeholders, and developing a mechanism to evaluate and continuously improve curriculum and trainings. Fieldworkers trained through this approach will receive a higher quality of training, and ultimately, will learn and retain more of the information delivered, as compared to the traditional training approach. Thus, this project will also support agricultural workers’ health and safety.
Goals, Scope and Objectives:
The goal of this internship is to support efforts to build capacity among agricultural employers and other stakeholders to provide WPS pesticide safety trainings for agricultural fieldworkers throughout Colorado. The intern will be directly involved with efforts to expand capacity to magnify outreach by developing a statewide network of stakeholders qualified and prepared to provide these trainings, working with the CEPEP team to translate the curriculum, preparing and disseminating the Kit to stakeholders, and evaluating and making updates to the curriculum as needed. Creating strong connections with key stakeholders from various county, state, extension, and private organizations is vital to ensuring the success of this program. To contribute to the internship goals, scope, and objectives, the ideal applicant will meet the following criteria:
• Have skills to speak, read, and write in English and Spanish
• Be able to travel within Colorado, with the possibility of overnights
• Have skills in public speaking and/or training facilitation, and a desire to practice and improve them
• Have a working knowledge of agricultural practices in Colorado
• Have skills to speak, read, and write in English and Spanish
• Be able to travel within Colorado, with the possibility of overnights
• Have skills in public speaking and/or training facilitation, and a desire to practice and improve them
• Have a working knowledge of agricultural practices in Colorado
With which stakeholder group(s) will the intern work?
The intern will work with agricultural employers throughout Colorado, Extension Faculty, Workforce Development staff, Colorado Legal Services employees, Project Protect Promotora Network employees, Community Health employees, and the Colorado Migrant and Rural Coalition (CMRC). CMRC members include staff from CEPEP as well as many of the organizations mentioned above.
What student learning outcomes do you anticipate and what are the opportunities for professional development?
The intern will gain skills necessary to conduct community outreach and engagement. They will learn how to connect people and organizations to applicable resources, build stakeholder capacity by providing technical and training assistance support, and coordinate training workshop logistics. In addition, they will enhance their English to Spanish translation skills as well as their public speaking and workshop facilitation skills. The intern will also gain a working knowledge of the WPS and how to support employer and worker compliance with the training rules and regulations.
