Local Business Trains "Urban Green Team" For OSHA Construction Safety Certification
Published: July 17, 2015
Improving the health and safety of Urban Green Team employees is a key goal and part of the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation’s (GADC) strategy to provide employee’s professional development needed to improve and strengthen its workforce. With this goal in mind, the GADC partnered with Taj Development Company Inc. (Taj), a business located right in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, at 1609-11 W. 80th Street, Chicago, IL 60620.
Taj Development’s main focus is continued education in the home remodeling and construction business! Taj is working with community-based organizations, to offer Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) training, in several neighborhoods on the south side. For the OSHA training, Taj Development Co. offers several levels of professional safety certificates, that provide the opportunity for employees to increase their safety expertise in specified areas. All the training has a key outcome to enable workers to boost workplace safety using knowledge and skills from known best practices.
The first certification class kicked off on Friday, July 10th. Seven employees of GADC’s Urban Green and Housing Service teams’ participated in very interactive training session, on the topic of “Certified Lead Renovation”.
The following week, July 15-16, 2015, four employees, of GADC’s Urban Green Team participated in the first series of OSHA certification training. Over the years, the Urban Green Team employees have all successfully completed courses, such as the “Home Weatherization Initiative” and they looked forward to taking on OSHA!
During the training, Taj Development's, OSHA staff guided the training through a series of construction safety videos and lectures. They also distributed copies of safety and health materials and answered the attendees' questions. The training was held at the 1626 W. 79th Street training site. The training sessions focused on hazards in landscaping, including falls from elevation; excavation hazards; and hazards in construction, including electrical, struck-by and caught-between.
Urban Green Team Leadership Staff: K. Anderson (Left), Cheryl Brown (middle), H. Newkirk (right)
At the end of the course, each attendee had to take and pass the OSHA first level certification test, to successfully complete the training. The street team supervisor, Cheryl Brown, came to the GADC office and announced, “I am proud to say that all members of our GADC Urban Green Team passed the certification test on the first try!” The team looks forward to the next step of the training and certainly feel better primed to work on upcoming residential remodeling projects.
Taj Development Company Inc. has a motto, "Fostering Hope Building Dreams” (c)2015 can be reached by visiting them on the web at www.tajdevelopment.com.
For information on service offerings provided by the Urban Green Team, contact the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation at 773.483.3696.