Debra Coyle McFadden 2021 Eula Bingham Awardee OHS Section APHA October 2021

2021 Eula Bingham Awardee: Debra Coyle McFadden
Occupational Health and Safety Section of the American Public Health Association, October 27, 2021
Debra Coyle McFadden is the executive director of the NJ Work Environment Council (WEC). McFadden has twenty years of experience in public policy and has trained thousands of workers, union representatives, and community members on environmental health and occupational safety and health.
In response to COVID-19, McFadden and the WEC team jumped into action. In March 2020 McFadden reached out to colleagues at Rutgers University LEARN to partner on a webinar titled, COVID-19: Protecting and Educating Workers, that featured state/federal officials discussing COVID-19 and the latest actions by the government. After the success of the initial webinar, McFadden realized the critical need for this type of ongoing education. This led to the creation of the Saving Lives, Protecting Workers weekly webinar series which ran from March 2020 through April 2021. The hour-long webinars provided the latest COVID-19 information and provided a space to hear from frontline workers, union representatives and community members. In total, McFadden and team developed and produced 46 webinars with more than 100 presenters and 4,710 participants in attendance. The series continues on an as-needed basis.
McFadden also contributed to two national and one state COVID-19 reports emphasizing the urgency of COVID-19 worker protections. In addition, she worked with allies in the Protect New Jersey Workers Coalition, which WEC is a member, to advocate for COVID-19 worker protections. This advocacy led to Gov. Phil Murphy signing a worker protection Executive Order that included COVID-19 worker training funds. This was one of the strongest worker rights EOs to be issued in the country.
Under McFadden’s leadership, WEC has trained more than 450 participants on COVID-19 awareness and prevention in the workplace and has fielded more than 170 technical assistance requests. In January 2021, WEC received the National Healthy Schools Hero Award from the Healthy Schools Network for its COVID-19 work.

Eula Bingham Award for Excellence in OHS Education and Training
Dr. Eula Bingham (1929-2020) was known for putting OSHA on the map and shaping the field of occupational health and safety and toxicology. During her tenure, the Agency focused on adopting strong standards for an employee’s right-to-know. This included not just work with OSHA, but collaboration with other Federal Agencies and policy stakeholders. She was an out-spoken and unwavering voice of worker’s rights, women’s rights, environmental health, and social justice. Throughout her career, she worked with state legislators, labor unions, grassroots organizations, and consumers to implement safety regulations at all levels of government. This award recognizes individuals’ innovation and commitment to OHS training and education.