Principal Investigator / Institution

Chris Trahan Cain
Tel 301-578-8500
Fax 301-578-8572
[email protected]
CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training
8484 Georgia Avenue, Suite 1000
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910-5618

Program Contact

Gary Gustafson
Tel 301-578-8500, ext. 8535
Fax 301-578-8572
[email protected]
CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training
8484 Georgia Avenue, Suite 1000
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910-5618

Program Description

CPWR logo

CPWR is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit construction safety and health research and training arm of the North America’s Building Trades Unions, which represents 14 international/national building trades unions and more than 3 million workers. CPWR encourages the elimination or reduction of conditions constituting hazards to the health or safety of workers in the U.S. construction industry, and promotes the maintenance and improvement of safe and healthy working conditions for workers. CPWR's training consortium consists of 12 international/national and diverse building trades unions that represent workers engaged in hazardous waste work at designated 29 CFR 1910.120 sites nationwide.

Hazardous Waste Worker Training Program (HWWTP)

The HWWTP provides environmental health and safety training to construction workers from a variety of crafts and organizations, such as electrical workers, insulators, carpenters, operating engineers and others, to work safely and effectively in and around hazardous environments in support of the nation’s cleanup efforts. This effort involves the delivery of peer-led, hands-on interactive health and safety training, as well as comprehensive train-the-trainer programs.

Environmental Career Worker Training Program (ECWTP)

The CPWR ECWTP addresses critical workforce development issues directly affecting vulnerable and disadvantaged worker populations by promoting a sustainable career path in the environmental and construction industries. The program provides comprehensive training comprised of academic and life skills, an introduction to construction skills, and general construction and environmental health and safety training, with the goal of placing participants into registered apprenticeship programs offering a pathway to the middle-class and beyond. Through a consortium of community-based partners, CPWR offers these programs in four urban centers across the U.S.: Boston, Massachusetts; East Palo Alto, California; Flint, Michigan; and New Orleans, Louisiana. The CPWR ECWTP Consortium trains and provides program-eligible residents in these communities with opportunities to become engaged in meaningful, long-term careers while aiding in their communities’ economic and environmental redevelopment.

HAZMAT Disaster Preparedness Training Program (HDPTP)

The CPWR HDPTP program's main objective is to develop a cadre of local skilled construction workers trained in disaster response who may be called on to support first responders in rescue, recovery, and cleanup operations in place in every major population center in the country. This is accomplished by providing disaster response train the trainer programs to our consortium of union trade instructors who are currently authorized Outreach health and safety trainers. These trainers work with NIEHS, other awardees, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in moving the training forward as part of their collective efforts in order to increase preparedness in responding to large-scale natural and man-made disasters. These trainers can respond at a moment’s notice with effective, timely, pertinent, and critical training for construction skilled support personnel.

NIEHS/U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Worker Training Program

The major objective of the DOE program is to prevent work-related harm by training construction workers on DOE sites how best to protect themselves and their communities from exposure to hazardous materials encountered during hazardous waste operations, facility decommissioning and decontamination, hazardous materials transportation, environmental restoration of contaminated facilities, or chemical emergency response. The program is national in scope. The 12 building trades unions that comprise CPWR's training consortium represent workers employed primarily by contractors and subcontractors working throughout DOE's nuclear weapons complex. This effort involves the delivery of peer-led, hands-on interactive health and safety training, as well as comprehensive train-the-trainer programs.

Project Duration

  • August 1, 2020 - May 31, 2025 (HWWTP, ECWTP, HDPTP)
  • September 1, 2020 - July 31, 2025 (DOE)

Grant Numbers

  • U45 ES006185 (HWWTP, ECWTP, HDPTP)
  • UH4 ES009764 (DOE)

Other Participating Organizations