Mainstreaming OSH into education

Introduction

Mainstreaming Occupational Safety and Health OSH into education involves the integration of one policy area – OSH – into another – education in order to ensure that pupils and students receive OSH education in a systematic way as part of their general education, well before they enter the workforce. The aim is to enhance the awareness of young workers regarding potential risks and how to control them and thus reduce occupational accidents and work-related health problems and foster an OSH culture in the workplace. The main reason for initiating the actions can be seen in the fact that young workers have a higher risk of getting involved in a work accident. In this context promoting a prevention culture and general risk awareness have been identified as key factors for reducing the number of work accidents.

Need for action

Eurostat data show that young workers are more vulnerable to workplace accidents.  In 2020, the incidence rate (number of workplace accidents per 100 000 workers) in the under-18 age group was 1937 and in the 18-24 age group was 2311, compared with 1416 in the 25-54 age group. This means that young people are 1.5 to 1.7 times more likely to have an accident^[1].

There are several reasons behind the higher incidence accident rates and the higher accident risk. Firstly, being new on the job always means a higher risk of being hurt at work just because workers are less trained and less experienced. This especially applies to young workers who are on their first job^[2] . Secondly, young workers may lack acknowledgement by their senior colleagues which may result in not fighting for their interest or in being misguided by bad examples. This is why they need confidence and empowerment in order to be safe and not sorry^[3]. Thirdly, young workers can more frequently be found in risky jobs which can be seen by the fact that they work more often in so-called high risk sectors^[4] or that they get the physically demanding tasks^[5].

Overall, the higher prevalence of workplace injuries among young workers depends on the interactions among age, gender, minority status, and job characteristics^[6]. Other factors that increase young workers’ vulnerability include individual differences arising from young workers’ biological and psychological development, the limited safety training young workers receive, and social influences on young workers^[6].

The mainstreaming OSH into education approach aims at integrating OSH training, OSH management, safety education and safety and health awareness into education as early as possible. The idea is to mainstream a culture of prevention even before young people become young workers. It is argued that if health and safety is mainstreamed in the curricula from an early age, young people will be more likely be aware of risks at work and more likely change their attitude^[7].

Background and framework

Idea and context of mainstreaming OSH into education

Figure 1: Mainstreaming OSH as an integrated educational approach

Source ^[8] 

The idea of integrating OSH into education was mainly inspired by the health promoting schools initiative supported by the WHO since the 1980s ^[9]. Health promoting schools are aimed at creating conditions that are conducive to health. The initiative  also relates to policy approaches that aim at contributing to the same objective, such as:

• The general idea follows the approach of health promotion as it is laid down in the Bangkok Charter of the World Health Organisation (WHO) which is defined as "the process of enabling people to increase control over their health and its determinants, and thereby improve their health";^[10]
• It can also set into relation to the approach of integrating health in all policies (HIAP) – an initiative which launched on European level by the Finnish EU-Presidency in 2006^[11] and is codified in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union^[12];
• It also contributes to the idea of a lifelong health and safety education as a part of the lifelong learning programme. ‘Making lifelong learning and mobility a reality for all’ is one out of five main priorities in the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021–2030)^[13]

Mainstreaming OSH into education can be described as an integrated educational approach which lays in the intersection of health promotion, risk education and health and safety in the learning and work environment. It does not refer to education of a certain level but it can be integrated into pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary education.

EU policy and activities on occupational safety and health in education and training

The initiative for ‘Mainstreaming OSH into Education’ was launched in 2002 by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) at the seminar ‘Learning about Occupational Safety and Health’ organised under the Spanish EU Council presidency and with the support of the European Commission^[14]. The main conclusion of the seminar ‘to start safety and health awareness-raising and education from an early age onwards’ was included in the European community strategy on OSH 2002–2006^[15]. The policy makers were convinced that it would be too late to start with health and safety education when entering the workforce. The strategy called for the development of a prevention culture at the workplace by means of education and training, the safety awareness must be introduced already in the school curriculum^[16]. After the five year period the goal was also included in the follow-up 2007-2012 strategy^[17]. Also the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014-2020 included the idea of ‘OSH starts at school’^[18]. The OSH Framework 2021-2027 does not refer explicitly to mainstreaming OSH into education but emphasises the need to increase awareness of the risks related to work-related accidents and health problems in support of a vision zero approach. Investing in awareness raising is even more important because of rapid changes in the world of work, new technologies, globalisation and new form of employment^[19].

