Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety 

The Worker Occupational Safety and Health Training and Education Program (WOSHTEP) is an exciting statewide initiative aimed at reducing occupational injuries and illnesses and workers' compensation costs in California workplaces. The program was created under Labor Code Section 6354.7 in 2002 as part of workers' compensation reform. It is administered by the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation (http://www.dir.ca.gov/CHSWC/) in the Department of Industrial Relations, through interagency agreements with  the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (WCAHS) at UC Davis, serving California’s Central Valley, the Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP) at UC Berkeley, serving Northern California, and the Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program (LOSH) at UCLA, serving Southern California.

The purpose of WOSHTEP is to reduce job-related injuries and illnesses among California workers. By promoting health and safety on the job, WOSHTEP can also help lower workers’ compensation cost for employers. WOSHTEP serves a variety of industries, and participants come from diverse occupations and work settings. Special emphasis is placed on reaching employers and workers in industries with significant injuries, illnesses and workers’ compensation cost.  Focus is also on groups with special needs, such as those who do not speak English as their first language, workers with limited literacy, young workers, and other traditionally underserved industries or groups of workers.

Projects and Activities

WOSHTEP includes several activities targeting employers, workers, and the workers' compensation community, through training and dissemination of materials by a statewide network of providers. These projects and activities include:

• Worker Occupational Safety and Health (WOSH) Specialist Training
  http://www.dir.ca.gov/chswc/WOSHTEP/WOSHTEP_ListOfPublications.pdf
  http://www.lohp.org/home.htm
  http://www.losh.ucla.edu
  


• Heat Hazards in Agriculture, A Guide for Employers to Carry Out Tailgate Training for Workers
  http://www.dir.ca.gov/chswc/HeatHazard_Tailgate.html
  


• Small Business Resources
  http://www.dir.ca.gov/chswc/woshtep.html
  http://www.lohp.org/Projects/WOSH/WOSH_smbusres.html
  http://www.losh.ucla.edu/woshtep/resources/smallbusiness.html
  


• Young Worker Health and Safety Project
  http://www.dir.ca.gov/YoungWorker/YoungWorkersMain.html
  http://www.lohp.org/Projects/Young_Workers/young_workers.html
  http://www.losh.ucla.edu/youngworkers/index.html
  


• Electronic Resources
  http://www.lohp.org/Lohplib/library.html
  http://www.losh.ucla.edu/resources-publications/index.html
  


• Multi-lingual Guide
  http://www.dir.ca.gov/CHSWC/MultilingualGuide/MultilingualGuideMain.html
  


• Resource Centers in California Central Valley (WCAHS) and Northern (LOHP) and Southern California (LOSH)
  

Linda Lee