Agile development of innovative, interactive hazard recognition and mitigation tools for workers involved in disaster rescue and recovery.
Project Overview
Workers involved in post-flood reconstruction face an increased risk of occupational exposure to respiratory
and other safety hazards as well as threats to their personal security. Post-flood reconstruction is often handled by day laborers who are predominantly non-English speaking and who have limited access to safety training and personal protective equipment.
The interdisciplinary team of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program are developing and refining Pocket Ark (PA), a comprehensive e-learning platform for workers in post-flood reconstruction. Their goal in Phase II is to develop the next generation of PA’s e-learning platform to disseminate critical information about hazards to workers prior to deployment to a post-flood worksite. Project aims include updating the PA platform and conducting a high- fidelity simulated disaster response scenario to train 64 workers and evaluate the program’s efficacy. As an outcome, Phase II is expected to yield a production-ready e-learning platform that: 1) delivers quality, audience-appropriate training to workers; 2) disseminates real-time information about potential on-site hazards; 3) improves logistics between workers and coordinating organizations; and 4) provides tools to reduce wage theft and other security risks. The anticipated outcome of PA is significant in that it addresses multiple dimensions of worker safety unique to this worker population.
The Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health is part of the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health