PLANET Awarded Susan Harwood Grant

The Professional Landcare Network (PLANET), the international association serving lawn care professionals, landscape management contractors, design/build/installation professionals, and interior plantscapers, is one of 16 organizations recently awarded a Susan Harwood Targeted Topic Training Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor?EUR??,,????'?????<

Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) targeted topic grants support workplace occupational safety and health programs to educate workers and employers in industries with high hazard and fatality rates, workers with limited English proficiency, hard-to-reach workers and supervisors, and small business employers. These grants enable organizations to develop materials to train workers and employers to recognize, avoid, abate and prevent safety and health hazards in the workplace.

Through its STARS Safe company program (Safety Training Achieves Remarkable Success), PLANET has long been committed to helping green industry companies reduce hazards and injuries. With this grant, PLANET will develop and deliver a participatory safety-training program in English and Spanish, with a hands-on component that addresses protecting hearing and fall and machinery hazards.

Ten state associations have partnered with PLANET to help deliver the initial safety training in their respective locations: Association Landscape Contractors of Colorado; California Landscape Contractors Association; Metro Atlanta Landscape & Turf Association; Michigan Green Industry Association; New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association; New York State Turf & Landscape Association; North Carolina Nursery & Landscaping Association; Ohio Landscape Association; Oregon Landscape Contractors Association; and Wisconsin Landscape Contractors Association. This will allow PLANET to evaluate the effectiveness of the training and make any refinements, if necessary, before rolling it out nationwide.

"PLANET has always taken the lead in safety by providing green industry specific safety awareness and resources with the goal of preventing accidents and injuries. Our vision and intentions have always been ambitious around safety, and this support from OSHA will help us to deliver and meet those visions," said PLANET President David Snodgrass, a landscape industry certified manager. "This speaks to the importance of safety in our industry and the strong position that we have placed ourselves in winning the confidence of our government that we can deliver, we are truly honored."