[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 81 (Thursday, April 28, 1994)] [Unknown Section] [Page ] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 94-10112] [Federal Register: April 28, 1994] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Announcement Number 123] RIN 0905-ZA04 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Grants for Education Programs in Occupational Safety and Health Notice of Availability of Funds for Fiscal Year 1995 Introduction The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces that applications are being accepted for fiscal year (FY) 1995 training grants in occupational safety and health. The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving the health promotion and disease prevention objectives of Healthy People 2000, a PHS-led national activity to reduce morbidity and mortality and improve the quality of life. This announcement is related to the priority area of Occupational Safety and Health. (For ordering a copy of Healthy People 2000, see the Section Where To Obtain Additional Information.) Authority This program is authorized under section 21(a) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 670(a)). Regulations applicable to this program are in 42 CFR part 86, ``Grants for Education Programs in Occupational Safety and Health.'' Smoke-Free Workplace The Public Health Service strongly encourages all grant recipients to provide a smoke-free workplace and promote the non-use of all tobacco products. This is consistent with the PHS mission to protect and advance the physical and mental health of the American people. Eligible Applicants Any public or private educational or training agency or institution that has demonstrated competency in the occupational safety and health field and is located in a State, the District of Columbia, or U.S. Territory is eligible to apply for a training grant. Availability of Funds and Recipient Activities CDC expects approximately $11,472,000 to be available in FY 1995. A. Approximately $10,422,000 of the total funds available will be utilized as follows: 1. To award approximately ten non-competing continuation and four competing continuation Educational Resource Center (ERC) training grants totaling approximately $8,354,000 and ranging from approximately $400,000 to $800,000 with the average award being approximately $595,000. The following are the required characteristics of Educational Resource Centers. An Occupational Safety and Health Educational Resource Center shall be an identifiable organizational unit within the sponsoring organization and shall consist of the following characteristics: a. Cooperative arrangements with a medical school or teaching hospital (with an established program in preventive or occupational medicine); with a school of nursing or its equivalent; with a school of public health or its equivalent; and with a school of engineering or its equivalent. Other schools or departments with relevant disciplines and resources shall be expected to be represented and contribute as appropriate to the conduct of the total program, e.g., epidemiology, toxicology, biostatistics, environmental health, law, business administration, education. Specific mechanisms to implement the cooperative arrangements between departments, schools/colleges, universities, etc., shall be demonstrated in order to assure that the multidisciplinary training and education that is intended will be engendered. b. A Center Director who possesses a demonstrated capacity for sustained productivity and leadership in occupational health and safety education and training. The Director shall oversee the general operation of the Center Program and shall, to the extent possible, directly participate in training activities. Provisions shall be made to employ a Deputy Director who shall be responsible for managing the daily administrative duties of the Center and to increase the Center Director's availability to ERC staff and to the public. At least one full-time equivalent effort shall be demonstrated between the two positions. c. Program Directors who are full-time faculty and professional staff representing various disciplines and qualifications relevant to occupational safety and health who are capable of planning, establishing, and carrying out or administering training projects undertaken by the Center. Each academic core program as well as the continuing education and outreach program shall have a Program Director. d. Faculty and staff with demonstrated training and research expertise, appropriate facilities and ongoing training and research activities in occupational safety and health areas. e. A program for conducting education and training of occupational physicians, occupational health nurses, industrial hygienists, industrial hygiene engineers and occupational safety personnel. There shall be a minimum of five full-time students in each of the core programs, with a goal of a minimum of 30 full-time students (total in all of core programs together). It is most desirable for a Center to have the full range of core programs; however, a Center with three core programs is eligible for support providing it is demonstrated that students will be exposed to the principles and issues of all four core disciplines. Training may also be conducted in other allied occupational safety and health disciplines, e.g., industrial toxicology, biostatistics and epidemiology, and ergonomics. Each core program curriculum shall include courses from non-core categories as well as appropriate clinical rotations and field experiences with public health and safety agencies and with labor-management health and safety groups. Where possible, field experience shall involve students representing other disciplines in a manner similar to that used in team surveys and other team approaches. f. A specific plan describing how trainees will be exposed to the principles of all other occupational safety and health core and allied disciplines. Consortium Centers generally have geographic, policy and other barriers to achieving this Center characteristic and, therefore, must give special, if not innovative, attention to thoroughly describing the approach for fulfilling the multidisciplinary interaction between students. g. Demonstrated impact of the ERC on the curriculum taught by relevant medical specialties, including family practice, internal medicine, dermatology, orthopaedics, pathology, radiology, neurology, perinatal medicine, psychiatry, etc., and on the curriculum of other schools such as engineering, business, law and the medical school. h. An outreach program to interact with and help other institutions or agencies located within the region. Examples of outreach activities might include activities such as: Interaction with other colleges and schools within the ERC and with other