Mission

LOHP is a community outreach program in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley whose work addresses today's workplace health and safety needs in nearly every industry, from healthcare to agriculture to construction. The staff of educators and technical experts provides information, training, and other assistance to unions, workers, community organizations, health professionals, joint labor-management groups, government, and schools.

Issues

Environmental Justice, Hazardous Waste, Lead-Safe Schools, Construction Safety, Ergonomics, Workplace Violence, HIV/AIDS, Workers' Compensation, Human Factors, Youth in The Workforce, Agricultural Hazards, Tobacco Education, Immigrant Workers, International Health and Safety Training, Changing Organization of Work.

Activities

Training is offered for workers, unions, schools, and community organizations in English, Spanish, and other languages. Other LOHP services include technical assistance, policy development, research (including participatory action research), publications, and legal referrals. The LOHP Library at 2223 Fulton St. in Berkeley has up-to-date health and safety resources and is open to the public.

Programs/
Projects

Environmental Justice: LOHP's Environmental Justice Project helps local communities disproportionately affected by hazardous waste, air and water pollution. The project works with Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and activists to develop health and safety trainings and other programs that link the workplace and community. LOHP currently collaborates with the Southwest Network for Economic and Environmental Justice, Indigenous Environmental Network, and other groups.

Hazardous Waste: In addition to standard 8 and 24-hour courses for hazardous waste workers, LOHP offers free hazard awareness training. All courses are available in English or Spanish.

Immigrant Workers: LOHP helped launch the Working Immigrant Safety and Health Coalition (WISH), which advocates for improved safety protection for immigrants in California.

International Workplace Safety Project: LOHP works to improve safety awareness and protection around the world and has collaborated with local groups in Mexico, Indonesia, and China to present worker and activist training.

Constitutency

Multinational, multilingual, and multiethnic. Includes labor, CBOs, community activists, young workers, immigrant workers.

Geographical Focus

Regional, National, International

Staff

26

Volunteers

Student interns, primarily from U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health.

Membership Base

Regular membership is $35; around 600 members

Publications

LOHP publishes and sells books, factsheets, curricula, and other educational materials on a wide range of topics, from Collective Bargaining for Health and Safety to The Right to Understand, which deals with literacy issues in safety training. Some materials are available in Spanish and other languages, including: Health and Safety Training Kits (available in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and English), Is Work Making You Sick? (Spanish and English), Tailgate Training for California Construction Workers (Spanish and English), Are You a Working Teen? (factsheet in Spanish and English), and Are You a Teen Working in Agriculture? (factsheet in Spanish and English). LOHP also offers a complete Spanish-language hazardous waste training manual, Entrenamiento Sobre Salud y Seguridad Para Los Trabajadors de Desperdicios Peligrosos. A free catalog is available upon request, or check LOHP's website at www.lohp.org.

Annuual Budget

$2,000,000

Year Founded

1974