History

NH COSH – 20 Years of History 1989 - 2009

New Hampshire Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health or NH COSH was established in 1989 by a group of health and safety activists from labor, academic, politics, medicine, and the legal communities. NH COSH is a 501(c)(3) non-profit since 1990. We work with the nationwide network of COSH groups to advocate for stronger worker health and safety laws for all workers.

• In 1992, NH COSH became part of The New England Consortium, TNEC – centered in the Work Environment Program of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Under a NIEHS Superfund HazWoper Grant workers would be trained in emergency response and hazardous waste cleanup.
• In the mid-nineties NH COSH joined the other New England COSH groups to develop an ergonomic training and presentation under a grant received by MassCOSH.
• In the mid-nineties NH COSH worked closely with the NH AFL-CIO advocating for workers rights when the NH Department of Labor introduction the Joint/Loss Management Committees under the Workers Compensation Law. NH COSH produced the first worker friendly booklet to explain the new requirement to labor.
• In 1995, NH COSH was awarded a U.S. EPA grant to introduce their newly developed Indoor Air Quality “Tools for Schools” Action Kit to help schools do an investigation of their indoor air quality issues. NH COSH has been working with schools and school districts ever since.
• In the late nineties, NH COSH received funds from the National COSH Network who received an OSHA grant to update and redo information for the U.S. Department of Labor’s workers compensation system. NH COSH developed and updated workers compensation information into fact sheets, which are still used in training presentations across the U.S. Later this grant was expanded to include training for vulnerable low-wage workers.
• In 2003-2004 NH COSH helped the immigrants workers affected by the JAC PAC [a Manchester, NH meatpacking plant] shut down. We partnered with many organizations at that time to provide help for the laid off employees.
• NH COSH involvement in recent years with bringing low-wage and immigrant workers basic job safety presentations through many of the New Hampshire Adult Basic Education centers was done through a grant from the NH Department of Education’s Adult Education Bureau.
• NH COSH’s continuing goal is to provide the workers of New Hampshire with the best information, education, and advocacy to help them maintain a healthy work environment.