Gain Hands-On Experience with Workplace Safety & Health Issues
Internship Dates: June 13 – August 12, 2016 Deadline to Apply: Friday, February 19, 2016 (Applicants Notified by mid/late March)
Organization Description
The Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP) is a national summer program dedicated to help students learn about the field of occupational safety and health (OSH) from those most at stake: working people. Since 2004, OHIP has played a key role in training, mentoring, and inspiring a new generation of OSH professionals to prevent job injury and disease through partnerships with worker and community based organizations. A project of the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics (AOEC), OHIP has training sites in the SF Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Boston, Metro DC/Maryland Area, New Orleans, Oklahoma and Lincoln (NE) — new sites may be announced. Our 2015 projects included the investigation of musculoskeletal disorders among hotel housekeepers, the examination of workplace H&S issues among immigrant workers in the dairy agriculture industry, the investigation of OHS hazards of temporary work in manufacturing and warehouse settings, and the investigation of Latino immigrant workers’ conditions in SE Louisiana shipyards.
Position Description
Teams of two students are placed with a union or worker organization to investigate job-related health and safety problems among workers, often employed in an under-served or a high hazard job. Projects are designed to maximize interaction between workers and students. OHIP is an applied research experience, where students learn about the OSH field from the workers’ perspective. Project work emphasizes worker interviews and worksite evaluations. At the end of the project, teams provide a “give back” product to the workers and their host union/worker organization, present their project at a national NIOSH videoconference, and produce a final report. Commitment is full-time, including possible evenings or weekends.
Qualifications
Graduate and undergraduate students can apply; some stipends are restricted to US citizens. Non-US citizens must supply documentation of permission to work in the US. Undergraduates must have completed two years, preferably in a field related to public health, environmental studies, or public policy. Graduate students in public health, medicine, nursing, or a related field are encouraged to apply. Recent graduates cannot be out of school for more than six months prior to the start of OHIP (i.e. students are not eligible if they graduated prior to December of 2015). We are looking for students with experience or interest in working with unions or social justice organizations, are organized and self-starting, have good team skills and ideally speak a second language such as Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, etc. We encourage underrepresented minority students to apply.
Compensation
Undergraduate Students = $4,000 stipend Graduate Students = $5,200 stipend
To Apply
For eligibility info, on-line application and program details go to www.aoec.org/ohip. Additional questions? Contact administrator coordinator Ingrid Denis (idenis@aoec.org, 1-888-347-2632). For further program information, visit www.aoec.org/ohip or email program coordinator Sarah Jacobs (sjacobs@irle.ucla.edu).