UCLA-Labor Occupational Safety Program: Youth Project

Background

Program Goals:

To understand and describe the work experiences of inner city students; to integrate curriculum and peer education/youth leadership programs into schools to education students about hazards, rights, responsibilities, resources, and how they can get support to speak up about problems; and to reach the broader Spanish-speaking community about workplace health and safety through an educated student population

Intent:

Unintentional injuries

Risk Factors Addressed:

Change how young workers respond to an employer in terms of health and safety issues
Make explicit the right of having a safe work setting 

Place of occurrence:

Workplace

Age/Age Range:

Adolescents, specifically Latino youth attending high school in the Los Angeles area; but also it is hoped to reach the parents and wider community through these students

Other Population Characteristics:

Variance in growth rates among adolescents results in physical risks; adolescents experience diminished coordination during periods of rapid growth

A common perception is that teens who get injured on the job are reckless and rebellious, but in fact often it is their positive attitudes – their energy, enthusiasm, desire for increased responsibility, combined with a reluctance to ask questions or make demands – that can result in their assuming tasks for which they are either unprepared or incapable of performing safety.

Resources

Year Developed:

1996

Collaborative Organization(s):

Public Health Service - US Department of Health & Human Services
Jefferson High School
Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles (CCSCLA)
UCLA-LOSH program
National Young Worker Safety and Health Network 

Funding Resource(s):

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
California Endowment Funds 

Costs:

LOSH employs a multi-ethnic, bilingual staff of ten, and has an annual operating budget of approximately $500,000

Implementation

Context/Setting:

High school

Strategies Used:

Education

Activities Used:

Initial pilot of curriculum material for grade 9 students
Safe Jobs for Youth curriculum included in life skills classes in three schools
Semester long Healthy communities healthy jobs curriculum developed

Program Evaluation:

Needs assessment in 1996; observations, surveys and focus groups with students, teachers and interns; Post-training evaluations from participants

Source of Best Practice:

Volpe, R. & Lewko, J. (2004). Preventing Neurotrauma: A Casebook of Evidence-Based Practices. Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation.

Original Source:

Delp, Runyan, Brown, Bowling & Jahan 2002

Supplementary Material:

http://losh.ucla.edu
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/99-141.html 

Local Example(s):

N/A

Contact Information: 

Laurie Kominski, M.S.W.
Director, LOSH Youth Project
UCLA-LOSH
Hershey Hall, P.O. Box 951478
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1478 USA
Tel: 310-794-5964 / 310-794-5992
Fax: 310-794-6403
Email: lauriek@ucla.edu 

Outcomes

Long-term outcomes/Effectiveness:

Empowerment of youth to become health and safety advocates

Short-term outcomes:

The full curriculum has been adopted and instituted in classes in three schools in the South Central Los Angeles area and is being tried in numerous other schools.

Significant increase in students’ awareness of their rights and of resource organizations concerned with workplace safety

Students have reported that they act as sources of information regarding workplace safety and workers’ rights in both their communities and families

Other Benefits:

Over time the scope of the project expanded to include an agenda of environmental health issues in addition to workplace health and safety

Other

Date of Review:

2004

Classification:

Best Practice