universities or institutions in the region to integrate occupational safety and health principles and concepts within existing curricula (e.g., Colleges of Business Administration, Engineering, Architecture, Law, and Arts and Sciences); exchange of occupational safety and health faculty among regional educational institutions; providing curriculum materials and consultation for curriculum/course development in other institutions; use of a visiting faculty program to involve labor and management leaders; cooperative and collaborative arrangements with professional societies, scientific associations, and boards of accreditation, certification, or licensure; and presentation of awareness seminars to undergraduate and secondary educational institutions (e.g., high school science fairs and career days) as well as to labor, management and community associations. i. A specific plan for preparing, distributing and conducting courses, seminars and workshops to provide short-term and continuing education training courses for physicians, nurses, industrial hygienists, safety engineers and other occupational safety and health professionals, paraprofessionals and technicians, including personnel from labor-management health and safety committees, in the geographical region in which the Center is located. The goal shall be that the training be made available to a minimum of 400 trainees/year representing all of the above categories of personnel, on an approximate proportional basis with emphasis given to providing occupational safety and health training to physicians in family practice, as well as industrial practice, industrial nurses, and safety engineers. Where appropriate, it shall be professionally acceptable in that Continuing Education Units (as approved by appropriate professional associations) may be awarded. These courses should be structured so that higher educational institutions, public health and safety agencies, professional societies or other appropriate agencies can utilize them to provide training at the local level to occupational health and safety personnel working in the workplace. Further, the Center shall conduct periodic training needs assessments, shall develop a specific plan to meet these needs, and shall have demonstrated capability for implementing such training directly and through other institutions or agencies in the region. The Center should establish and maintain cooperative efforts with labor unions, government agencies, and industry trade associations, where appropriate, thus serving as a regional resource for addressing the problems of occupational safety and health that are faced by State and local governments, labor and management. j. A Board of Advisors or Consultants representing the user and affected population, including representatives of labor, industry, government agencies, academic institutions and professional associations, shall be established by the Center. The Board shall meet regularly to advise a Center Executive Committee and to provide periodic evaluation of Center activities. The Executive Committee shall be composed of the Center Director and Deputy Director, academic Program Directors, the Directors for Continuing Education and Outreach and others whom the Center Director may appoint to assist in governing the internal affairs of the Center. k. A defined research plan for the purposes of establishing a research base within the core occupational safety and health disciplines and within the ERC infrastructure as a whole, and for the training of researchers in occupational safety and health. The plan will include how the Center intends to strengthen existing research training efforts, and how it will expand these research activities to impact on other primarily clinically-oriented disciplines, such as nursing and medicine. (In nursing, for example, the development of the nursing research area should be consistent with national strategies outlined by professional nursing and occupational health nursing specialty groups to enhance nursing research productivity and to increase the number of nurse researchers for the future.) Each ERC is required to identify or develop a minimum of one, preferably more, areas of research focus related to work environment problems. Consideration shall be given to, but not limited to, the top ten work- related diseases and injuries targeted by CDC/NIOSH. In addition to the research and research training components, the plan will also include such items as specific strategies for obtaining student and faculty funding, plans for renovating or acquiring facilities and equipment, if appropriate, and a plan for developing research-oriented faculty. l. Evidence in obtaining support from other funds, including other Federal grants, support from States and other public agencies, and support from the private sector including grants from foundations and corporate endowments, chairs, and gifts. 2. Approximately $247,000 of the available funds as specified in A.1. will be awarded to ERCs to support the development of specialized educational programs in agricultural safety and health within the existing core disciplines of industrial hygiene, occupational medicine, occupational health nursing, and occupational safety. Program support is available for faculty and staff salaries, trainee costs, and other costs to educate professionals in agricultural safety and health. 3. To award approximately twenty-six non-competing continuation and thirteen competing continuation long-term training project grants (TPG) totaling $2,068,000 and ranging from approximately $10,000 to $500,000, with the average award being $53,000, to support academic programs in the fields of industrial hygiene, occupational health nursing, occupational/industrial medicine, and occupational safety. The following are the types of occupational safety and health training programs that are eligible for support. The awards are normally for training programs of 1 academic year. They are intended to augment the scope, enrollment, and quality of training programs rather than to replace funds already available for current operations. The types of training currently eligible for support are: a. Graduate training for practice, teaching, and research careers in occupational safety and health. Priority will be given to programs producing graduates in areas (i.e., disciplines such as occupational health nursing) of greatest occupational safety and health need. b. Undergraduate and other pre-baccalaureate training providing trainees with capabilities for positions in occupational safety and health professions. c. Special technical or other programs for training of occupational safety and health technicians or specialists. d. Special programs for development of occupational safety and health training curricula and educational