Focus
Training Young People in Health, Safety and Fire Awareness
November 1998
Sheila Pantry, OBE
How soon should we start to train our young people in health, safety and fire awareness? Most people would agree not a minute too soon! So where can attractive, validated and authoritative training information be found which can be used either by trainers or by the young people themselves?
Searching for such information can be a minefield, but the following signposts will give quick and easy access. All are authoritative bodies.
Internet-based information
In our lists of links, you can find some really innovative web sites such as the Western Australia Worksafe.
If you are seeking answers to questions about workplace hazards etc check out the Canadian Center for Occupational Health (CCOHS) site
Another Canadian web site will take you to many links, so try Information Sources - Christie Communications, who present a very wide range of occupational safety and health services, information, training and products.
From New Zealand the site Information Sources - Occupational Safety and Health Service of the Department of Labour offers training and information.
A different type of web based information from Sweden is the Education course - Web based in occupational health for vocational teachers. This is an education course - web based in occupational health for vocational teachers. This course makes it possible to combine a college course in occupational health with practical experience of the most recent information technology. It has some useful information sources.
The ILO has been trying to raise standards in the workplace and the two sites, ILO International Labour Office and ILO International Labour Office Health and Safety Centre Geneva give some useful information.
This site lists CIS products and services, useful addresses of CIS collaborating centres world wide. Contact details are provided for the CIS national centres. There are also links to the Asian Pacific Information network, and to GINC. The Index of Occupational Safety and Health Resources can be found on the home page also, and is an excellent starting point when searching for OSH information on the WWW.
From the UK, the following sites give useful information:
Information Sources - Health and Safety Executive Information Service. Revamped and improved pages have details of contact points, legislation, publications, press releases of the UK Government Agency - Health and Safety Executive
Information Sources - Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) in the UK offers a wide range of services, publications and training courses for safety and health at work, water and leisure, education and at home. RoSPA Information Services database is available in the Sports and Leisure Health and Safety CD-ROM available from SilverPlatter.
Don't forget to regularly check this site...
WWW: SilverPlatter's Health & Safety World, which is regularly updated (at least twice per month) OSH world - editorial, focus, alphabetical subject index, country index, diary of events.
Legislation, guidance and advice
Sources containing full text of the legislation and other pieces of guidance and advice can be found in the various CD-ROMs such as OSH-ROM, OSH-CD, FIRE-CD, FIRE WORLDWIDE, Environment Plus and Sport and Leisure Health & Safety Plus.
The products mentioned in this article are available for a free trial. Why not try these for yourself and check out the contents of these exciting sources of information against your own workplace needs?