ERASMUS + Project on work education for young people
What the statistics say regarding fatal and non-fatal accidents of age groups-19-34?
Statistics show that 19- to 34-year-olds are more likely to have a serious accident at work than older adults. If They are exposed to poor working conditions it may lead to the development of occupational illnesses while still young or later in life.
These are the statistics of Portugal of the last 3 years. As you can notice 1/3 of non-fatal accidents are with young people.
| Type of accident | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Fatal work accidents – 19-24 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Fatal work accidents 25-34 | 18 | 9 | 11 |
| Total of fatal accidents (all ages) | 140 | 138 | 119 |
| Non- fatal work accidents – 19-24 | 29 | 20 | 23 |
| Non- fatal work accidents – 25-34 | 90 | 52 | 74 |
| Total of non-fatal accidents (all ages) | 417 | 264 | 385 |
| Total | 557 | 402 | 504 |
– You pointed that teachers and professional trainers have an important mission as knowledge vehicels and as role models for safety behavior to young people/future workers.
On which level is the OSH implementation in educational programm in Portugal?
ACT has high expectations about the education system in Portugal. At this moment we have already carried out 2 accredited teacher training courses in OSH and we are already programming the third one. On the other hand, we´ve made a protocol with the General Direction of Education to work together with other entities to do an OSH referential to integrate transversally these matters in the curricula of all the degrees of education until the University. In June we´ve made a seminary to disseminate the project and both Secretary of state of education and employment attended. This is a clear sign that the government of Portugal is becoming aware of the importance of this matters!
– Which are the goals of the project? ( a collaborative and inclusive- OSH approach)
First of all, we made an OSH guide for education and training teachers, which was the base point and have the target of:
- Value and promote better qualification of teachers through teachers training/education
- Develop and Increase teachers competences in OSH
- Designing and implementing Teachers training programs
Then, we wanted to:
Improve and innovate practices to teach safety and health issues in the classroom, with the realization of a collaborative platform for teachers to exchange their experiences and with available materials, in which each partner will be responsible for the validation of the same in each language.
Motivate and prepare young people to work in safe conditions and to live and learn how to be responsible citizens after leaving school. For this with implement a platform especially for young people, with informations, videos, games, and other matters about OSH. This platform is prepared to function with low vision people and blinds in an inclusive way.
– Which will be the activities that will follow within the project?
We have the obligation of disseminate and to maintain the collaborative platforms for 3 years after project closure. We made a new application to the Erasmus + program to continue this project with different subjects and some different partners in order to let this seed germinate and grow. This is the right time to foster a culture of prevention in schools we cannot drop this project now. Let us hope that the Agency recognizes our effort and gives us the vote of confidence.
But for ACT the job is not done until we do the OSH referential for schools to help the teachers in introducing this subjects in the classroom with the students.
How to build a culture of prevention, your suggestions?
Culture is who we are. Culture shapes our identity. The development of human-centered, life-long knowledge of the culture of prevention is essential for the reduction of occupational accidents and diseases. No acquisition of new significant information can be transformed into knowledge if it excludes important cultural issues.
Placing a culture of prevention at the heart of development and implementation policies for occupational safety and health is a key future investment, in improving working conditions and well-being in workplaces around the world including the partner´s countries.
So, we need to:
- Improve cross cutting approaches on OSH providing different sources of information, free access tools and blended learning;
- Give tools to enable teachers as vehicles of information by exchanging knowledge and experiences;
- Use social media as our allies.
Diana Policarpo, project manager
