The Colorado Department of Agriculture, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Occupational Safety and Health Association are teaming up to host a health-and-safety course for marijuana employees this summer, as the industry continues to grow and add more workers.

No, this isn't anything like Steven Seagal training an Arizona posse on gun safety in schools – something that actually happened – but a chance for employers and employees in a unique industry to receive safety training from nationally recognized authorities. The seven-hour course will be held on Thursday, June 28, at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and will focus on such issues as fire hazards and safety challenges in similar businsses, as well as factors specific to the federally illegal industry, such a cannabis pesticide application.

The CDA released a guide for marijuana workplace safety in February; this class will be a broad overview of that document. "The intention with publishing the guidelines was to have some kind of follow-up to increase awareness for those in the marijuana industry, and for employers and workers to understand and develop a safety program in their workplace," says Roberta Smith, manager of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Occupational Health Program.

Commercial operations now require more oversight than 2014, when retail marijuana businesses first opened. - Lindsey Bartlett.

The guidelines are built around a compilation of regulations in similar industries that groups like the Environmental Protection Agency and OSHA have already implemented and are nothing new to state and federal agencies, Smith adds.  The guidelines took two years to draft, she says, with input from industry stakeholders and safety groups like OSHA. "Some of that stuff can be confusing no matter what industry you're in, but this is more geared to marijuana," she says.