Book Description

NIOSH is pleased to present Youth @ Work—Talking Safety, a foundation curriculum in occupational safety and health. This curriculum is the culmination of many years' work by a consortium of partners dedicated to reducing occupational injuries and illnesses among youth. The initial curricula upon which Youth @ Work—Talking Safety is based included WorkSafe!, developed by the Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP) at the University of California, Berkeley, and Safe Work/Safe Workers, developed by the Occupational Health Surveillance Program at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) in Newton, MA. Those products were produced under grants from NIOSH as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, US Department of Labor; the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents; the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration; and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company.The activities in the Youth @ Work curriculum were developed in consultation with numerous teachers and staff from general high schools, school to work, work experience, and vocational education programs, as well as the California WorkAbility program, which serves students with cognitive and learning disabilities. The activities have been extensively pilot tested and used by numerous high school teachers, job trainers, and work coordinators around the country to teach youth important basic occupational safety and health skills. In 2004, NIOSH made a commitment to integrate an occupational safety and health curriculum into US high schools. As part of this effort, the States' Career Clusters Initiative which operates under the auspices of the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education consortium (NASDCTEc) joined the partnership. The Youth @ Work curriculum was evaluated in sixteen schools across ten states during the 2004-2005 school year. This final version reflects the input from all of the teachers, administrators, students, and partners who participated in that evaluation.