District/School Resources PK-16 Program Support
Office for Career/Vocational Technical Education

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Safety Checklist Alert

April 20, 2004

Dear Superintendents, and Leaders of Charter Schools and Collaboratives:

Approximately 550 work-related injuries to teens are reported to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) each year. Every year thousands of students are placed in work-based learning experiences in schools and at worksites to help them acquire the technical and employability skills necessary to compete in a 21st century economy. Our first priority must be to help ensure their health and safety while they are involved in these experiences.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) issued an Alert entitled Preventing Deaths, Injuries, and Illnesses of Young Workers, in July 2003 and a CD entitled NIOSH Safety Checklist Program for Schools, in December 2003. In cooperation with NIOSH, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the MDPH invite you to use the Alert and CD in your efforts to provide students with health and safety knowledge that will last throughout their lives. The Alert and CD will be mailed to high school principals and directors of approved special education schools shortly. Both can be downloaded from the NIOSH web site at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/publistd.html. The Alert and CD are also available by writing to NIOSH Publications, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Mail Stop C-13, Cincinnati, OH 45226-1998 or by calling NIOSH at 1-800-35-NIOSH.

For more information about teen work-related injuries visit the MDPH web site at: http://www.state.ma.us/dph/bhsre/ohsp/ohsp.htm.

Thank you for your help in preventing injuries and illnesses of working youth. If you have questions or comments about this material, please contact Jim Laing at MDPH 617-988-3341, or james.laing@state.ma.us.

Sincerely,

Letitia K. Davis, Sc.D.
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Occupational Health Surveillance Program

Jeffrey Wheeler
State Director of Career and Technical Education
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education