Supervisors prevent injuries by listening to teens who speak up about workplace safety – U of R study
As many parents encourage their teen-aged children to find summer jobs, here’s something to think about. How safe is that workplace? And if it’s not safe is your teenager prepared to speak up about it? A study, co-authored by Dr. Sean Tucker, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Business Administration, shows that teens – even those as young as 15 and 16 years of age – have suggestions for how to improve workplace safety but usually only speak up "under certain conditions," says Dr. Tucker. “We found that teens were more likely to speak up and share safety-related ideas with their supervisor when they also had an emotional attachment to their workplace.” This challenges two notions: One, that teens aren’t committed or loyal in short-term part time jobs, and, two, that because teens are inexperienced they don’t think about safety on the job. “A key finding from our study is [...]