After the initial seminar 2002 and the incorporation of the OSH education topic into the European community OSH strategy 2002-2006, a first strategic approach was made by the ‘Rome Declaration on mainstreaming OSH into education and training’ announced by the Italian EU Presidency in 2003. The declaration which was prepared by health and safety experts called upon the EU policy makers to take action to^[20] 

• implement the European Employment guidelines and to ensure that education and training in safety and health were recognised as a contribution for making workplaces safer and healthier and for improving the quality of work;
• define quantified and qualified goals for training and education that could be part of the Employment guidelines and that safety and health education could become integral part of lifelong learning;
• develop an action plan on mainstreaming OSH into education at European level;
• support European networking and campaigning activities.

The European strategy 2002-2006 was supported by various publications issued by the European Agency on Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), including those published as part of the 2006 Healthy Workplaces Campaign ‘Safe start’ on the health and safety of young workers^[21]. In 2004 a meeting of experts facilitated by EU-OSHA also proposed a road map on further action, which included measures to be taken and a list of cooperation partners^[22]. Subsequently, further reports were published such as the integration of safety and health into the school curriculum (2009), the training of teachers in safety and health (2012) as well as in a holistic school approach as a guiding principle for the integration of safety and health into all levels of the education system (2013)^[14]. More publications of EU-OSHA can be found in the further reading section below. The integration of OSH into education was also presented  during various workshops in close cooperation with partners (e.g. ENETOSH, see below).

EU Policies on education

Education does not belong to the catalogue of EU legislative competences. Hence the EU legislator cannot take own legislative action or implement a common policy on education. However, based on the open method of coordination between the EU countries, a common framework has been determined to direct national education policies towards shared goals^[23].

The European Council approved shared objectives and a common work programme in the context of the Lisbon Strategy, called ‘Education and Training 2010’. This work programme contributed to the Strategy’s goal of improving the quality of work (‘good work’) and initiated a process of change which was driven by the voluntary co-operation and carried out on national level respecting the educational traditions of the EU Member States^[8]. The activities lead to a better convergence of learning objectives and certain core subjects between the participating countries. As a result, steps were taken to integrate issues of risk education and safety and health at work in science classes, physical and health education. Prevention, safety and health education were no longer treated as stand-alone issues but on the way of being incorporated in the school curricula^[24].

The strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021–2030)^[13]  emphasises the importance of promoting lifelong learning and mobility and calls for actions in education to bring about the green and digital transitions. These priorities align with the European Skills Agenda (2020)^[25] a five-year plan to help individuals and businesses. The European Skills Agenda sets ambitious, quantitative objectives for upskilling and reskilling to be achieved within the next 5 years. Having the right skills for jobs is key for ensuring a sustainable, competitive, social fair and resilient Europe, especially during the green and digital transition. One of the actions is the Council recommendation of 24 November 2020 stipulating the need to ‘equip young people and adults with the knowledge, skills and competences to thrive in the evolving labour market and society, to manage the recovery and the just transitions to the green and digital economy, in times of demographic change and throughout all economic cycles’^[26]. The path to a green and digital transition requires a holistic approach towards equipping young generations with green skills and prioritising occupational safety and health (OSH)^[27]. In line with this approach, EU-OSHA's OSHVET project^[28] promotes cooperation between occupational safety and health specialists and VET specialists to raise OSH awareness among teachers and students and to provide practical information at regional and national level in the EU.

European Network Education and Training on OSH (ENETOSH)

In 2005 the ENETOSH network was set up as Leonardo da Vinci project with 13 partners from 10 countries. Since then, the network constantly grew and counts today more than 100 partners from 39 countries worldwide. It is coordinated by the German Accident Insurance DGUV. The objective of the network is ‘to integrate safety, health and well-being into the education system in order to promote quality education and a culture of prevention at individual, organizational and societal levels’. ENETOSH promotes transdisciplinary and transnational cooperation between OSH, education and training, and public health^[29].

The network organises workshops and international events to share the knowledge, runs a database which contains more than 1100 good practice examples and a toolbox and has developed a joint  standard of competence for teachers and trainers in occupational safety and health in Europe^[30].

International activities

Further stakeholders also took the initiative to promote mainstreaming OSH into education. In 2003, the International Social Security Association (ISSA) founded the section on ‘Education and Training for Prevention’ as part of its prevention activities on occupational risks^[31]. The ISSA Section focuses on formulating the key points for developing a culture of prevention, which aims at the whole school approach.

The “Berlin Declaration for the Development of a Culture of Prevention in health and safety: From School to Work" (September 2006) takes into account children and young people in education or vocational training and young professionals as important target groups^[32]. Under the same heading, the 4th International Seminar of the section adopted the Lisbon Charter on Education and Training in Prevention in 2009. The Charter acknowledges the importance of health and safety education in order to prevent young people from elevated risks at work and to consequently remove this source of inequality between generations and urges the promotion of a culture of prevention^[33].