materials, including mechanisms for effectiveness testing and implementation. Awards will be made for a 1- to 5-year project period with an annual budget period. Funding estimates may vary and are subject to change. Non-competing continuation awards within the approved project periods will be made on the basis of satisfactory progress and the availability of funds. B. Approximately $1,050,000 of the total funds available will be awarded to ERCs to support the development and presentation of continuing education and short courses and academic curricula for trainees and professionals engaged in the management of hazardous substances. These funds are provided to NIOSH/CDC through an Interagency Agreement with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences as authorized by section 209(b) of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986 (100 STAT. 1708- 1710). The hazardous substance training (HST) funds are being used to supplement previous hazardous substance continuing education grant support provided to the ERCs in FY 1984 and 1985 under the authority of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 as amended by SARA for the ERC continuing education program. The hazardous substance academic training (HSAT) funds are being used to supplement continuing industrial hygiene core program support to develop and offer academic curricula in the hazardous substance field primarily for industrial hygiene trainees. Program support is available for faculty and staff salaries, trainee costs, and other costs to provide training and education for occupational safety and health and other professional personnel engaged in the evaluation, management, and handling of hazardous substances. The policies regarding project periods also apply to these activities. Purpose The objective of this grant program is to award funds to eligible institutions or agencies to assist in providing an adequate supply of qualified professional and para-professional occupational safety and health personnel to carry out the purposes of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Review and Evaluation Criteria In reviewing ERC grant applications, consideration will be given to: 1. Needs assessment directed to the overall contribution of the training program toward meeting the job market, especially within the applicant's region, for qualified personnel to carry out the purposes of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. The needs assessment should consider the regional requirements for outreach, continuing education, information dissemination, and special industrial or community training needs that may be peculiar to the region. 2. Plans to satisfy the regional needs for training in the areas outlined by the application, including projected enrollment, recruitment and current workforce populations. The need for supporting students in allied disciplines must be specifically justified in terms of user community requirements. 3. Extent to which arrangements for day-to-day management, allocation of funds and cooperative arrangements are designed to effectively achieve Characteristics of an Educational Resource Center. (See A.1.a.- l.) 4. Extent to which curriculum content and design includes formalized training objectives, minimal course content to achieve certificate or degree, course descriptions, course sequence, additional related courses open to occupational safety and health students, time devoted to lecture, laboratory and field experience, and the nature of specific field and clinical experiences including their relationships with didactic programs in the educational process. 5. Academic training including the number of full-time and part- time students and graduates for each core program, the placement of graduates, employment history, and their current location by type of institution (academic, industry, labor, etc.). Previous continuing education training in each discipline and outreach activity and assistance to groups within the ERC region. 6. Methods in use or proposed methods for evaluating the effectiveness of training and services including the use of placement services and feedback mechanisms from graduates as well as employers, critiques from continuing education courses, and reports from consultations and cooperative activities with other universities, professional associations, and other outside agencies. 7. Competence, experience and training of the Center Director, the Deputy Center Director, the Program Directors and other professional staff in relation to the type and scope of training and education involved. 8. Institutional commitment to Center goals. 9. Academic and physical environment in which the training will be conducted, including access to appropriate occupational settings. 10. Appropriateness of the budget required to support each academic component of the ERC program, including a separate budget for the academic staff's time and effort in continuing education and outreach. 11. Evidence of a plan describing the research and research training the Center proposes. This shall include goals, elements of the program, research faculty and amount of effort, support faculty, facilities and equipment available and needed, and methods for implementing and evaluating the program. 12. Evidence of success in attaining outside support to supplement the ERC grant funds including other Federal grants, support from States and other public agencies, and support from the private sector including grants from foundations and corporate endowments, chairs, and gifts. In reviewing long-term TPG applications, consideration will be given to: 1. Need for training in the program area outlined by the application. This should include documentation of ability and a plan for student recruitment, projected enrollment, job opportunities, regional/national need both in quality and quantity, and similar programs, if any within the geographic area. 2. Potential contribution of the project toward meeting the needs for graduate or specialized training in occupational safety and health. 3. Curriculum content and design which should include formalized program objectives, minimal course content to achieve certificate or degree, course sequence, related courses open to students, time devoted to lecture, laboratory and field experience, nature and the interrelationship of these educational approaches. 4. Previous records of training in this or related areas, including placement of graduates. 5. Methods proposed to evaluate effectiveness of the training. 6. Degree of institutional commitment: Is grant support necessary for program initiation or continuation? Will support gradually be assumed? Is there related instruction that will go on with or without the grant? 7. Adequacy of facilities (classrooms, laboratories, library services, books, and journal holdings relevant to the program, and access to appropriate occupational settings). 