According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), there are 541 million young workers (15-24 years old) globally. They account for more than 15 per cent of the world’s labour force and suffer up to a 40 per cent higher rate of non-fatal occupational injuries than adult workers older than 25. They include 37 million 15-17 year olds in hazardous child labour
Many factors can increase youth vulnerability to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) risks, such as their physical and psychological stage of development, lack of work experience and lack of training, limited awareness of work-related hazards and a lack of bargaining power that can lead young workers to accept dangerous tasks or jobs with poor working conditions.
Personally, while I believe it’s good for the youths to get trained, it’s even better to tackle these issues from the grassroots through prevention strategies. How can we train little children to have the safety mindset? Modifying future behaviour is the way to go and that can be achieved through a conscious Safety Education. What this does for society is:
1) We raise children who are naturally safety conscious as they have imbibed safety habits
2) Our schools get Safety education integrated into the curriculum to ensure a conscious knowledge transfer
3) When young people decide to take on jobs, they can make better choices because they know and understand the implication of unsafe choices to their lives
4) Knowledge is shared within the spheres of influence of these young people
How can we do this?
Asides the traditional way of teaching children, we can add innovation to make learning both fun and enlightening. Story books, movies, games and role play sessions are a great way to go.
#SafetyEducation
#SafetyConsciousness
#2TYI#UN#ILO#SDG8#SDGs
#WorldDayForHealthAndSafetyAtWork
#SafeDay2018#UNICEF#WHO
#SafetyAwareness
#TheSafetyChic
Intentionally grooming a safety conscious generation
Source of statistics: www.ilo.org
