Safety Training for Younger Workers

05 August 2015

In 2013 there were 18.1 million US workers under the age of 24, with 375 young workers dying from work-related accidents, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Furthermore, the rate of young workers being sent to the ER is two times higher than those aged 25 years and older.

What those numbers tell us is that young workers are a vulnerable sub-group, whose lack of training may put them in danger of a serious onsite accident. So, what can you do? Well thankfully NIOSH have also released a new set of guidelines aimed at protecting and informing your younger workers while working on site. Let’s take a look.

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Employers, Follow These Steps

As an employer, you don’t want to see any of your younger workers put in harm’s way. Let’s take a look at what you can do to protect your young employees.

Recognize the Hazards

According to the NIOSH guidelines, the first thing you should do as an employer is recognize the hazards posed to your workers. You should start reducing the potential risks by “assessing and eliminating” any hazards within your workplace. For a construction firm, this will start with the type of equipment you use. Identify your risks, organize a buddy system where older workers offer some on site advice to your workers in terms of known hazards.

Supervise Young Workers

The NIOSH guidelines state clearly that you always ensure your young workers are “appropriately supervised”. There’s a few points here to take on board according to the guide, number one is to ensure that your managers are aware of the tasks young workers can and can’t perform. You should also ensure that you “label equipment that young workers cannot use” or use color-coded uniforms so that others “will know they cannot perform” certain tasks. Assigning a buddy, or mentor, will help in the protection of your young worker.

Provide Training

Training is obviously extremely important to us here at GoContractor and it should be one of the first things you carry out. As the guide says, sufficient training will ensure all of your younger workers are aware of the risks and hazards. Effective training will also ensure your workers are aware of the necessary health and safety procedures, what protection gear to use, and understand how to approach difficult work tasks without a risk of serious injury. With the advancements in technology, and younger workers becoming increasingly connected, it would be a good solution to conduct your training online, which can be conducted on a tablet or smartphone device, making training more enticing to your younger workforce. You can read more about that here.

Develop an Injury Prevention Program

According to the guide, you should develop an injury and illness prevention program. To do this, you should, “involve supervisors and experienced workers” to get the process of identifying any particular health and safety related risks. OSHA also have a number of consultation programs that are available in every state in the US.

Young Workers, Follow These Steps

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Since this piece is about young workers, the guide lays out a number of steps younger workers can take to ensure they protect themselves while in your workplace. Let’s take a look.

Educate yourself on Safe Work Practices

As the guide states, you should be fully aware of your company’s safe work practices and recognise the potential risks that are out there. From your perspective, it’s about ensuring that you are well versed on all aspects of health and safety. Our past blog posts may also help in terms of what type of safety equipment you can avail of.

Ask about training

Be sure to participate in any training programs your employer organises and be sure to listen and take notes during your orientation. The orientation will give you some history on your company, its structures and the variety of health and safety mechanisms they have in place to ensure your safety.

Ask about hazards

As the guide rightly says, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to find out more information regarding a task and discuss your concerns with your supervisors or managers.

Know Your Rights and Know the Law

You have the right to work in a safe environment “free of recognized hazards,” you can read more on that here. You should also know, that there are certain rules in regards to how many hours you can work and nature of employment you can partake in, but it all depends on your age.

Sonya Sikra

Sonya is the Brand Strategy Manager at GoContractor. She specializes in communicating how implementing tech in construction can drive productivity and profit.

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