Safe Start At Work -
European Week for Safety and Health at Work 2006
This year's European Week for Safety and Health at Work
is dedicated to young people to ensure a safe and healthy start to their working lives. The week runs from 23rd to 27th October.
The Safe Start campaign is backed by all Member States, candidate and EFTA countries, the Austria and Finland EU Presidencies, the European Parliament and the European Commission, and by the European Social Partners.
European Week campaigns focus on promoting improved prevention at the workplace level by involving all the relevant stakeholders. In 2006, the campaign will also promote activities in schools, colleges and the wider education community, and promote the issue among the relevant policy makers in the education field. The Agency has already carried out several projects on the 'mainstreaming of OSH into education' and the campaign will draw on these resources.
The Safe Start campaign has two distinct elements:
In the workplace:
- Young workers - promoting risk awareness, and raising awareness of OSH risks and what to do when starting work
- Employers - providing safe and suitable work, training and supervision, and being aware of what to do when a young person starts work
In the education community:
- Schools and colleges - promoting risk awareness and OSH as an integral part of education - preparing young people for their first day at work, and for their OSH responsibilities in their future careers
- Youth organisations - promoting risk awareness and risk prevention as an integral part of their activities - preparing young people for the wider world of work
- Vocational training centres - promoting risk awareness and OSH as an integral part of training - preparing young people for the world of work
- Education authorities - promoting mainstreaming of OSH into education and youth employment policies, agreements and actions
- Schools and colleges - promoting risk awareness and OSH as an integral part of education - preparing young people for their first day at work, and for their OSH responsibilities in their future careers
There is a need for "awareness raising" and education from an early stage - risk education and the prevention culture are the key factors for maintaining and improving the quality of work.
This includes mainstreaming OSH into activities on youth employment and workplace training and development; and into education in schools, colleges and vocational training.
Pre-work health and safety education and training are part of preparing young people for work, and part of the life-long learning agenda.
