Generation Y Safety: The Challenges of Reaching the Under-30 Worker

Reaching a younger audience with the safety message ...

"They're computer-literate, eager to please and products of the MTV – and OSHA – generation. Now it's up to you to help them stay safe on the job. Are you up to the challenge?

When it comes to under-30 workers' approach to safety – and their trainability – safety professionals such as Mike Byington of LaCrosse, Wisc.-based Inland Label and Marketing Services believe there is a difference between them and their older (or perhaps the more politically correct description is "age-enhanced") counterparts.

When it comes to getting the safety message to under-30 workers, OSHA focuses its outreach and education efforts on what it believe to be a strategically important age group: 14- to 24-year-olds. The agency's rationale – and that of NIOSH – comes from the belief that the youngest members of the U.S. work force face a higher risk of occupational injury due to their relatively limited job knowledge, training, skills and life experience. There also is some evidence that workers are more likely to incur a job-related injury, illness or fatality within their first year of employment."   continued ...   (Via Occupational Hazards)

Generation Y.