Purpose

The goal of the NIEHS Worker Training Program (WTP) is to prevent work-related harm by assisting in the training of workers in how best to protect themselves and their communities from exposure to hazardous materials encountered during hazardous waste operations, hazardous materials transportation, and environmental restoration of contaminated facilities or chemical emergency response. A variety of sites, such as those involved with chemical waste cleanup and remedial action and transportation-related chemical emergency response, may pose severe health and safety concerns to workers and the surrounding communities. These sites are often characterized by the multiplicity of substances present, the presence of unknown substances, and the general uncontrolled condition of the site. A major goal of this program is to assist organizations in developing their institutional competency to provide appropriate model training and education programs to hazardous materials and waste workers.

The NIEHS WTP is currently issuing this request for applications for General Administrative Supplements. General Administrative Supplements are requests for additional funds to meet emergency or other unanticipated situations that were not included in the previous competitive or non-competitive application and must be within scope of your current funded program. Requests for additional funds may also be used to follow up on unanticipated results of your training, and/or to enhance components of your existing worker training program that have been productive. For purposes of this general administrative supplement (and within the parent application) the following approaches and priority areas of training are considered responsive and you can apply for supplements to support each of the WTP program components – Hazardous Waste Worker Training Program (HWWTP), Hazmat Disaster Preparedness Training Program (HDPTP) and the Environmental Career Worker Training Program (ECWTP):

  • Training to support disaster preparedness, recovery, and response. This includes training addressing recent flood, hurricane, and wildfire disasters and training that improves worker resilience.
  • Training to address the crisis surrounding opioids and misuse of prescription drugs in occupational settings. Proposed training can build off of the training tools and the October 2018 and May 2019 workshops on the topic sponsored by NIEHS WTP and The National Clearinghouse for Worker Safety and Health Training. The training tool on awareness of fentanyl and other opioids in the worksite should be available online by end of September 2019.

Submission Instructions

Awardees interested in submitting General Administrative Supplements should follow these instructions:

Contact your assigned WTP Program Administrator: Joseph "Chip" Hughes - [email protected]; Sharon D. Beard - [email protected]; Jim Remington - [email protected]; about the nature of your request and to determine whether the Administrative Supplement process is appropriate for the request. Please contact your Program Administrator at least one week before the receipt date of the supplement application.

  • Please review and follow PA-18-591 instructions except where instructed to do otherwise in this document.
  • The receipt date for this administrative supplement is July 19, 2019.
  • For grantee planning purposes, the earliest anticipated start date would be August 15, 2019 and support can be requested for up to 11 months.

The supplement request should be submitted through your institution's business official/Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) to [email protected] with a cc: to George Tucker ([email protected]), Grants Management Officer, and your WTP Program Administrator. The subject line should read: Parent Grant # U45ES0XXXXX _ "WTP Superfund General Administrative Supplement."

Additional information on supplemental requests can be found on the NIEHS Supplements webpage.

The following components should be included in the request. Please submit these components in one PDF if possible.

  • A cover letter from the Principal Investigator describing the nature of the request.
  • A completed face page (with appropriate signatures) from Grant Application Form PHS 398. Include the title and grant number of the parent grant on line 1, and on line 2, use the name "WTP Superfund General Administrative Supplement."
  • A detailed budget using the PHS 398 form - pages 4 and 5 and the Checklist form page.
  • A brief three- to five-page description that identifies the opportunity and a justification of special circumstances that necessitate the supplement. Please include the proposed aims of the training activity as well as a detailed summary of target populations, training program, and information about the WTP program component and its aims (briefly). Keep in mind that supplements need to be in the scope of the original program component, (i.e. HWWTP, HDPTP, and ECWTP) so the proposal should not request to do something that is significantly different than the original proposal. Additionally, submit a budget justification (not included in the three- to five-page project description). The description should be scientifically defensible, should clearly convey the potential impact of the activity, and should be relevant to the Superfund Worker Training Program goals and objectives. Descriptions should be written so that they can be easily understood by individuals outside of your specific area of expertise. Abbreviations should be spelled out and highly technical language/terms that may not be known to the broader scientific community should be avoided unless clearly defined.
  • Biographical Sketch: A biographical sketch should be submitted for anyone named in the supplement application as Senior/Key Personnel. Each candidate should follow the format on the relevant NIH form. Each biosketch must not exceed 4 pages. Key personnel also need Other Support submitted.
  • A proposed detailed budget not to exceed $145,000 entered on budget pages from Grant Application Form PHS 398.
  • Documentation, if applicable, that the proposed training experience was approved by human subjects Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the awardee institution must be provided. Adherence to the NIH policy for including women and minorities in clinical studies must also be insured, if additional human subjects' involvement is planned for the supplement component.

Review Criteria

Administrative supplement requests will undergo an administrative evaluation by NIH staff, but not a full peer review. NIH staff will consider the ability of the proposed supplement activities to increase or preserve the parent award's overall health and safety training impact within the original scope of award and the following general criteria will be used:

  • Budget and Period of Support: NIH Staff will consider whether the budget and the requested period of support are fully justified and reasonable in relation to the proposed training plan.
  • Will the administrative supplement increase or preserve the likelihood for the project to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the training field(s) involved?
  • Will the administrative supplement increase or preserve the likelihood for the program to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the training field(s) involved?
  • Will the administrative supplement increase or preserve the potential benefit of the instrument requested for the overall training community and its potential impact on NIH-funded research and training?
  • Has the organization demonstrated the capacity to achieve stated goals with previous additional request for funds?

Funds Available

WTP intends to support up to 5 administrative supplemental awards under this program at a total cost of up to $586,000 depending on availability of funds.