Safety and Health

Safety and Health Management Systems (SHMS) is to create safety requirements to reduce accidents on the job. Employers are required to have training programs, safety and health programs, and a safe working environment for their employees.

On the Job Hazards

The top four causes of construction fatalities are Falls, Struck By, Caught-In/ Between and Electrocutions. To prevent falls you install and maintain perimeter protection, and use ladders and scaffold safety. To prevent Struck-By never position yourself between moving objects, and wear high visibility clothes near equipment. To prevent Caught-In/Between never enter and unprotected trench, and make sure the trench is protected by sloping, shoring, benching, or shields. To prevent Electrocutions locate and identify utilities before starting work, and use ground-fault circuit interrupters.

Tools and Equipment

Five safety tips for using a ladder are: Read and allow all directions on the ladder. Make sure all the locks on the ladder are properly locked. Do not move the ladder if someone is on it. Do not use a self supporting ladder as a single ladder. Use the ladder on a flat surface.

Motor Vehicle Safety

To operate a forklift you must be at least eighteen. Work zone protections are various concrete, water, sand, collapsible barriers, and crash cushions. Flaggers are the people that stand on the road and tell you when to cross. Flaggers should wear visible clothes.

Pool Safety Rules

The safety rules of being a lifeguard are:

  • No running near pool.
  • No diving in shallow end.
  • No food or drinks in or around the pool.
  • Keep your hands to yourself.
  • Don’t drown others.
  • Don’t swim when there is no lifeguard on duty.
  • No rude comments towards others.
  • No yelling or profanity
  • Children under 3 must wear swimmies
  • No glass containers or breakable objects
  • No floats in pool

10 Jobs Banned for Persons

Under the Age of 18

  • Manufacturing or storing of explosives;
  • Driving a motor vehicle or working as an outside helper on motor
  • Coal mining;
  • Forest fire fighting and forest fire prevention, timber tract, forestry service, and occupations in logging and sawmilling;
  • Using power-driven woodworking machines
  • Exposure to radioactive substances and ionizing radiation;
  • Using power-driven hoisting apparatus;
  • Using power-driven metal-forming, punching and shearing machines;
  • Mining, other than coal;
  • Using power-driven meat-processing machines, slaughtering, meat and poultry packing, processing, or rendering.

10 Agricultural Jobs That are Declared Hazardous

  • Operating a tractor over 20 PTO horsepower or connecting or disconnecting its implements;
  • Operating or assisting to operate a corn picker
  • Operating or working with a trencher or earthmoving equipment, fork lift, potato combine, or power-driven circular, band, or chain saw;
  • Working in a yard, pen, or stall occupied by a bull, boar, or stud horse maintained for breeding purposes; a sow with suckling pigs; or a cow with a newborn calf
  • Felling, buckling, skidding, loading, or unloading timber with a butt diameter of more than 6 inches;
  • Working from a ladder or scaffold at a height of over 20 feet;

Rights to a Safe Workplace

  • Get proper training from the employer.
  • Request information from your employer about OSHA standards.
  • Request action from your employer to correct hazards or violations.
  • File a complaint with OSHA if you think that the OSHA standards are being broke or done wrong.
  • Be involved in the inspection by OSHA at your workplace.
  • Find out the results of the OSHA inspection.
  • Get involved in all the meetings and hearings about the OSHA inspection.
  • File a formal appeal of deadlines for correction of the hazards.
  • File a discrimination complaint.
  • Request a research investigation on possible workplace hazards.
  • Provide comments and a testimony to OSHA during the new standards rulemaking.

My Rights as a Youth Worker

  • Refuse to Work.
  • Speak Up.
  • Work only the limited hours.
  • Use required personal protective equipment.
  • Get health and safety training.
  • Demand at least minimum wage payment for your work.
  • Ask for medical insurance.
  • Work without racial or sexual harassment.

Hours Restrictions for Non-Agricultural Youth Workers

  • 18 or older can do any job.
  • 16 or 17 years old can perform any non-hazardous job for unlimited hours.
  • 14 or 25 years old can work after school hours in non-manufacturing, non-mining, and non-hazardous jobs.

Jobs Permitted for Non-Agricultural Youth Workers

  • Office and clerical work.
  • Bagging and carrying out costumer’s orders.
  • Wrapping, weighing, and pricing stocks in stores.
  • Cashiering, selling, or comparative shopping.
  • Cleaning cooking equipment.
  • Pricing and tagging goods.
  • Cleaning fruits and vegetables.
  • Kitchen work.
  • Pumping gas.
  • Washing cars.

Hours Permitted for Agricultural Youth Workers

  • 16 or older can work any day.
  • 14 or 15 can work after school and summers.
  • 12 or 13 written permission by parent after school and summers.
  • Under 12 can work with a parent’s permission when school is not in session.

Hazardous Occupations for Agricultural Youth Workers

  • Operating a tractor with greater than 20 horsepower.
  • Operating any big machinery.
  • Operating a fork lift.
  • Working on a farm.
  • Working with semi trucks.
  • Working with a ladder larger than 20 feet.
  • Driving vehicles on the highways.
  • Working inside.
  • Holding chemicals.
  • Handling anything that explodes.
  • Transferring, transporting, or moving fertilizer.

OSHA- Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Student Example

7A periods