Editorial

Editorial Archive

Protecting Young Workers in Retail Jobs

July 2016
Sheila Pantry OBE

June 2016 was the US National Safety Month, so it is an appropriate time to focus worldwide on young workers, as they head out of school and into the workforce. Many of them will find jobs in the retail industry, a leading employer of young workers in the United States and elsewhere in the world.

In 2014, there were approximately 18.1 million workers younger than age 24 in the U.S. These workers represented 13% of the U.S. workforce. Young workers have high workplace injury rates, explained in part by the high frequency of hazards in their typical workplaces. In retail work settings, for instance, slippery floors and use of knives and energized equipment are common hazards. Inexperience and lack of safety training also increase injury risks for young workers. The youngest – those in middle and high schools – may have physical and psychosocial limitations that lead to higher injury rates.

In the USA in 2014, about 23,000 (1 of every 4) young retail workers were injured in a retail job. The rate of emergency department-treated workplace injuries was found to be about two times higher for young workers than for workers 25 years and older.

To address their increased risk for work-related injury, NIOSH developed a new web page for young retail workers. This webpage includes safety tips for recognizing hazards and understanding the injuries they can cause, such as being struck by or stuck in an object or equipment; doing too much (overexertion); slips, trips, and falls; driving or riding incidents on the road; and workplace violence. Remember, what you know can keep you safe and healthy at work.

Look at OSH UPDATE + FIRE where employees, employers and safety and health professionals will find many examples of advice and guidance for young worker entering all industries. The information covers all aspects occupational safety and health research, practice, prevention activities, good practices, information, guidance and advice, research reports, leaflets and much more in OSH UPDATE + FIRE www.oshupdate.com – which is considered by many the be THE key tool to all your health, safety and fire information requirements

· OSH UPDATE is easily searchable by keywords, titles, journal names, standard number, authors, organisations, and will keep you and your colleagues alerted to hot topics such as air pollution, workplace health risks, the health risks of nanotechnology, stress in the workplace, preparedness and business continuity, risk assessment, corporate killing and corporate social responsibility, bio-terrorism, management of road risks, all aspects of fire and related fire topics, workplace health and safety and much more.

• Long established from mid 1990s
• Arguably the largest electronic collection in the world in these very wide subject areas from worldwide sources. There is a special collection of OSH legislation, guidance and advice within OSH UPDATE and FIRE!
• The databases and contents are from worldwide class organisations such as the US NIOSH, the UK Health and Safety Executive, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work and many more similar organisations in the world

It is always good to keep researching and finding out if there are services and other ways of keeping up-to-date in this fast changing world of ours. Time is precious and many people are really stretched in their jobs and find it difficult to keep ahead in current knowledge that they should have for their jobs. So help is at hand for those working in health, safety and fire and fire related industries which are brought together in an easy to use web service entitled OSH UPDATE + FIRE www.oshupdate.com that is constantly updated.

Then try these long established Practical, Affordable Solutions for your health, safety, fire and environment information needs from Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd.

For a 15 DAY FREE NO OBLIGATION TRIAL contact: Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd | email: sp@sheilapantry.com | or fill in the Interest form www.sheilapantry.com/interest.html

FOCUS

This month’s OSHWORLD FOCUS contains new information published by the ILO on The future of work.

OSHWORLD

Another great source of information is OSHWORLD – your portal to some of the best OSH web sites in the world

Is your own workplace risk assessment up-to-date?

It is always good to review health, safety, chemical, fire and environment procedures on a regular basis. It is also important that the practices and systems in the workplace are constantly reviewed and if necessary, improved. This review may also indicate training requirements and updates and re-thinking how systems and services can be improved. This is where the free-of-charge OSHWORLD can help you.

Training

In these days of tighter budgets perhaps training may be put on the “back-burner” – but think again how you can keep up with the latest techniques and training opportunities. So look at the latest additions to the Diary of Events and you will see plans have been made already worldwide up to the end of 2016 and beyond to have training courses, symposiums and conferences in many places in the world on a wide range of subjects.

Remember that even if you cannot attend these many events, speakers and organisers are often willing to share their knowledge. Look at the details – where possible, we add in the web sites of these events so you can request further information.

And do let me know if you are organising any OSHE events so that I can add them to the Diary.

Latest news missing you?

In addition to the above we hope that you find the information in OSHWORLD useful in your daily work. Globally there are continually new titles, news items, new products so remember to look at the News to find the latest information from a number of worldwide sources.

Use OSHWORLD as your portal to many hundreds of validated and authoritative web sites that you can find in the Country and Subject links we offer. New subject topics are constantly brought together on web sites, e.g. avian flu and the workplace.

Most information services have a reference shelf where you can quickly check the reference sources – so OSHWORLD brings you a collection of Reference sources and also teaches you how to Search the Internet.

See the various Bookshops to order any new document as they are being published. Many of these Bookshops have a constant stream of new titles available.

Please send any suggestions or comments about OSHWORLD – your portal to validated and authoritative information. Remember also to look at our other really useful sites – www.sheilapantry.com and why not make a free entry about your company’s products in www.shebuyersguide.com.

Don’t work harder – work smarter! Be ahead of the game and use OSH UPDATE + FIRE and OSHWORLD services!

Are you aiming to have a zero accident, incident-free and healthy year in 2016 in your workplace? Some would argue that this is not possible! But keep on trying in 2016!