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OSHA News Release: [04/06/2006]
Contact Name: Sharon Worthy or Juan Solano
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676 or x1898
Release Number: 06-0615-PHI

OSHA Kicks Off New Summer Job Safety Campaign for Teen Workers

WASHINGTON — Teen workers are the focus of a new campaign launched today by Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Ed Foulke at a special event at Edison Academy in Alexandria, Va.

"Summer is peak time for teen employment," said Foulke, who was sworn in April 3 as the new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) assistant secretary. "We're launching this safety campaign now to help educate teens on workplace dangers and offer solid safety tips that will help them stay safe and healthy on the job."

The Teen Summer Job Safety Campaign, sponsored by OSHA, is a multi-year project to increase awareness about workplace hazards, and provide possible solutions to those hazards, for young workers and their parents. The campaign will focus on industries in which young people are likely to work during their high school and college years. The first year will target the landscaping industry. The kick-off event also highlighted the Department of Labor's YouthRules! Initiative to bring teens, parents, educators, employers, government, unions and advocacy groups together to ensure young workers have safe and rewarding work experiences.

The safety campaign stems from OSHA's ongoing efforts to design new ways to raise job safety and health awareness among teens. OSHA is launching the campaign from Edison Academy which is affiliated with SkillsUSA, a national organization of nearly 300,000 high school and college students and professional members enrolled in training programs in technical, skilled and service occupations. OSHA signed an alliance with that organization last October.

This year's campaign theme is "Landscaping — Plant Your Feet on Safe Ground." OSHA developed a resource kit, or "tool box," designed to help prevent injuries on the job in landscaping. The kit includes materials from OSHA, the Wage and Hour Division, the Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations on potential industry hazards, including machinery, sun and heat, and pesticides, and ways to avoid them.

The kit can be downloaded from OSHA's Teen Workers Web page at www.osha.gov/SLTC/teenworkers/index.html. That site, which educates young workers, parents, employers and educators on workplace safety, also offers educational resources such as fact sheets on workplace rights and responsibilities, hazards on the job, ways to prevent injuries, work hours, job restrictions and more. It also links to states that have special Web sites or initiatives designed for young workers.

Today's event also featured the signing of an alliance renewal with Professional Landcare Network (PLANET), which represents over 4,000 companies and employs more than 100,000 workers. PLANET's members provide landscape and horticultural services including sod and seeding, wetland management, tree and shrub care and irrigation. The alliance will continue to focus on providing industry workers with information and guidance to reduce injuries caused by strains resulting from manual material handling, amputations, motor vehicle crashes, and slips, trips and falls.

Employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. OSHA's role is to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information for and about working teens, visit www.osha.gov or the Department's YouthRules! Web page at www.youthrules.dol.gov.

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