NASA Johnson Space Center, University of Texas at Arlington team to enhance environmental, health and safety training
Agreement to benefit Space Center's external clients as well
NASA Johnson Space Center and The University of Texas Arlington’s Division for Enterprise Development are partnering to develop best practices for enhancing environmental, health and safety training in support of current and future missions and initiatives.
UT Arlington will gain insight into training offered at a NASA Voluntary Protection Programs certified site, while NASA Johnson Space Center will capitalize on the University’s understanding of industry-focused training programs as the agency prepares for increased partnerships with commercial enterprises.
William “Bill” McArthur, Jr., director of Safety and Mission Assurance at Johnson Space Center, and John Hall, UT Arlington vice president for Administration and Campus Operations, signed a Space Act Agreement May 23, 2013, during a ceremony at Space Center Houston. Afterward, representatives met to begin developing a framework to audit environmental, health and safety classes and to determine leading practices.
Ultimately the benchmarking activities will enhance training quality and knowledge sharing of environmental, health and safety provided to NASA Johnson Space Center’s various constituencies. Elmer "Bubba" Johnson, the Houston NASA center’s Systems Safety Team lead, and Teresea Madden-Thompson, UT Arlington associate vice president for the Division for Enterprise Development, will coordinate technical activities.
“With more than 20 years of experience training NASA personnel, the NASA Safety Training Center provides training using standards unique and unobtainable from any other sources,” McArthur said. “The agency's current focus on partnering with commercial companies to achieve its mission requires evaluating new approaches to our training methods. This agreement creates an opportunity for NASA to benchmark with UT Arlington to identify best practices and obtain feedback to ensure that we offer the best training to our personnel.”
Hall said the agreement creates an opportunity for UT Arlington to help shape training opportunities in the aerospace industry and its reach in the professional development sector.
“We are proud of this new partnership with NASA Johnson Space Center, and we look forward to sharing our expertise in professional education and training with an agency that sets the standard for innovation,” Hall said.
Madden said the agreement will position UT Arlington’s Division for Enterprise Development for new opportunities with governmental agencies.
“We look forward to learning from NASA’s expertise as well,” Madden-Thompson said. “We will build on this expertise to create educational and training programs that will benefit the Division of Enterprise Development’s other clients and support NASA’s commitment to environmental, health and safety.”
NASA Safety Training Center
The NASA Safety Training Center at Johnson Space Center was established in May 1991 by the NASA Headquarters Office of Safety and Mission Assurance to provide up-to-date, high-quality, NASA-specific safety training on location to NASA Centers, or simultaneously to multiple Centers over the Video Teleconferencing System in the pursuit of the ultimate goal of safe operations for NASA. The NSTC provides safety, as well as, mission success, and mission unique training that enable Agency personnel to meet uniform engineering/technical requirements for processes, procedures, practices and methods that have been endorsed as a standard for NASA programs and projects.
UT Arlington Division for Enterprise Development
The UT Arlington Division for Enterprise Development provides professional development, technical assistance and training to public and private organizations in Texas and the nation. The division consists of several units that serve environmental, health and safety training and education needs across the public and private sectors. They include the U.S. Department of Labor federally approved Region VI OSHA Education Center, the Center for Environmental Excellence, Environmental Training Institute and the Public Works Training Institute.
The University of Texas at Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington is a comprehensive research institution of more than 33,800 students and 2,200 faculty members in the heart of North Texas. Visit www.uta.edu to learn more.
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Herb Booth, hbooth@uta.edu, 817-272-7075; Kyle Herring, kyle.j.herring@nasa.gov, 281-483-5111
The University of Texas at Arlington, www.uta.edu
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