A new initiative at Nicholls State University will help to meet the safety and health needs of the growing south Louisiana oil and gas industry. On April 30, the university signed an agreement with TEEX to be designated as a TEEX Cooperative Learning Center (CLC), authorizing them to teach TEEX safety and health classes as an OSHA Training Institute Education Center host site in Houma, the first such facility in Louisiana.The agreement means that Nicholls is approved to offer or host the entire environmental, health and safety catalog of courses and begin offering them this summer. (In photo, seated, l-r, Ron Peddy and Laynie Barrilleaux, Nicholls VP for Academic Affairs. Standing, l-r, Michael Gautreaux, Nicholls Dean Al Davis and Bill Stansbury of TEEX.)
The partnership will help TEEX to reach a broad new student base in south Louisiana, ideally located to serve the expanding deepwater oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. TEEX trained over 5,100 students in health and safety courses last year, and is set to train over 6,000 students in 2014.
“This area is the hub for the oil and gas industry in Louisiana and will help us to serve the region better,” said Ron Peddy, division director for the TEEX OSHA Training Institute Education Center. “The partnership will help meet a growing demand for this essential training that keeps our workforce safe and healthy on the job.”
“We are looking forward to a long and prosperous relationship with TEEX,” said Michael Gautreaux, Executive Director of Nicholls Petroleum Engineering Technology and Safety Management (PETSM) department. Read the entire press release, and view the news article in here.