NYCOSH’s Summer 2016 Young Workers Program Features: “Teens Lead at Work” Kick Off, Teen Worker Safety Month Proclamation and Announcement of YouthSafe Contest Winners!

As we head into the summer, it is also 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.

 

• 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.

 

Teens Lead at Work, NYCOSH’s summer training component of the Young Worker Program, kicks off at the beginning of July. This summer, 3 teens, will conduct training for peers on health and safety, with a special emphasis on workplace violence.  They will also design and implement their own small project, and assist NYCOSH staff in other organizational programs to become better informed about the myriad of issues all workers face around safety and health conditions. They will receive training on how to conduct the educational sessions for their peers, and they will then facilitate these sessions at several locations employ youth during the summer months.

 

Teens will also learn about “Teen Worker Safety Month” declared by Governor Andrew Cuomo in June. The 2016 Proclamation (LINKED) states, “Young workers offer valuable skills and talents that contribute to a stronger New York State Workforce, and we must promote not only job opportunities but also safe and health work conditions for our youth; we therefore join to observe Teen Worker Safety Month supporting its goals and encouraging communities statewide to work together to reduce teen workplace injury…”

 

Teens in our program will also help share and distribute messages to their peers via social media including winning entries in NYCOSH’s YouthSafe contest. Judges were impressed with the effort made by dozens of young people to reach out to their peers with messages about workplace health and safety.

 

 

YouthSafe Contest Winners 

The winners of the POSTER CONTEST are:

 

• First Prize: $300 — Darwing Mendez, Joseph M. Barry Career & Technical Education Center, Westbury, NY

 

• Second Prize: $200 — Destiny Alvarez, Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education High School, Queens, NY

 

• Third Prize: $100 — Birjot Kaur, Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education High School, Queens, NY

 

• Doris Bove-Aresta and Ms. Evelyn Loveras, the winning teachers, will receive a prize.

 

 

The winners of the PSA/VIDEO CONTEST are:

 

• First Prize: $300 — Madeline Nesheiwat, Arlington High School, LaGrangeville, NY

 

• Second Prize: $200 —Michael Chambers, Joseph M. Barry Career & Technical Education Center, Westbury, NY

 

• Third Prize: $100 — Maranda Sears & Julia Tompkins, Arlington High School, LaGrangeville, NY

 

• Gerard Sheedy and Mr. Michael Pugliese, the winning teachers, will also receive a prize.

 

The winners of the SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEST are:

 

• First Prize: $300— Adalia Olson, Orange Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Education Center, Goshen, NY

 

• Second Prize: $200— Jennifer Carrasquillo, Orange Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Education Center, Goshen, NY

 

• Third Prize: $100— Emily Lear, Orange Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Education Center, Goshen, NY

 

• Madeline Lennon, the winning teacher, will also receive a prize.

 

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