8. Competence, experience, training, time commitment to the program and availability of faculty to advise students, faculty/student ratio, and teaching loads of the program director and teaching faculty in relation to the type and scope of training involved. The program director must be a full-time faculty member. 9. Admission Requirements: Student selection standards and procedures, student performance standards and student counseling services. 10. Advisory Committee (if established): Membership, industries and labor groups represented; how often they meet; who they advise, role in designing curriculum and establishing program need. Funding Allocation Criteria For Educational Resource Center grants, the following criteria will be considered in determining funding allocations. 1. Academic Core Programs a. Budget to support programs primarily for personnel and other personnel-related costs. Advanced (doctoral and post-doctoral) and specialty (master's) programs will be considered. b. Budget to support programs based on program quality and need. Factors considered include faculty commitment/breadth, faculty reputation/strength, national/regional workforce needs, unique program contribution, interdisciplinary interaction, and technical merit. c. Budget to support students based on the program level and the number of students supported. d. Budget to support research training programs to establish a research base within core disciplines and for the training of researchers in occupational safety and health. 2. Center Administration Budget to support Center administration to assure coordination and promotion of academic programs. 3. Continuing Education/Outreach Program Budget to support outreach and continuing education activities to prepare, distribute, and conduct short courses, seminars, and workshops. 4. Hazardous Substance Training Programs Budget to support the development and presentation of continuing education courses for professionals engaged in the management of hazardous substances. 5. Hazardous Substance Academic Training Programs Budget to support the development and presentation of specialized academic programs in hazardous substance management. 6. Agricultural Safety and Health Academic Programs Budget to support the development and presentation of specialized academic programs and continuing education courses in agricultural safety and health. For Long-Term Training Project grants, the following factors will be considered in determining funding allocations: Academic Core Programs a. Budget to support programs primarily for personnel and other personnel-related costs. Advanced (doctoral and post-doctoral), specialty (master's), and baccalaureate/associate programs will be considered. b. Budget to support programs based on program quality and need. Factors considered include faculty commitment/breadth, faculty reputation/strength, national/regional workforce needs, unique program contribution, interdisciplinary interaction, and technical merit. c. Budget to support students based on the program level and the number of students supported. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number (CFDA) The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number is 93.263. Executive Order 12372 Review Applications are not subject to review as governed by Executive Order 12372, Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs. Public Health System Reporting Requirement This program is not subject to the Public Health System Reporting Requirements. Application Submission and Deadline Applications should be clearly identified as an application for an Occupational Safety and Health Long-Term Training Project Grant or ERC Training Grant. The submission schedule is as follows: New, Competing Continuation and Supplemental Receipt Date: July 1, 1994. An original and two copies of new, competing continuation and supplemental applications (Form CDC 2.145A ERC or TPG) should be submitted to: Henry S. Cassell, III, Grants Management Officer, Grants Management Branch, Procurement and Grants Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 255 East Paces Ferry Road, NE., room 300, Atlanta, GA 30305. 1. Deadline: Applications shall be considered as meeting the deadline if they are either: a. Received on or before the deadline date, or b. Sent on or before the deadline date and received in time for submission to the independent review group. (Applicants must request a legibly dated U.S. Postal Service postmark or obtain a legibly dated receipt from a commercial carrier or the U.S. Postal Service. Private metered postmarks shall not be acceptable as proof of timely mailing.) 2. Late Applications: Applications which do not meet the criteria in 1.a. or 1.b. above are considered late applications. Late applications will not be considered in the current competition and will be returned to the applicant. Non-Competing Continuation Receipt Date: November 15, 1994. An original and two copies of non-competing continuation applications (Form CDC 2.145B ERC or TPG) should be submitted to: Henry S. Cassell, III, Grants Management Officer, Grants Management Branch, Procurement and Grants Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 255 East Paces Ferry Road, NE., room 300, Atlanta, GA 30305. Where To Obtain Additional Information To receive additional written information call (404) 332-4561. You will be asked to leave your name, address, and phone number and will need to refer to Announcement Number 123. You will receive a complete program description, information on application procedures, and application forms. If you have questions after reviewing the contents of all the documents, business management technical assistance may be obtained from Adrienne S. Brown, Grants Management Specialist, Grants Management Branch, Procurement and Grants Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 255 East Paces Ferry Road, NE., room 300, Atlanta, Georgia 30305, (404) 842-6630. Programmatic technical assistance may be obtained from John T. Talty, Chief, Educational Resource Development Branch, Division of Training and Manpower Development, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, Ohio 45226, (513) 533-8241. Please refer to Announcement Number 123 when requesting information and submitting an application. Potential applicants may obtain a copy of Healthy People 2000 (Full Report, Stock No. 017-001-00474-0) or Healthy People 2000 (Summary Report, Stock No. 017-001-00473-1) through the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9325, telephone (202) 783-3238. Dated: April 19, 1994. Diane D. Porter, Acting Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). [FR Doc. 94-10112 Filed 4-26-94; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4163-19-P