Addressing Younger Workers’ Needs: The Promoting U through Safety and Health (PUSH) Trial Outcomes

Abstract

Most younger workers, less than 25 years old, receive no training in worker safety. We report the feasibility and outcomes of a randomized controlled trial of an electronically delivered safety and health curriculum for younger workers entitled, PUSH (Promoting U through Safety and Health). All younger workers (14–24 years old) hired for summer work at a large parks and recreation organization were invited to participate in an evaluation of an online training and randomized into an intervention or control condition. Baseline and end-of-summer online instruments assessed acceptability, knowledge, and self-reported attitudes and behaviors. One-hundred and forty participants (mean age 17.9 years) completed the study. The innovative training was feasible and acceptable to participants and the organization. Durable increases in safety and health knowledge were achieved by intervention workers (p < 0.001, effect size (Cohen’s d) 0.4). However, self-reported safety and health attitudes did not improve with this one-time training. These results indicate the potential utility of online training for younger workers and underscore the limitations of a single training interaction to change behaviors. Interventions may need to be delivered over a longer period of time and/or include environmental components to effectively alter behavior.

Generalizability of Total Worker Health® Online Training for Young Workers

“…The PUSH training is comprised of topics from the NIOSH Youth@Work: Talking Safety curriculum and two evidence-based curricula on health promotion [22,23], with additional topics addressing protection from workplace hazards, promotion of health and well-being, and workplace communication [12,16]. It was delivered through an online training format that had been used to teach skills using behavioral education principles among workers in different industries [14,24,25,26].…”

“…The videos and content used in the training were pilot tested with young workers on the MTurk platform as a part of the development process. Questionnaire items (e.g., demographics, work history, and likeability/acceptability) had been used previously by researchers in other studies with young workers [12,16]. The team used validated measures to assess general health, health behaviors, and job content [12,16].…”

“…Previously evaluated among parks and recreation workers, PUSH was found to be effective in increasing the safety and health knowledge among young workers [12]. The current study assessed the generalizability of the program among an expanded group of young workers.…”

“…Training programs have been found to improve knowledge and awareness of workplace safety [8,11]. However, most young workers report not receiving training on worker safety and health [12]. Those that receive training state that most trainings are brief and inadequate [13] and may not include information addressing both health and safety topics [14].…”

“…Promoting U through Safety and Health (PUSH), a Total Worker Health ® (TWH) training, expands the content of the Youth@Work curriculum to include information addressing health, safety, and communication in an online format. PUSH was developed through the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center, a NIOSH Total Worker Health ® Center of Excellence [12,14,16]. Total Worker Health ® is a strategy that integrates health promotion with injury prevention by looking at work as a social determinant of health.…”