Gain Hands-On Experience with Workplace Safety & Health Issues

Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP)

Internship Dates: June 13 – August 12, 2022



Deadline to Apply: Friday, February 11, 2022, 11:59pm PST (Applicants Notified by late March)

All students will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the 2022 OHIP summer.

Organization Description: The Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP) is a national summer program dedicated to help students learn about the field of occupational safety and health (OSH) from those most at stake: working people. Since 2004, OHIP has played a key role in training, mentoring, and inspiring a new generation of OSH professionals to prevent job injury and disease through partnerships with worker and community-based organizations. A project of the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics (AOEC), OHIP has training sites across the country including: the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, New York City and Philadelphia. Additional sites may be announced. Visit the OHIP website for latest list of sites: https://www.ohipintern.org/ . OHIP anticipates 2022 projects to be in-person.

A sample of our 2021 projects included an impact assessment of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the health and safety of New York State Nurses Association members, an investigation of workplace protection for hotel workers in a pandemic, and an investigation of chemical hazards in the car wash industry.

Position Description: Teams of two students are placed with a union or worker organization to investigate job-related health and safety problems among workers, often employed in an under-served or a high hazard job. Projects are designed to maximize interaction between workers and students. OHIP is an applied research experience, where students learn about the OSH field from the workers’ perspective. Project work emphasizes worker interviews and worksite evaluations. At the end of the project, teams provide a “give back” product to the workers and their host union/worker organization, present their project at a national NIOSH web-conference, 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. Recent graduates cannot be out of school for more than six months prior to the start of OHIP (i.e. students are not eligible if they graduated prior to December 2021). We are looking for 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. Interns will need to be able to work independently and as a team member, and be comfortable interacting with workers of varied backgrounds and experiences. 

Compensation Undergraduate Students = $4,000 stipend

Graduate Students = $5,200 stipend