better prepare for heat events and reduce the number of hospitalizations and deaths. Examples include formulating action plans for and increasing resources allocated to warning and transportation systems and emergency medical services.
(Safe &) Green Jobs Department faculty and staff are identifying and addressing critical health and safety issues in emerging occupational fields so that workers can recognize and better protect themselves from potential hazards. “Green-collar” or “green” jobs are occupations that are environmentally friendly and involve manufacturing and construction materials that minimize or avoid waste, pollution, or greenhouse gas emissions. Examples of green jobs include building, installing, and maintaining energyefficient technologies, such as wind turbines and solar panels. Agencies, such as the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, caution that as traditional job fields become “greener,” careful and purposeful safeguards must be put in place. Workers involved in green jobs, such as building wind turbines, should be as well protected from hazards as those constructing a multi-story building. Our Continuing Education Programs (CE) helped develop curriculum with consortium partners, the University of California (UC), Los Angeles and UC Berkeley to teach workers about green building systems, health and safety hazards, prevention strategies, and green chemistry. The latter—green chemistry—consists of using and producing chemicals and chemical processes that reduce waste products, have nontoxic components, and improve efficiency, and thereby reduce or eliminate negative environmental impacts. CE also partnered with Sellen Construction, a leader in sustainable practices that worked on criteria with the US Green Building Council for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green projects certification. Together, they offered health and safety courses to students at the Seattle Vocational Institute Pre-Apprenticeship Construction Training program who are preparing for jobs that involve green building and energy retrofits.
NASA
c l i m at e c h a n g e
around the globe
A collaborative program among schools and colleges at the University of Washington brings together experts from different disciplines to anticipate and measure the impacts of climate change on food and water security around the globe. This group of climate fellows come from disparate fields: law, anthropology, engineering, nursing, medicine, and public health, among others. Associate Professor Scott Meschke from our department is one of these climate fellows. He is an environmental microbiologist who has developed new technologies and quantitative methods that have been applied to routing out pathogens that can contaminate food and water supplies and pose health risks to humans. The climate fellows are investigating how to effectively measure co-benefits of small- and large-scale efforts to adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change. A co-benefit is an ancillary health benefit achieved through changes in a program, policy, or action. For example, if one crop is substituted for another because of changing temperatures, the population may receive added nutritional benefits.
2009–2011 Biennial Report
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