Courses

Federal and state policies, procedures, and standards, as well as construction safety and health principles. Emphasis on those areas that are the most hazardous, using OSHA standards as a guide.

Each year thousands of workers are killed and millions more injured or diseased because of their jobs. Please join us on Worker Memorial Day to honor those who have died in 2025 from a work-related injury or illness in King County. This special ceremony will raise awareness and inspire you to take action to strengthen our commitment to make jobs safer and save lives in Washington State.

Focus on OSHA standards and on the safety aspects of excavation and trenching. Introduction to practical soil mechanics and its relationship to the stability of shored and unshored slopes and walls of excavation.

Learn about the current occupational safety and health research featuring doctorate and master’s program research across Industrial Hygiene, Occupational Health Nursing, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and Occupational Safety. The Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety Continuing Education program presents a dynamic webinar series highlighting research discoveries of current Education and Research Center graduate students. 

Each 50-minute live webinar will feature doctorate and master's candidate research Occupational Health Services, Occupational Medicine, and Occupational Health Nursing disciplines. This is an opportunity to hear directly from researchers on relevant, current topics facing workers today.

Impact of AR-15 Noise Suppressors on Lead Exposure in an Indoor Police Firing Range

Mohammad Fidahusain, MD, MPH, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Resident Physician, Dept of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington

Police work can have many occupational risks, including exposures during weapons training. Firearm suppressors are increasingly adopted by law enforcement for hearing protection, yet their impact on breathing-zone lead exposure during indoor range training is not well characterized. Dr. Mohammad Fidahusain's work on a pilot field study evaluated breathing-zone airborne lead and noise exposures among four law enforcement officers firing AR-15 rifles with standard suppressors, flow-through suppressors, and unsuppressed firearms in an indoor range. 

Dr. Mohammad Fidahusain will present data on firearm suppressors usage increasing breathing-zone airborne lead concentrations by 13–21-fold per 100 rounds compared to unsuppressed firing. Dr Fidahusain will discuss findings of occupational exposures where 100% of suppressor sessions were found to exceed OSHA's Action Level and 50% of sessions exceeded the Permissible Exposure Limit, indicating important implications for occupational health policy and police training.

Focus on OSHA standards and on the safety aspects of excavation and trenching. Introduction to practical soil mechanics and its relationship to the stability of shored and unshored slopes and walls of excavation.

Students who successfully complete this course will be authorized to conduct 10- and 30-hour General Industry Outreach classes. This is a trainer course so enrollees will give a presentation on an assigned OSHA General Industry Outreach Training Program topic and must successfully pass a written exam at the end of the course.

Prerequisites: Five years of construction safety and health work experience and successful completion of the OSHA #511 Occupational Safety and Health Standards for General Industry course within the past 7 years.

Students who successfully complete this course will be authorized to conduct 10- and 30-hour Construction Outreach classes. This is a trainer course so enrollees will give a presentation on an assigned OSHA Construction Outreach Training Program topic and must successfully pass a written exam at the end of the course.

Prerequisites: Five years of construction safety and health work experience and successful completion of the OSHA #510 Occupational Safety and Health Standards for the Construction Industry course within the past 7 years.

This course covers OSHA requirements for emergency action and fire protection plans and includes workshops pertaining to the development of emergency action plans. Upon course completion students will have the ability to list the elements of an emergency action plan and emergency evacuation floor plans, recognize violations of OSHA exit route requirements, determine whether their organization requires an emergency action plan, and develop and implement workplace emergency action and fire protection plans.

This course covers OSHA guidelines for developing a Job Hazard Analysis. Course topics include the purpose and requirements of a job hazard analysis, the relationship between worker tasks and tools in a work environment, identifying job hazards before they occur, and techniques for completing a job hazard analysis.

This course covers the hazards posed by combustible dust within general industry. Course topics include recognizing the hazards and risks associated with combustible dust, control of electrical installation hazards, and developing controls and strategies to prevent or mitigate combustible dust fires and explosions.

Upon course completion students will have the ability to explain hazardous actions and motions of various types of machinery, identify methods of safeguarding, and match identified safeguards with the applicable OSHA Machinery and Machine Guarding Standards to reduce and eliminate the potential for accidents and injuries.

This course covers the development and implementation of controls and strategies to prevent or mitigate silica exposures in construction, maritime, and general industries.

