It is intimidating going into your first job

Young teens and workplace safety

Bibliographic Data

ID7149499
AuthorsR Raby (0000-0002-7830-2960, Department of Child and Youth Studies Brock University St. Catharines Ontario Canada, corresponding author), L C Sheppard (0000-0003-3109-3484, Department of Sociology York University Toronto Ontario Canada), Wolfgang Lehmann (0000-0003-3917-9979, Department of Sociology University of Western Ontario London Ontario Canada)
Year2025
Volume39
Issue1
Pages94-110
Publication date2025-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueChildren & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0951-0605 • E-ISSN: 1099-0860
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/chso.12896
OpenAlexW4401651508
LanguageEN
References cited35

Drawing on qualitative focus groups and interviews, this paper draws on participatory and relational approaches to explore how prospective and very new workers in their early teens in Canada talk about and navigate workplace safety. We foreground our young participants' discussions and safety management strategies to discuss their shared and sometimes narrow understanding of unsafe work; their mixed, and often limited, experiences of safety training; and the individualized avenues they prioritize to deal with potential and concrete safety issues. Countering our participants' inclination towards individualized solutions, we focus on how these young workers are embedded in relationships with others as well as the material world, including workplace cultures; networks and hierarchies of people; specific materials, time and time pressures; and safety‐related policies. Such a relational lens can in turn guide how we think about fostering workplace safety in ways that challenge more individualized approaches, specifically through recognizing interdependencies that shape how young people think about workplace safety; expanding beyond unidirectional, individualized educational strategies; and favouring shared self‐advocacy, especially with older workers, including through unionization

Medical education · Occupational safety and health · Political science · Workplace safety · Applied Psychology · Homelessness and Social Issues · Medicine · Occupational Health and Safety Research · Psychology

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Open DOIOpen Access