Occupational Health Internship Program

Paid Summer Internship Opportunity!

ORGANIZATION DESCRIPTION

The Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP) is a national summer internship program dedicated to helping students learn more about the field of occupational safety and health (OSH) from those most at stake: working people.

Since 2004, OHIP has played a crucial role in training, mentoring and inspiring a new generation of OSH professionals, as well as providing worker organizations and local unions with resources to build and strengthen their health and safety efforts to prevent job injury and illness.

OHIP is housed within the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics (AOEC) and has training centers in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Boston, New York City, and Seattle (new sites may be announced).

POSITION DESCRIPTION

OHIP interns have played a vital role in some of the most exciting worker health and safety movements across the country. Teams of two students are placed with a union or worker organization to work on projects that investigate job-related health and safety concerns raised by workers employed in underserved or high hazard jobs.

During their project, OHIP interns have the opportunity to interview workers and observe them under working conditions. Through this process, students gain a better understanding of the complexity of the work environment from the workers’ perspective. At the same time, it empowers workers and strengthens their investigative and technical skills. As a relationship of trust is built between interns and workers, both gain a better understanding of the underlying political and economic forces that create job conditions.

At the end of the project, teams provide a “give back” product to the workers and their “host” union or worker organization, present their summer project at a NIOSH national videoconference and produce a final report. Commitment is full-time, including possible evenings or weekends.

QUALIFICATIONS

Graduate and undergraduate students can apply; some stipends are restricted to US citizens. Non-US citizens must supply documentation of permission to work in the US. Undergraduates must have completed two years, preferably in a field related to public health, environmnetal studies or public policy. Graduate students in public health, medicine, nursing or a related field are encouraged to apply. (See Eligibility for more details.)

OHIP seeks students with experience or interest in working with unions or social justice organizations, are organized and self-starting, have good team skills and ideally speak a second language of new immigrant workers: Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, etc. We encourage students from minority and recent immigrant groups to apply.

COMPENSATION

Undergraduates students receive a $4,000 stipend and graduate students receive a $5,200 stipend. (See General Questions for more details.)

TO APPLY

See How To Apply and Application Process.

For specific application questions, contact OHIP Administrative Program Coordinator Ingrid Denis at idenis@aoec.org or 888-347-2632. For general information on sites or potential projects, contact National OHIP Program Coordinator, Sarah Jacobs at sjacobs@irle.ucla.edu.