NIOSH and Workforce Tulsa Partner to Promote Workplace Safety and Health Among Young, Temporary Workers

Press Contact: Nura Sadeghpour (202) 245-0673

NIOSH and Workforce Tulsa Partner to Promote Workplace Safety and Health Among Young, Temporary Workers

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and Workforce Tulsa are pleased to announce a collaboration to develop and pilot test a new training program, Developing Work Safety Skills, to promote workplace safety and health practices among young adults seeking career services and temporary employment opportunities through Workforce Tulsa.

Developing Work Safety Skills, which is currently under development, will be a highly interactive training program designed to help workforce development staff teach young adults foundational workplace health and safety knowledge and skills in a fun and interesting way. Workforce Tulsa will provide the training program to individuals who are enrolled in their Youth Employment Program, which provides young adults with temporary jobs related to their career goals.

“NIOSH is pleased to join Workforce Tulsa in their efforts to promote workplace safety and health knowledge and skills among their Youth Employment Program participants through the NIOSH Developing Work Safety Skills training program,” said NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. “This program will not only ensure the health and safety of these young workers in their first jobs, it will empower them to make safety and health on the job a priority throughout their working lives.”

The training will include a variety of activities that highlight hazard recognition and prevention strategies relevant to workplaces where young people are often employed such as retail or food service. Additionally, program participants will receive a certificate of completion when they finish the Developing Work Safety Skills training program.

“We applaud NIOSH for undertaking a task that crosses so many occupations and look forward to promoting it in our Youth Employment Program and eventually within our other programs,” said Shelley Cadamy, executive director of Workforce Tulsa. “Our young adult participants have a variety of challenges and barriers to sustainable employment, such as a lack of education or homelessness, and this training program will provide them with a much-needed opportunity to learn the basics of workplace health and safety.”

For more information about NIOSH’s efforts to promote workplace health and safety knowledge and skills among youth and other vulnerable working populations, visit the NIOSH Safe-Skilled-Ready Workforce Program’s website.

NIOSH is the federal institute that conducts research and makes recommendations for preventing work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths. For more information about NIOSH visit www.cdc.gov/niosh/.

Workforce Tulsa fuels economic development by connecting businesses throughout the region with job-ready talent through public/private partnerships. Workforce Tulsa works to ensure that the workforce system – made up of employers, job seekers, trainers and educators, government agencies and non-profits – is operating as efficiently as possible so that limited resources are being utilized as effectively as possible. For more information, visit www.workforcetulsa.com.