Staying safe at work : a curriculum for teaching workers with intellectual and developmental disabilities about health and safety on the job

The curriculum is intended for supported employment agencies, community vocational rehabilitation programs, high-school transition programs, and other organizations and companies that place in jobs or hire workers with disabilities. The curriculum can help teach students or consumers/employees the foundational job safety and health skills that all workers need. The curriculum uses highly interactive and fun learning activities to teach the following skills, which are general, transferable, and can apply across all jobs and industries. These skills (core competencies) are the ability to: 1. Recognize that, while work has benefits, all workers can be injured, become sick, or even be killed on the job. Workers need to know how workplace risks can affect their lives and their families. 2. Recognize that work-related injuries and illnesses are predictable and can be prevented. 3. Identify hazards at work, evaluate risk, and predict how workers can be injured or made sick. 4. Recognize how to prevent injury and illness. Describe the best ways to address workplace hazards and apply these concepts to specific workplace problems. 5. Identify emergencies at work and decide on the best ways to address them. 6. Recognize employer and worker rights and responsibilities that play a role in safe and healthy work. 7. Find resources that help keep workers safe and healthy on the job. 8. Demonstrate how workers can communicate with others-including people in authority roles-to ask questions or report problems or concerns when they feel unsafe or threatened.Suggested citation: NIOSH, LOHP [2016]. Staying safe at work: a curriculum for teaching workers with intellectual and developmental disabilities about health and safety on the job. By Dewey R, Bush D, Miara C, Guerin RJ, Okun AO. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2016-159.The original 2009 Staying Safe at Work curriculum and this updated version were funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.NIOSHTIC no 2004873