Start early and stay safe

Integrating occupational safety and health into school and university education is the key to reducing the high incidence of work-related accidents and illnesses in many EU industries, especially among young staff, claims a new report published by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.  

 

According to the report, Mainstreaming Occupational Safety and Health into Education, young employees, aged 18-24, are 50%, more likely to have an accident than the average staff member in industrialised countries. One of the main problems, argue the authors, is that most adolescents enter the labour market with only little knowledge of the risks, let alone education in preventive measures.  

 

To help policy makers and practitioners resolve this shortfall, the 152-page report describes and analyses 32 examples of how different EU countries have successfully integrated OSH into different levels of the education system, from primary schools up to universities and specialist vocational colleges. It also provides a strategic framework, including a ‘road map’, to achieve this.  

 

Examples of good practice covered in the study include a UK initiative to educate children about the dangers of building sites; a methodology to help teachers in Italy introduce OSH into the school syllabus; and a scheme in France where pupils on work placement are invited to find ways to improve the companies’ health and safety environment. 

 

‘One of the lessons of the study is that health and safety education has to be a life-long process, from pre-school onwards, to succeed,’ says Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, the Agency’s Director. ‘It’s about developing a prevention culture and an integral part of this is ensuring that young people are qualified in the core principles of risk awareness and prevention before they enter the world of work – they have to “start early to stay safe”. We hope this report will make an important contribution to this aim.’  

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Press contacts: Andrew Smith, email: smith@osha.europa.eu European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Tel: +34 94 479 57 33 

 

Other enquiries: European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Gran Via 33, E-48009 Bilbao, Spain, e-mail: information@osha.europa.eu , fax: (34) 94 479 43 83.