The New England Consortium (TNEC)
In 1987, MassCOSH partnered with New England's other COSH groups and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell (UML) in the creation of a specialized training organization, The New England Consortium (TNEC). TNEC was originally founded to provide worker health and safety training in chemical cleanup situations, required under OSHA's Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response standard (HAZWOPER). The variety of courses at TNEC has expanded to worker safety training on disaster cleanup, confined space entry training, both construction and general industry health and safety outreach (the OSHA 10 & 30-hour courses) and most recently, protecting workers in Avian Flu Pandemics. In the 21 years since TNEC's inception, MassCOSH has participated in the training of tens of thousands of workers. During that time, TNEC has grown to become the New England region's model worker health and safety training organization.
TNEC strengthens the skills of workers engaged in some of the most dangerous jobs. Through TNEC training programs, workers learn how to recognize job hazards and to identify risks while gaining knowledge of the rights workers have under the law. All workers are encouraged to participate by adding their voices in their own job health and safety programs. The delivery of training follows a worker needs based training curriculum. These teaching methods utilize "popular education", where workers build on their individual knowledge and contribute in small group learning activities.
