The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the United States is accepting proposals for approximately $5.3 million in new grants to nonprofit organizations for safety and health training and educational programs under the Agency's Susan Harwood Training Grants program. An additional $5.1 million will be used to fund renewal grants for recipients of 2003 targeted training and institutional competency building grants.

Nonprofit organizations, including community-based and faith-based organizations, are eligible to apply for the new grants. The grants are targeted to organizations that propose to develop training materials to educate Hispanic and other non-English speaking workers and employers in small businesses, and workers who are employed in high hazard industries and industries with high fatality rates.

OSHA will be accepting applications for two categories of Susan Harwood grants:

• Targeted Topic Training Grants will support training for four occupational safety and health topics areas; construction hazards, general industry hazards, ergonomics, and the health care industry. There is approximately $1.3 million available for this grant category. Grants will be awarded for 12 months with an average award of $150,000.
• Training Materials Development Grants will support the development, evaluation, and validation of training materials for four occupational safety and health topic areas; construction hazards, general industry hazards, lead hazards, and work-related transportation hazards. There is approximately $4 million available for this grant category. Grants will be awarded for 12 months with an average award of $200,000.

Applications are available on OSHA's Web site at www.osha.gov/fso/ote/training/sharwood/sharwood.html
or may be obtained from: OSHA Office of Training and Education, Division of Training and Educational Programs, 2020 South Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60005 USA. Tel: (+1) 847 297 4810.

The training grants are named in honor of the late Susan Harwood, a former director of the Office of Risk Assessment in OSHA's Health Standards Directorate, who died in 1996. During her 17-year tenure with the agency, Harwood helped develop OSHA standards to protect workers exposed to bloodborne pathogens, cotton dust, benzene, formaldehyde, asbestos and lead in construction.

OSHA's role is to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.