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‘Ville Supports Small Businesses 

The grant will help provide training and education programs for employers and workers.

Thanks to the Susan Harwood Training Grant, Millersville University has been given a unique opportunity to support small businesses in Lancaster and surrounding counties.  

 Drs. Jack Ogutu and Betty-Jo Bowers, professors of applied engineering safety and technology, were awarded the competitive $179,743 grant under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. It will run from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023. The grant’s goal is to provide training and education programs for employers and workers. The grant also aims to inform workers of their rights and employers of their responsibilities.   

 “Having Millersville University selected through a competitive process to develop training materials and conduct training that will potentially be used nationally as approved “OSHA Training Materials” speaks to the quality of our program and our students,” says Ogutu.  

 Hope Schmids, the director of Workforce Development at MU, will serve as the liaison with the local business community and will assist with the coordination of training logistics and participant recruitment.  

The University plans to provide “Slips, Trips & Falls Prevention” for the local and surrounding businesses selected. “This grant will provide targeted training to small businesses in Lancaster, and surrounding counties as most of them have limited resources to get quality training materials,” says Ogutu. 

 Millersville University students will also benefit from the grant while in school and after graduation by earning valuable experience and resources for their careers. 

 “Our occupational safety and environmental health majors who are completing their internships will have the opportunity to participate in the training sessions as representatives of their internship employers,” says Ogutu. Additionally, once they graduate and are in full-time positions as EHS representatives, they will have full and easy access to the training materials that will be created through this grant.” 

After the grant ends, MU will continue to provide training opportunities to the business community. “The PA State workers’ compensation claims data identifies falls and ergonomics-related injuries as the leading types of occupational injury in Pennsylvania and incur the greatest costs to industries and the workers’ compensation system,” Ogutu says. “Dr. Betty-Jo Bowers and I plan to expand our training offerings in the areas of fall prevention & protection and ergonomics.”  

Businesses interested in providing training opportunities to their employees should contact Dr. Jack Ogutu via email at jack.ogutu@millersville.edu or the MU Director of Workforce Development, Hope Schmids at Hope.Schmids@millersville.edu. 

Interested in Occupational Safety and Environmental Health at Millersville University? https://www.millersville.edu/aest/degrees/oseh/  

 

 

 

 

 

  

2 replies on “‘Ville Supports Small Businesses ”

Congratulations Jack and Betty Jo, excellent work and good on you for putting MU’s efforts in OSHA in the spotlight.

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