08/06/2025: What Should Employers Do to Protect Their Workers in Emergencies?

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Photo of Jason Ferguson, Wendy Lockhart, Theo Leenman, and Alejandra Domenzain

About the webinar:

Climate change has created a new normal where excessive heat, fires and smoke, storms, and flooding are likely. In addition, workplace violence is on the rise. What should employers do to protect their workers in case of emergencies? How can they prevent harm, address situations and their aftermath, and learn from past incidents to prepare for the future? We will discuss the responsibilities of employers, including those mandated by recent laws, as well as best practices and what unions and workers can do.

This presentation by LOHP in collaboration with COEH is based on the Worker Occupational Safety and Health Training and Education Program (WOSHTEP) administered by the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation in the California Department of Industrial Relations through interagency agreements with the Labor Occupational Health Program at the University of California, Berkeley; the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety at the University of California, Davis; and the Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Learning Objectives

At the completion of this activity, the learner will be able to:

Recognize the importance effective emergency preparedness and the impact on workers
Identify key employer responsibilities mandated by Cal/OSHA standards and other legislation
Describe best practices for prevention, addressing hazards, supporting workers in the aftermath of an emergency, and developing resiliency in the future
Describe what role unions & workers can play in improving workplace emergency preparedness

About the Panelists

Alejandra Domenzain is a Program Coordinator at UC Berkeley’s Labor Occupational Health Program, where she develops and implements initiatives to improve workplace health and safety for a variety of low-wage, immigrant, and POC workers in high-hazard industries through training and education, policy, and research.

Jason Ferguson is the Director of UC Berkeley’s Office of Emergency Management and holds more than 2 decades of interdisciplinary experience in emergency preparedness.

Wendy Lockhart has been in education for 30 years, both as a classroom teacher and staff for the California Teachers Association (CTA), and currently serves as the lead specialist for Traumatic Events and Assistance Management within the CTA.

Theo Leenman is a research scientist at the Labor Occupational Health Program who specializes in worker mental health and violence prevention. He has a background in program evaluation and his preferred research approach uses community-based participatory methods that view workers and leaders as experts in understanding their contexts.

ACCREDITATION

The Center for Occupational and Environmental Health designates this activity for a maximum of 1.0 Contact Hour. Participants should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation.

Certificates of Completion

Certificates of Completion will be available to webinar participants who are present for the complete, live webinar, and logged in with their registered email address. Call-in attendees are not eligible for certificates at this time - Please download the Zoom app to log in via email on your smartphone whenever possible.

In order to receive your Certificate of Completion, qualified learners must complete the post-webinar evaluation within 7 days of the webinar. A link to the evaluation will be emailed to qualified learners 24 hours after the webinar via no-reply@zoom.us. Qualified learners who submit their evaluation will receive a Certificate of Completion via email, and can also print/save the certificate from their browser after submitting their evaluation.

If you're not able to attend the live presentation, no problem! We record most presentations and will host them on our website provided we have permission to do so. Presentation recordings are not eligible for Certificates of Completion.

About the Labor Occupational Health Program

LOHP promotes safe, healthy, and just workplaces and builds the capacity of workers and worker organizations to take action for improved working conditions. We work with a range of partners including unions, worker centers and community organizations, agencies, employer groups, policy makers, and academics.

We look broadly at the impact of work on health and we advance the principle that Healthy Jobs – which pay a living wage, provide job security and benefits, protect against hazards and harassment, have reasonable workloads, and engage workers in the decisions that affect them – are a basic human right.

ACCESSIBILITY:

If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) to fully participate in this event, please contact Will Bellamy at (510) 642-8365 or wbellamy@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail) with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7-10 days in advance of the event.