NYCOSH Announces 2017 YouthSafe Public Service Announcement Contest Winners!
By NYCOSH | June 26, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Mónica Novoa, NYCOSH
Cell: 929-366-5320
Office: (212) 227-6440 ext. 14
The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) Announces 2017 YouthSafe Public Service Announcement Contest Winners!
Annual Contest Promotes Workplace Safety Among High School Teens Throughout New York
June 26, 2017 – NYCOSH today announced its 2017 YouthSafe contest winners. The NYCOSH YouthSafe contest is an annual competition encouraging high school students to design public service announcements (PSAs) that teach young people about workplace safety. This year the contest involved 3 categories: 1)Poster 2) Social Media and 3)Video. The NYCOSH YouthSafe contest has prizes in three categories open to all youth between the ages of 14 – 19 who live in New York State. Judges lauded the effort made by dozens of teens to reach out to their peers with messages about workplace health and safety.
Summer is the season of higher teen employment, and with it comes an increased need for young workers to know their rights and all about safety and health in the workplace. Unsafe working conditions, lack of experience, and fear of speaking up have all been cited as reasons for the higher rate of injuries among youth.
The impact is startling:
- Young workers are injured at twice the rate of adult workers.
- In 2014, 64 teens in the United States were killed on the job. A total of 356 young workers, ages 24 and younger were killed.
- Every 7 minutes, somewhere in the U.S., a teenager is injured seriously enough on the job to go to a hospital emergency room
- An average of 795,000 youth are treated for nonfatal injuries in U.S. hospital emergency departments each year–27,000 under age 18 (one third of all injuries).
- Based on emergency room data, 38% of teens who were injured on the job worked in the leisure and hospitality sector.
“The contest is meant to create awareness by having teens use their creativity to reach their peers with workplace safety and health messages,” said Susan McQuade, Safety and Health Specialist at NYCOSH and coordinator of youth programs. “We are so inspired by this future workforce – we see them as our future safety and health advocates.”
Participants in NYCOSH’s summer training program, Teens Lead at Work, will help share and distribute winning messages to thousands of their peers.
2017 YouthSafe PSA Contest Winners (see art posted here)
Posters:
- First prize $300 – Matthew Taylor, Joseph M. Barry Career & Technical Education Center, Westbury, NY
- Second Prize $200 – Eli Monjaras, Joseph M. Barry Career & Technical Education Center, Westbury, NY
- Third Prize $100 – Maya Farrally, Joseph M. Barry Career & Technical Education Center, Westbury, NY
- Winning Teacher: Doris Bove-Aresta, Joseph M. Barry Career & Technical Education Center, Westbury, NY
Social Media:
- First prize – Casey Labar, Orange-Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Education Center, Goshen, NY
- Second prize – Katerina Papadopoulos, Orange-Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Education Center, Goshen, NY
- Third prize – Janice Vasquez, Orange-Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Education Center, Goshen, NY
- Winning teacher: Madeline Lennon, Orange-Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Education Center, Goshen, NY
Videos:
- First prize $300 – Erin Traut and Rachel Priebe, Arlington High School, LaGrangeville, NY
- Second prize $200 – Kevin Desnoyers, Arlington High School, LaGrangeville, NY
- Third prize $100 – Caroline McDonald, Arlington High School, LaGrangeville, NY
- Winning Teacher: Gerry Sheedy, Arlington High School, LaGrangeville, NY
About NYCOSH: The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) is a membership organization of workers, unions, community-based organizations, workers’ rights activists, and health and safety professionals. NYCOSH uses training, education, and advocacy to improve health and safety conditions in our workplaces, our communities, and our environment. Founded in 1979 on the principle that workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths are preventable, NYCOSH works to extend and defend every person’s right to a safe and healthy workplace. For more information, visit nycosh.org, follow the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health on Facebook, and @NYCOSH on Twitter.