Health and safety awareness should be taught at schools
July 4, 2008
The teaching of basic health and safety awareness should be integrated into the National Curriculum to make the loss of young lives in workplace accidents a thing of the past.
This is the view of Michael Clapham, MP for Barnsley West and Penistone and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety and Health, who last week hosted a seminar at the House of Commons, supported by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), to discuss how the loss of young life in the workplace can be prevented.
In the last decade, 64 under-19s have been killed and over 15,000 seriously injured in workplace accidents.
One way to reduce such statisitics would be by getting health and safety taught in the nation’s schools. IOSH, in partnership with the HSE, has already developed the Workplace Hazard Awareness Course (WHAC) for year 10 pupils.
Ray Hurst, President of IOSH, explained, "WHAC gives young people a basic grounding in health and safety before they leave school. It’s available free of charge to all schools and colleges and it’s really about preparing the students for work before they get there — something which seems eminently sensible to me and which doesn't really happen on the national curriculum at the moment."
Around 2000 organisations, including numerous building contractors, have already registered to deliver WHAC, which was launched at Barnfield College in Luton.
Nearly 100 MPs across all parties have signed up to an Early Day Motion, "Protecting Young People in the Workplace", that calls on the Government to make WHAC a mandatory part of the curriculum.
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