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14/9/2018

Young people (aged 18-24) are 50% more likely to be injured at work than any other group of workers (European Agency for Safety and Health and Work)

Young people as new recruits at higher risk of workplace injury (ESRI, 2015)

Pictured at the ten year celebration of the HSA Choose Safety – Young People at Work Programme was, left to right, Margaret Maxwell, Director, Kilkenny Education Centre, Dr. Sharon McGuinness, CEO, Health and Safety Authority, Frank McKenna, Choose Safety Co-Ordinator, Kilkenny Education Centre, Joanne Harmon, Head of Education, Health and Safety Authority

Kilkenny Education Centre and the Health and Safety Authority celebrated ten years of its flagship programme Choose Safety, which is aimed at Post Primary Senior Cycle students and students in Further Education in Kilkenny, Carlow and Tipperary. Choose Safety aims to prepare young people with skills for the world of work through educating them about safety, health and welfare.  

More than 28,000 students nationally participated in the Choose Safety Programme in Transition Year, Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA), Leaving Certificate Vocational Programmes (LCVP) and across Further Education settings, in the 2017-2018 academic year. Within Further Education, the Programme is taught to growing numbers of students on PLC courses, courses at Level 4 and 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications, within Youthreach, and the National Learning Network. 

Speaking at a seminar to mark the occasion, CEO of the Health and Safety Authority, Dr. Sharon McGuinness, said that the success of the Programme comes from the wide recognition that safety, health and welfare is a core concern within employment and that young people need to be aware of their rights and responsibilities around safety, health and welfare at work.

Dr. McGuinness said, “Young people, as new recruits, are at a higher risk of workplace injury than their more experienced colleagues. Their lack of experience, combined with being new to the world of work can leave them exposed and vulnerable to workplace accidents and injuries. They need a good common sense grounding in what it means to look after themselves and those around them in the workplace. The Choose Safety Programme supports young people in Kilkenny, Carlow and Tipperary to develop a ‘safety first mind-set’ before they reach the workplace. This also makes a lot of sense for employers who are responsible for managing workplace safety and health and recruiting these young people.”

Choose Safety consists of safety, health and welfare programme texts for teachers and students, which are supplied, free of charge to schools/further education settings. It includes a free e-learning course ‘Get Safe – Work Safe’ which can be found at https://hsalearning.ie. The Programme is co-ordinated locally by the 21 Full-time Education Centres and is rolled out from Kilkenny Education Centre. Certificates of completion can be awarded as well as online digital badges for any units completed.

Margaret Maxwell, Director of Kilkenny Education Centre, said, “We encourage all schools and further education colleges preparing young people for work to deliver the programme. Choose Safety gives students the opportunity to explore core principles of health and safety as it applies in their current or future work experience or workplaces. These are essential life skills for young people and can make them more attractive to employers.” 

Schools/FE centres in Kilkenny, Carlow or Tipperary wishing to participate in the Choose Safety Programme should contact the Centre via email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or the HSA at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

ENDS

A new data protection regulation, GDPR, is coming into force on May 25th 2018. It applies to organisations that are based in the EU. Kilkenny Education Centre has sent the following information to schools to outline our approach to maintaining continued contact and to make clear to all Kilkenny Education Centre service users what their data rights are with respect to knowing:

a) What data Kilkenny Education Centre collects on its service users;

b) What Kilkenny Education Centre does with user data; and

c) How to obtain a census of what data Kilkenny Education Centre holds on you as a service user.

The answers to these questions are straightforward:

a) Kilkenny Education Centre holds no information on its service users other than that which was given on school contact databases or participant contact forms (name, address, institution, title, e-mail address, participant role, participant mobile phone number etc.); that which service users voluntarily put on their Kilkenny Education Centre website user account; information given to us on Expense Claims (expense details, bank paying-in details, and receipts); e-mails and correspondence; details of financial transactions made, for example, course fee payments taken, and grants paid out to individuals or schools.

b) This limited amount of data that Kilkenny Education Centre holds is only used for the following purposes: for having an up-to-date list of schools, event bookings, attendance rolls, course and project participants; for sending out communications about available courses and events, and for staying in touch with schools, tutors and account users; for keeping track of who has paid course fees, when, and how much has been paid; for compliance with the Charity Regulator’s or Department of Education and Skills’ requests for information and legally-binding accounting purposes (e.g. knowing to whom Kilkenny Education Centre has paid grants and expenses, when, and how much has been paid); e-mail addresses and contacts necessary for administering and carrying out Kilkenny Education Centre projects and Centre business.

c) If any Kilkenny Education Centre service user would like further clarification on what data are kept on them personally, or, moreover, if any service user would simply like us to delete and dispose of any information we have on them, you can get in touch with the Centre Secretary of Kilkenny Education Centre at any time using the following e-mail address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Please Note: that Kilkenny Education Centre will process such a request within legal parameters within 30 days). 

Finally, please note that Kilkenny Education Centre payments received as part of course fees are handled by third party banking websites, so we do not have any users’ PayPal/credit/debit card details at all; nor does Kilkenny Education Centre analyse the cookie information that may be gathered on our website, nor do we sell any information on, nor do we give any information we have to third parties unless legally obliged to do so or unless the Education Centre network has a working relationship with relevant organisations for the provision of courses and projects. For specific courses or projects operated in collaboration with relevant organisation, such as support services, the Health & Safety Authority or Arts organisations, the collaborative partner is identifiable at the outset. Kilkenny Education Centre protects the devices such data are stored upon, and is obligated to report to its service users any data breaches perpetrated.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch, should you have any questions regarding same.

The Choose Safety Programme is designed to prepare young people for the world of work and work experience. Transition Year and Senior Cycle students can explore core principles of health and safety as they may apply in their current or future places of work. Choose Safety can be taught as a structured 20 hour programme or teachers may select units from the Programme to cover specific topics as desired and/or integrate them into other subjects in the classroom.

Choose Safety will be of interest to teachers involved in a whole range of subjects including: Science, Agricultural Science, Business or subjects of a more practical base. The Programme is available in English and as Gaeilge. All resources for this Programme are available to all Post Primary schools, PLC's and Colleges of Further Education, free of charge.

For further information on this Programme please contact the Choose Safety Co-Ordinator for Kilkenny Education Centre: