Providing participants in Boston's YouthBuild program with safety and health training and resources is the goal of a new alliance among OSHA, the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety (MA-DOS) and YouthBuild Boston (YBB).

The alliance seeks to reduce and prevent youth and minority employees exposure to hazards connected with residential construction. YBB teaches 18-24-year-old unemployed and unskilled young people in Boston to renovate abandoned buildings into affordable housing for low-income families.

The three alliance partners will work to develop training and education programs. This will include a presentation of OSHA's 10-hour basic construction safety course to YBB participants and delivery of OSHA's Train the Trainer construction safety course to enable YBB to present the 10-hour training on its own.

"This alliance will equip these young employees with an invaluable tool that they can take with them into future employment and the knowledge to identify and eliminate hazards that could hurt them on the job," said Brenda Gordon, OSHA's area director for Boston and southeastern Massachusetts. "Giving YBB the opportunity and ability to provide the training in the future means that each new group of employees in the program will benefit."