Pittsburgh looks to create program to train retail, food service workers how to help people in crisis

A program being considered by Pittsburgh officials would train front-line workers in the retail and food service industries how to deal with people in crisis.

Legislation introduced Tuesday by City Councilwoman Deb Gross, D-Highland Park, would create a training program through the city’s Office of Community Health and Safety.

Gross said people who are facing a range of crises — including mental health struggles, addiction or homelessness — often show up at stores, restaurants or other businesses where the staff may not be equipped to help people in need.

“Those workers don’t specialize in that but find themselves on the front lines of that too frequently,” Gross said.

The program would include training in de-escalation, overdose response, Narcan administration and homeless response, according to the legislation.

The Office of Community Health and Safety already teaches city employees how to respond when they encounter someone in crisis.

Gross said the office has the capacity to expand that to a training program for other workers throughout the city who may benefit from knowing how to respond to such situations.

Officials are still working to determine how the program would be set up, Gross said. She said she would like to see the city offer it as a free service, but officials have not determined what the overhead costs for the initiative would be.

The measure could be ready for a preliminary vote as early as next week and a final vote as soon as the following week.