Technical Education: Bridging the Gap in Health and Safety in Small Businesses

描述(由申请者提供)：在美国，估计有1100万名学生参加20,000个职业教育和其他劳动力准备项目。公共资助的技术和职业学校和大学招收了全国大约51%的技术学生--是任何其他提供学位或学分课程的团体或组织的两倍。然而，几乎没有文献评估安全和健康教育在技校学位授予计划中的有效性。这项拟议的研究的目的是评估将安全能力技能纳入专科学校课程是否会对与工作相关的安全知识和实践产生持久的影响。最近对课程的审查和对教师的采访表明，目前几乎没有安全和健康培训或评估。我们的假设是，与接受过最少健康和安全培训的理工科学生相比，接受过健康和安全培训的理工科学生更有能力识别工作场所的危险，并从事安全工作实践。在这项资助期间，我们将开发、实施和评估两个技术行业的工作场所健康和安全课程：金属制造和汽车碰撞维修。这两个行业都是高风险行业。将与两所公立技术学院合作开展活动：亨内平技术学院(HTC)和圣云技术与社区学院(SCTCC)。因此，我们将评估目前的培训，并发展以能力为基础的安全和健康培训。我们将跟踪和评估三个组的学生：在新课程下没有学习年限的学生(第0组)、学习一年的学生(第一组)和学习两年的学生(第二组)。除了在他们的教育计划期间进行评估外，每个队列还将在他们进入劳动力市场后大约六个月进行跟踪。公共卫生意义：需要更好的方法来确保技术行业的工人做好准备，迎接他们在职业生涯中面临的健康和安全挑战。这里提出的方法提供了一种新的方法，可以接触到可能受雇于小型和危险企业的工人。一旦进入劳动力市场，许多毕业生将很少或根本没有接受额外的安全和健康培训。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): An estimated 11 million students attend 20,000 vocational educational and other workforce- preparation programs in the United States. Publicly funded technical and vocational schools and colleges enroll approximately 51% of the nation's technical students-twice as many as any other group or organization offering degree or for-credit courses. However, there is almost no literature assessing the efficacy of safety and health education in technical school degree- granting programs. The purpose of the proposed research is to evaluate whether incorporating safety competency skills into post-secondary technical school programs will have a lasting effect on work-related-safety knowledge and practices. A recent review of curricula and instructor interviews indicate there is little safety and health training or evaluation at this time. Our hypothesis is that technical students who have health and safety training integrated into their education are better able to identify workplace hazards and engage in safe work practices when compared with technical students who have had minimal health and safety training. During this grant, we will develop, implement, and evaluate workplace health and safety curricula in two technical trades: metal fabrication and auto-collision repair. Both are high-hazard industries. Activities will be carried out in partnerships wth two public technical colleges: Hennepin Technical College (HTC) and Saint Cloud Technical and Community College (SCTCC). Accordingly, we will assess current training and develop competency-based safety and health training. We will track and evaluate students from three groups: students with none (Group 0), one (Group 1), and two (Group 2) years of study under the new curricula. In addition to assessments conducted during their education programs, each cohort will be followed about six months after they enter the workforce. Public health significance: Better methods are needed to assure that technical-trades workers are prepared to meet the health and safety challenges they confront during the course of their careers. The methods proposed here offer a new means of reaching workers who are likely to be employed in small and hazardous enterprises. Once entering the workforce, many graduates will receive little or no additional safety and health training.