Events

This year’s European Week for Safety and Health at Work is dedicated to young people to ensure a safe and healthy start to their working lives

The Safe Start campaign is backed by all Member States, candidate and EFTA countries, the Austria and Finland EU Presidencies, the European Parliament and the European Commission, and by the European Social Partners.

European Week campaigns focus on promoting improved prevention at the workplace level by involving all the relevant stakeholders. In 2006, the campaign will also promote activities in schools, colleges and the wider education community, and promote the issue among the relevant policy makers in the education field. The Agency has already carried out several projects on the ‘mainstreaming of OSH into education’ and the campaign will draw on these resources.

The Safe Start campaign has two distinct elements:

In the workplace:

• Young workers - promoting risk awareness, and raising awareness of OSH risks and what to do when starting work;
• Employers - providing safe and suitable work, training and supervision, and being aware of what to do when a young person starts work.

In the education community:

• Schools and colleges - promoting risk awareness and OSH as an integral part of education - preparing young people for their first day at work, and for their OSH responsibilities in their future careers;
• Youth organisations - promoting risk awareness and risk prevention as an integral part of their activities - preparing young people for the wider world of work;
• Vocational training centres - promoting risk awareness and OSH as an integral part of training - preparing young people for the world of work;
• Education authorities - promoting mainstreaming of OSH into education and youth employment policies, agreements and actions;
• Schools and colleges - promoting risk awareness and OSH as an integral part of education - preparing young people for their first day at work, and for their OSH responsibilities in their future careers.

There is a need for “awareness raising” and education from an early stage - risk education and the prevention culture are the key factors for maintaining and improving the quality of work. This includes mainstreaming OSH into activities on youth employment and workplace training and development; and into education in schools, colleges and vocational training. Pre-work health and safety education and training are part of preparing young people for work, and part of the life-long learning agenda.

Safe Start will include:

• Information packs in all official EU Member State languages;
• Awareness-raising posters and leaflets;
• A multilingual website;
• A new Video Competition to find the “European Young Film Maker of the Year”;
• European Good Practice Awards to recognise enterprises or organisations, including schools, colleges and training providers, that have made outstanding and innovative contributions to ensure that young people make a safe start in their working lives, and that risk awareness and prevention is promoted in enterprises, schools and colleges;
• Special events and activities across Europe to bring the campaign’s key messages to life in all organisations large and small, public and private, local, national and international. In previous campaigns there have been thousands of EU-wide events, many co-ordinated by the Agency’s network of national Focal Points in the EU 25 Member States.

Focus for European Week 2006:

• Young workers to be aware of OSH risks and what they need to do when starting work;
• Employers to be aware of what they should do when a young person starts work, and to act accordingly;
• Risk awareness education and OSH in vocational training - preparing for the first day at work;
• Support for the Lisbon Strategy, especially the Youth Pact.

The campaign aims to support the following:

Young people:

• Young people to be informed and empowered citizens;
• All young workers to have a basic awareness and understanding of health and safety issues at work, its importance and their rights/responsibilities and where they can get help and information;
• All young workers to receive the necessary OSH training - on the job, on vocational courses etc.

Employers and supervisors:

• Employers to create quality jobs for young workers, and to be aware of the recruitment and retention advantages of doing this;
• Employers and supervisors to be aware of the risks to young people, how they arise and what they need to do;
• Employers to cover young workers in risk assessments, and to take appropriate additional measures to protect them - appropriate allocation of tasks taking account of their (limited) experience and skills, information, training, supervision etc;
• Employers to ensure that all young and new workers are provided with induction training and supervision - this provides an opportunity to promote innovative methods, such as twinning a young worker with an older mentor.

Effective mainstreaming of OSH into education:

• School leavers to have a basic awareness and understanding of health and safety issues at work, its importance and their rights/responsibilities;

• Students of university and vocational courses, including business courses and professional courses, to receive relevant OSH training and information as part of that course;

• OSH to be an integral part of preparation and organisation of work experience programmes;

• Education, employment and OSH policy makers to cooperate to include OSH in education in the areas listed above.

Intermediaries working with young people:

Youth employment schemes and centres to provide OSH information to their clients - both young workers and employers

• Young people at school to receive OSH information before starting work experience or job placements;
• Effective cooperation between employment, OSH and education bodies to manage OSH by ensuring that it is a formal part of planning and organisation of work experience.

Policy makers:

Employment field:

• inclusion of the creation of quality jobs for young people in employment strategies/agendas, including recognition of the OSH issues,
• policy actions to ensure that young people are informed and empowered citizens regarding OSH.

Education and vocational training field:

• policy action to ensure that risk education forms part of each child’s education curriculum,
• policy actions to ensure that safety critical professions receive adequate education in risk management,
• promote mainstreaming of OSH into youth employment policies, agreements and actions.

The campaign will culminate in the European Week for Safety and Health at Work in October 2006. Now is your chance to make sure that young people have a safe and healthy start to their working lives, and that risk awareness and risk prevention are promoted in enterprises, schools and colleges by taking part in European Week for Safety and Health at Work 2006.

All safety and health institutions, public and private sector bodies, companies at the workplace level including SMEs, trades unions and safety representatives, managers, supervisors and workers, the education community - schools, colleges and training providers, youth organisations, work experience bodies - are invited to organise their own activities during this week.

Safe Start is a great opportunity for you to participate in a campaign to prevent accidents and ill health, to protect young people, and to ensure that they have a Safe Start to their working lives.
 

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