Sources of information

A lot of information and good practice examples can be found in the publications and the database of EU-OSHA^[34]. Also the ENETOSH website contains a good practice database^[35]. ENETOSH also provides a list of criteria for good practice criteria when mainstreaming OSH into education^[36].

The model of mainstreaming OSH into education

EU-OSHA proposes a two layer model to describe the Mainstreaming OSH into Education approach: The outer layer refers to the policy makers who set the agenda or framework which consists in policies and initiatives on various levels both the European and national, regional and local levels of decision making. Ideally the policies of different levels follow one common goal, interact and support one another and hence ensure the homogenous implementation of the mainstreaming approach. Mainstreaming OSH into education should be part of the formal school and education curricula as well as part of the life-long learning policies.

Figure 2: Model of mainstreaming OSH into education 

Source^[22] 

The inner layer describes the elements which are needed for implementing policies and for successfully mainstreaming OSH into education in practice and reflects on the action to be taken^[22]:

• What is the state of the art? Starting with an inventory of what has already been done and what should been done, taking into account the new framework and the state of the art research and good practice.
• Who should be included and in how far? Inclusion of all relevant stakeholders like students and their parents, teachers and school management, school administration, employers and job agencies, educators, OSH and health experts should be considered and participation and communication ensured;
• Which are the areas of action? Various fields of action can be addressed when mainstreaming OSH into education, in particular creating a safe and healthy learning and working environment (see below), qualifying teachers, employers or other multipliers (“train the trainer", see below), deciding on the new content for safety and health education and drafting new age-adequate material and educational methods to get the message across (“mainstreaming OSH into the school curriculum", see below);
• Were the measures successful? Regular assessment and evaluation phases help to ensure the success of measures and to start an ongoing process of improvement.

The process of mainstreaming OSH into education is described by EU-OSHA as a six step open loop model^[20] . It can be seen as an open loop which aims at continuous improvement by regular self-evaluation of the measures and can be compared to the models used for risk assessment and OSH management process descriptions.

Approaches of mainstreaming OSH into education

Integrate OSH in the curriculum

To integrate OSH as compulsory issue in the general curriculum is the responsibility of the national educational authorities. In general, it is considered to be advantageous to have safety and health as a cross-curricular subject as a part of the lifelong learning strategy in order to sustainably influence key competences and attitudes^[8]. OSH is considered a key competence and must be present throughout the programme, in all specific subjects and modules. This integrative and transdisciplinary approach does not mean that there is no room for OSH as a specific subject in the curriculum ^[37]. A pre-school, school or university can still decide on integrating parts on where it concerns, e.g. modules on safety in physical education, safe handling of dangerous substances, safety in handicrafts or engineering lessons or general issues such as safe manual handling or workplace ergonomics. Again such modules should be compulsory for all pupils and students in order to address all of them^[38].

OSH in the curriculum should take account of attitudes and values as well as on skills and competences of the students. Hazard and risk awareness and how to avoid their realisation by organising the environment and by behavioural pattern should be part of the safety and health education. The training should also include the legal prescriptions, sources of information and general concepts and terminology of safety and health^[8].

A study based on 404 good practice examples in the ENETOSH database^[15] found that integrating OSH into the curriculum is a common method when it comes to mainstreaming OSH into education. In fact, it was the most used method and could be found in 45% of the analysed good practices^[15].

Create a safe and healthy school environment

The second most found method among the ENETOSH good practice examples was the creation of safe and healthy learning and working environments (35%)^[15]. The learning environment should be an example and offer the best conditions from an OSH perspective^[39]. Learning from good practice is essential. Vice versa, safety and health education lacks credibility when it is done in an environment that demonstrates the opposite while a safe and healthy school environment underlines that health and safety is taken seriously by the stakeholders^[8].

As a first step towards a safe and healthy school environment, the safety and health regulations should be respected - at school the same legislation has to be respected as in any other establishment. This is the responsibility of the school management and should be taken seriously by the school administration, the head of school, all staff and their representatives. Implementing an OSH management system requires clarifying  responsibilities, introducing management processes and carrying out risk assessments. Tools such as the OiRA (Online interactive Risk Assessment) tools for the education sector offer support^[39].

As a second step health promotion measures can be introduced, that cover all staff members as well as the students, as the approaches are complementary and closely related to each other^[8].

Train the trainer

Train the trainer (resp. the teacher) is considered to be a crucial part within the safety and health education. The teachers and trainers have a key position in the whole process as they are the main multipliers. They need to get the message across and be role models for the students. Safety culture does not only rely on education and skills but also heavily on values and attitudes. In order to positively influence the attitudes of the youngsters it is important to address the teachers first.

