“In Working Order” - Young Worker Safety Project 2007

Young workers often don’t receive the training and supervision they need to help them recognise hazards and avoid workplace injury. In response WorkCover is funding Youthsafe and the Australian Retailer’s Association to team up and develop a workplace safety resource kit for use in early high school to teach young people about OHS and their rights and responsibilities at work. As well as an interactive DVD and CD-Rom with support materials for educators there will be an online website with information and risk management strategies for employers and the community. These resources are currently being developed for further information, contact the coordinator Joanne Kemp.

Construction Trades Apprentices Project 2006-07

Many serious injuries happen at work and among the trades, construction workers have one of the highest rates of injury.

To learn more about this issue Youthsafe surveyed more than 800 apprentices in carpentry, plumbing, electrical, civil construction and shopfitting to find out what apprentices learn about workplace safety at TAFE and at work and about their experiences of workplace injury.

Apprentices were very concerned about workplace hazards – especially working at heights and dealing with electrical power or electrical equipment and hazardous materials, including asbestos.

Equipment such as earplugs and safety glasses were much more likely to be available when they were needed by the apprentices than were harnesses, sunscreen and safety vests – and when safety equipment was provided, it was much more likely to be used.

A fifth of the apprentices had been injured moderately or very seriously at work and minor injuries often happened daily. Almost one third had lost time at work and/or TAFE as a result of getting injured. Despite this only about half of the apprentices had learned about the NSW Workers’ Compensation Scheme.

Apprentices learned most about OHS at TAFE although they still looked to employers, supervisors or workmates for safety information.

Teachers recognised the importance of workplace safety as a priority within the apprenticeship course and most encouraged apprentices to speak up about safety.

Teachers suggested improvements to ensure the teaching environment was adequate and that staff to student ratios were reduced, especially in the workshop.

Only 45% of teachers covered Workers’ Compensation information in a TAFE class.

This study points to many opportunities for workplace safety interventions both at TAFE and on worksites.

Check out the full report “Summary of results from the survey of Apprentices and TAFE Teachers”.

Workplace Drug and Alcohol Project
Youthsafe teamed up with Macquarie Area Health Drug and Alcohol Service in 2002 to investigate and address drug and alcohol related injury in two regionally based workplaces, a local abattoir and a trades apprentices group training organisation, the two largest employers of young people in the region. Funded by NSW Health (Men and Boys Health Project Grants), the project was set up in two stages over two years:

Stage 1: Abattoir (2002-2003)
Working closely with management, union representatives, abattoir workers and the community, project coordinators from Youthsafe and MAHS pieced together the extent of the drug and alcohol problem in the abattoir and proposed a number of activities to bring about positive change.

Activities included a review of workplace policies, initiation of training for new staff on workplace drug and alcohol risks, training for supervisors on managing unsafe behaviour and on communicating effectively with staff and a confidential referral system for employees wanting to access counselling and rehabilitation services.

If you want more information about stage 1 of the project check out the final report, or contact the project coordinator: Kristy Abbott.

Stage 2: Group Training Organisation (2003-2004)
Using the lessons from stage 1, Youthsafe and MAHS worked with Orana Group Apprentices to tackle workplace drug and alcohol issue amongst their young workforce.

A workplace policy, training program and support resources were developed and provided to trainees, apprentices and their host employers in various formats.