OSHA Teen Safety Initiative Focuses on Landscaping

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which recently renewed its alliance with the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET), has centered its inaugural Teen Summer Job Safety Campaign on the landscaping industry.

The campaign is a multi-year project to increase awareness about workplace hazards, and provide possible solutions for young workers and their worker parents. It will focus on industries in which high school students and college-aged workers may be employed.

This year's campaign theme is "Landscaping -- Plant Your Feet on Safe Ground." OSHA developed a resource kit, or "tool box," designed to help prevent injuries on the job in landscaping. The kit includes materials from OSHA, the Wage and Hour Division, the Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations. Topics covered include machinery operation, sun and heat, electrical safety, noise concerns, eye safety and pesticides.

The kit can be downloaded from OSHA's Teen Workers Web page. That site, which educates young workers, parents, employers and educators on workplace safety, also offers educational resources such as fact sheets on workplace rights and responsibilities, hazards on the job, ways to prevent injuries, work hours, job restrictions and more. It also links to states that have special sites or initiatives designed for young workers.