The Blog
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02/19/10
Warning: Are young workers safe at work?
When Mel Camilli rolls his wheelchair in front of a group of high school students, he commands their attention. Missing two legs from a logging accident that happened as a young man, Mel is a visible lesson to teens that youth is no protection against injury.
Mel’s engaging talk to students has proven effective in getting the attention of these young people just entering the workforce and prone to high risk of injury. In 2009, L&I launched its “Injured Young Worker Speakers” program featuring Mel and other speakers who were severely injured on the job as young workers.
The program arranges high school speaking engagements that help raise workplace-safety awareness for teens. This approach of using speakers who were injured as teens and young adults has proven effective in reaching young workers. The injured speakers also show students a professionally developed 15-minute DVD that realistically re-creates four accidents. The program is modeled after a successful Canadian effort that has been reaching out to high school students in British Columbia for 10 years.
Each year in Washington, a significant number of young workers are injured in the workplace, some seriously. In general, young workers are far more likely to be injured on the job than older workers. Young workers are often willing and eager employees – which can also mean they are less likely to inquire about workplace safety, or challenge employers about safety concerns. Combined with inexperience, this raises their chances of suffering a workplace injury.
During tough economic times, young workers may be even less likely to voice safety concerns for fear of losing their jobs. Many high school students (and parents, too) may also simply assume that working is safe.
During the spring of 2009, L&I’s “Injured Young Worker Speakers” program sponsored 35 presentations at 20 schools, reaching more than 2,000 students. Responses from over 1,000 evaluations indicated that the awareness of workplace safety had “significantly increased” for 70% of the students.
In 2010, our goal is to expand to 50 schools statewide. It is Mel Camilli’s hope that his story, and those of the other program speakers, will inspire students to stay safe at work.
For more information about young workers, go to L&I’s Teen Workers Web page.
