Workforce Tulsa, national group to create workplace safety training program

Workforce Tulsa will partner with national group Workforce Tulsa and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to develop and pilot test a new training program to promote workplace safety and health practices among young adults seeking career services and temporary employment opportunities.

The first of its kind in the country, the Developing Work Safety Skills training program will be provided to participants in Workforce Tulsa’s Youth Employment Program, which provides young adults with temporary jobs related to their career goals through a partnership with Manpower, one of the largest staffing firms in the U.S.

Developing Work Safety Skills, which is currently under development, will be an interactive training program designed to help workforce development staff teach foundational workplace health and safety knowledge and skills in a fun and interesting way. Training will include activities that highlight hazard recognition and prevention strategies relevant to a workplaces where young adults are often employed.

“We’re excited that NIOSH has chosen Tulsa for this pilot project,” Workforce Tulsa executive director Shelley Cadamy said. “Our Youth Employment Program participants have a variety of challenges and barriers to sustainable employment, including a lack of education (many are high school dropouts), a history in the criminal justice system, homelessness, learning and psychological disabilities, and for some, struggling to succeed as young, single parents.

“This training program will provide our young adult clients with a much-needed opportunity to learn the basics of workplace health and safety, which they are unlikely to have learned about elsewhere.”

Said NIOSH director John Howard: “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.”