This course focuses on describing noise hazards in the workplace. Upon completion, students will have the ability to describe sound properties and their relationship to noise-induced hearing loss, hearing protection usage, and using a sound level meter.

Using interactive assignments and thought-provoking group projects, students of this one day workshop come away with a strong understanding of the benefits in implementing a safety and health management system in the workplace.

This one day course is designed to teach to students how to identify fall hazards and methods to control and abate the hazards.

This course is an introduction to basic accident investigation procedures and accident analysis techniques. Course topics include accident investigation methods, employer responsibilities related to workplace accident investigations, and a six-step accident investigation procedure.

This course provides an overview of state-of-the-art technology for fall protection. Topics covered include the principles of fall protection, the components of fall arrest systems, the limitations of fall arrest equipment, and OSHA policies regarding fall protection.

This course covers the requirements for operation of cranes in the construction industry using the OSHA construction Cranes and Derricks Standard as a guide.

This course covers the recognition of confined space hazards, use of instrumentation to evaluate atmospheric hazards, ventilation techniques, and confined space program elements. The requirements for a permit, non-permit and alternate procedures confined space are also covered. Specific duties of entrants, attendants, supervisors and rescue are discussed.

Introduces the application of ergonomic principles to prevent musculoskeletal disorders. Topics include: work physiology; anthropometry; video display terminals; and risk factors, such as vibration, temperature, manual handling, repetition, and continuous keyboard use. Industrial case studies cover analysis and design of work stations and equipment; laboratory sessions focus on manual lifting and OSHA's proposed ergonomic protection standard.

This course is for OSHA Outreach Training Program general industry trainers who have completed OSHA #501 and whose trainer authorization has not expired before the first day of class. Provides an update on OSHA general industry standards, policies, and regulations. Trainers are required to attend this course (or OSHA #501) once every four years to maintain their authorized trainer status.

Prerequisites: OSHA #501 Trainer Course in Occupational Safety and Health for General Industry

Learn about the current occupational safety and health research featuring doctorate and master’s program research across Industrial Hygiene, Occupational Health Nursing, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and Occupational Safety. The Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety Continuing Education program presents a dynamic webinar series highlighting research discoveries of current Education and Research Center graduate students. 

Each 50-minute live webinar will feature doctorate and master's candidate research Occupational Health Services, Occupational Medicine, and Occupational Health Nursing disciplines. This is an opportunity to hear directly from researchers on relevant, current topics facing workers today.

Development and Evaluation of a WISHA10 Cannabis Training Module

Juliana Moreno

Cannabis workers trim, harvest, package, and process plant material in ways that can expose them to a variety of hazards, like respiratory and ergonomic risks, that often go unnoticed. This presentation brings visibility to those risks, drawing on early lessons from developing a cannabis-specific WISHA10 training module designed to strengthen health and safety practices across this rapidly growing and unique industry. The findings from this project are relevant to improving health, safety, and equity for cannabis workers statewide. Time will be allotted for questions.

This course is an introduction to basic accident investigation procedures and accident analysis techniques. Course topics include accident investigation methods, employer responsibilities related to workplace accident investigations, and a six-step accident investigation procedure.

At this OEM Grand Rounds session, Dr. Stephen Bao, seasoned ergonomist and epidemiologist, will discuss the underlying causes of work-related low back disorders, with a focus on occupations involving heavy lifting. Dr. Bao will review key biomechanical exposures associated with lifting tasks, discuss how these exposures can be quantified, and highlight relevant variables to measure. Participants will gain practical insight into commonly used assessment approaches, interpretation of results, and strategies to reduce injury risk. Case studies and hands-on exercises will be used to reinforce measurement techniques. Participants are encouraged to bring cases from their own practice involving heavy lifting for discussion.

Presenter:

• Stephen Bao, PhD, CPE - Senior Epidemiologist, Washington State Department of Labor and Industries; Affiliate Professor, Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington

This 4-hour course is designated to assist employers in identifying and fulfilling their responsibilities for posting certain records, maintaining records of illness and injuries, and reporting specific cases to OSHA. Several practice sessions are included.

Federal and state policies, procedures, and standards, as well as general industry safety and health principles. Emphasis on those areas that are the most hazardous, using OSHA standards as a guide.

This course covers the recognition of confined space hazards, use of instrumentation to evaluate atmospheric hazards, ventilation techniques, and confined space program elements. The requirements for a permit, non-permit and alternate procedures confined space are also covered. Specific duties of entrants, attendants, supervisors and rescue are discussed.