About Project SEAMIST
Project SEAMIST (South East Area Maritime Industry Safety Training) targets a unique worker population with both significant safety concerns, and concerns that are unique to their occupation, transport of hazardous materials with proximity to the shore of oceans and rivers. Since 2011, we have developed and delivered targeted safety training curricula to nearly 2,000 maritime workers in Florida, Louisiana, and Virginia. Project SEAMIST has provided hazardous materials worker health and safety training to individuals employed on ships or those working in the marine shipping industry, including oil rig and oil platform workers, port workers, and law enforcement serving maritime venues. SEAMIST is unique in that the hazardous materials’ training focuses exclusively on the health and safety of workers in the maritime environment.
Current plans to expand our reach to the industry includes increased training of a more geographically, occupationally, and ethnically diverse populations and offering training in specialized topics, such as disaster preparedness through the Hazardous Material Maritime Industry Response Training Safety Initiative (HazMIRTSI), through a variety of technologically enhanced methods of delivery.
Project SEAMIST exists to provide ongoing health and safety training to those who work in or in concert with the maritime industry, including law enforcement and off-shore workers, who may encounter hazardous materials in their normal workday, or may be caught in releases of such materials upon accidents, disasters or terrorist incidents and begin providing disaster response preparedness to maritime workers as well as Fire Fighters, Emergency Medical Technicians, HazMat First Responders and Emergency Management personnel with responsibility to respond to maritime incidents.
- Provide new and ongoing on site preparedness training for over 6,000 maritime employees over a five-year period (including dock workers, ship workers and their supervisors), as well as safety trainers and law enforcement personnel to ensure timely and appropriate response to hazardous events, reducing or preventing exposures to themselves and the larger community.
- Provide new disaster preparedness training on site for over 4,000 maritime employees and disaster response personnel over a five-year period, reducing injuries and death through proper training amongst responders, maritime workers and the larger community in the event of a maritime disaster, either natural, accidental or intentional.
- Maintain and expand our interdisciplinary center focused on disaster preparedness.
- Maintain and expand our network of partners and their work providing familiarity between large maritime centers and employers and law enforcement and disaster response personnel to ensure timely and appropriate response to hazardous exposure incidents of all kinds.
- Continue to revise and optimize our training curricula, including offering targeted training to native Spanish speakers and providing alternate formats of training, especially online