Young Workers

The NIOSH 8 Core Competencies include eight steps that young workers can take to help ensure their safety in any workplace. The researchers used the Health Belief Model, an established theoretical framework for effecting change in health behavior, to guide the development of the NIOSH 8 Core Competencies. In practical terms, according to the researchers, teachers and administrators can incorporate the NIOSH 8 Core Competencies into school curricula to help ensure that young workers have the skills and knowledge they need to stay safe and healthy at work.

A new national study examined for the first time who influences the safety behavior of young workers aged 15 to 24. The researchers looked at six sources of influence; parents, siblings, teachers, friends, supervisors and co-workers to see how they related to the workers’ risk-taking behavior and frequency of minor work injuries. Their findings show that among the six sources of influence, parents, supervisors and co-workers had the largest positive influence. Young workers who are regularly exposed to supervisors’, co-workers’, and parents’ injunctive safety norms reported fewer work injuries via less frequent work-related risk-taking.

Vulnerable groups such as young workers are more likely to be in precarious employment. Precarious employment is defined as work that is part-time, seasonal or temporary. This type of employment impacts the traditional employee-employer relationship and puts young workers at greater risk of not receiving their employment standards entitlements. They may also lack the ability or the resources to understand their rights at work.