The training should be embedded in the general context of health and safety. It should also demonstrate practical relevance by taking account of day-to-day situation in the educational context, e.g. chemistry lessons or physical education. As already mentioned it was proven to be advantageous to include OSH and educational experts in teachers’ training and to get the commitment of the authorities and stakeholders. The training should be certified.

Teachers’ training should fit in the teacher’s annual work plan. Experiences show that the time-off problem is an obstacle that can be more easily overcome by summer courses or distance learning (e.g. e-learning) modules. However self-reflecting or experiential learning methods are proven to be very effective to get the message across, hence many projects are based on a distance learning which is part of a blended learning approach^[40].

Involvement and empowerment of the students

Involvement of the workers is not only required by European and national legislation, it is also considered as being beneficial for the OSH performance. Involvement of young workers is also seen as best practice which helps them to develop the confidence to challenge more experienced colleagues and management representatives (“empowerment"). It is recommended to establish a two-way dialogue which ensures the young workers can address their issues and provides them with the feedback. The so established dialogue shows them that they are taken seriously^[3].

As the empowerment and the activation of the students and the young workers are core ideas of mainstreaming OSH into education, communication between management, teachers and students should be part of every mainstreaming project. Students should not passively learn about safety and health, they should be motivated to live it and to actively bring in their ideas and perception. Empowerment promotes safety and health and is one of the prerequisites for developing a culture of prevention.

The whole school approach

The whole-school approach is considered as the ‘Gold standard’ of mainstreaming OSH into education measures. It is a holistic approach that includes all the different fields of actions of which mainstreaming actions can consist of: including OSH into school curricula, training of students, teachers and school management representatives, introducing risk management at school level, and active participation of the students in the risk management^[41].

More detailed information is available in the OSHwiki article A whole-school approach to OSH education 

Recommendations for mainstreaming OSH into education measures

General note

As already mentioned mainstreaming OSH into education does not refer to a single measure of getting the message across but refers to a comprehensive approach including a set of measures that are closely related to one another. The measures can be gradually integrated into the educational framework and take into account the pre-existing level of prevention culture in the  education institution.

As a general advice all relevant stakeholders should be timely addressed when mainstreaming OSH into education. As educational as well as safety and health experience is needed, it is crucial to establish a network where both sides are represented and can share knowledge^[8].

It is certainly helpful when national, regional or local authorities back the mainstreaming OSH into education approach by setting the political agenda, supporting the network building and providing funding. Legislation is considered as a strong incentive. However, if such support is not available it is important to be realistic and it is still better taking a stepwise, small scale good practice approach than not doing anything. Some activities and measures can be easily initiated by the management representatives of one establishment.

Key success factors

There are some prerequisites for successful realisation and implementation of mainstreaming OSH projects in practice^[22]:

• Identify the scope of the action: What should be the scope of the activity and who is the target group? Where are obstacles and how is the legislative framework?
• Identify the stakeholders: Who are possible collaborators and stakeholders and who can help the initiative or the action being successful? Who do I need to address to make the action successful, e.g. students and their parents, teachers and school management, school administration, employers and job agencies, educators, OSH and health experts?
• Identify further sources of support: Where is supply in terms of funding sources, policies, campaigns and consultancy?
• The action should be evidence based and age adequate: Depending on the scope of the action and the target group, one should consider the state of the art of what could be done as well as an inventory on what has been done already. This can include collecting data on accidents of young people, assessing the working and learning conditions, making an inventory on existing safety lessons and teaching material and collecting information on best practice cases.
• Activate the youngsters: Empowerment and the activation of the students and the young workers are core ideas of mainstreaming OSH into education. They should be motivated to live it and to actively bring in their ideas and perception.
• Take account of time constraints: School curriculum already puts pressure on teachers and students. The measures must be adaptable to school routine. This is particularly important when you train the teachers. An e-learning or mixed methods approach can help to improve acceptance and success.
• Create a common understanding among the partners: As one of the core factors a common understanding of the central concepts among the stakeholders should be realised, like the broad understanding of safety and health as physical, mental and social well-being, the inclusion of safety and health as part of lifelong learning and the close connection between education and workplace.
• Make a thorough project management: Define goals, work packages and milestones. Monitoring and evaluation helps you to control in how far the goals of the project have been realised and to identify strengths and weaknesses and help you to implement follow-up actions.
• Full integration of the actions: The mainstreaming process should become part of the general process landscape; the project should create sustainable effects. Follow-up should take account of the evaluation results.