South Texas College to hold safety outreach workshop for warehousers

The Office of Industry Training and Economic Development at South Texas College in partnership with Occupational Safety and Health Administration announce their first workshop dedicated to safety and compliance for warehousers in the region.   

The Warehouse Outreach Workshop will be held at STC’s Technology Campus Building B auditorium on Feb. 7 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“This will be for the local warehouse community, from fruit packing, vegetable packing, all the way to advanced manufacturing. If you have a warehouse, then this training is for you,” said Felix Zamarripa, training specialist with ITED, who is coordinating the event. “Managers and owners in the warehouse industry will participate in training for safety, and compliance and learn about the benefits of working with the OSHCON (Occupational Safety and Health Consultation) program, which is basically the training arm of OSHA, but rather than being in charge of compliance, they are in charge of consulting companies that are opening up, and that are in need of expertise on health and safety.”

OSHCON representatives will be in attendance offering guidance on how to create a safety program from the ground up.

OSHA Compliance reps will present an introduction to its office along with key warehouse statistics followed by guest speakers from General Electric Aviation, who will hold a presentation on the importance and benefits of health and safety programs in the workplace.

The workshop will then wrap up with a safety and compliance training workshop organized by the Wage and Hour Division.

“We are committed to talking with the stakeholders,” Zamarripa said. “In my day-to-day, I talk to and train a lot of employees, but there are no managers in my trainings. If management doesn't support a safety, health and safety program, it’s not going to work. Addressing management is the key to sustaining these programs.”

Attendees at the workshop will evaluate the strategies their respective companies are using to maintain safety in the workplace while remaining in compliance with government agencies.

“When it comes to compliance, those in the warehouse industry need to be aware of the various initiatives by OSHA, so we are giving them a big heads up about things they need to begin actively reviewing now within the actual process,” said STC Project Training Specialist Juan Rabanales. “We are going back to basics, but in the event that warehousers are notified that OSHA is coming to visit the workplace, they can be as prepared as possible and compliant with the scope of the law.”

For more information about the workshop please contact Juan Rabanales at jrabanales@southtexascollege.edu or call 956-872-6141.