When Sharon Chestnut, a dietary worker at a rehabilitation center in Warminster, Pa., attended a safety conference in March of this year, she never anticipated that she would soon have to use the training she received.

After a toxic chemical accidentally splashed in her eyes at work, Chestnut immediately went to an eyewash station and used it. She also remembered to bring the can of Sterno containing the chemical to the hospital, to help doctors quickly identify and the substance she’d been exposed to and treat her accordingly.

“They taught us what to do in an emergency,” said Chestnut of the District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund’s 1^st annual safety conference. Funded by a Susan G. Harwood grant, the conference was awarded by OSHA to provide hazard training and education for underserved workers and employers.  

“I stayed calm, didn't panic, and I was giving out orders," she said.