Introducing ILO's Communication Toolboxes on OSH and Youth in Indonesia

The ILO through its Youth for Occupational Safety and Health (Youth4OSH) Project is introducing pilot versions of Communication Toolboxes on OSH and Youth. The purpose of the Communication Toolboxes is to support networks and organizations to launch new initiatives to promote OSH awareness and preventative action among young workers and/or young employers. By using the Toolboxes, networks and organizations will be better equipped to address OSH and youth issues through effective communication and advocacy strategies.

The target users of the Toolboxes are networks and organizations capable of promoting OSH awareness and action for young workers and/or young employers in Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Viet Nam, as well as at the regional level. The ultimate target audiences are young workers and young employers aged 15 – 24 in the construction and manufacturing sectors in the project’s four target countries.

In order to create a culture of prevention, it is important that concerned organizations are able to communicate key messages on OSH effectively to young workers and young employers. The Communication Toolboxes being designed and piloted by the Youth4OSH project are intended to support this."

Michiko Miyamoto, Director of the ILO Country Office for Indonesia and Timor-Leste

One of the key factors cited for the high injury toll for young workers is lack of awareness of workplace safety and worker rights. The Communication Toolboxes that are being piloted by the Youth4OSH project seek to bridge this gap by providing local organizations and networks with a wide range of tools and guidelines for raising workplace safety awareness, and generating public demand for improvements in national OSH systems.

“Young workers (15-24 years old), of which there are some 541 million worldwide, account for more than 15 per cent of the world’s labour force and suffer up to a 40 per cent higher rate of non-fatal occupational injuries than adult workers older than 25,” said Michiko Miyamoto, Director of the ILO Country Office for Indonesia and Timor-Leste. “In order to create a culture of prevention, it is important that concerned organizations are able to communicate key messages on OSH effectively to young workers and young employers. The Communication Toolboxes being designed and piloted by the Youth4OSH project are intended to support this,” she added. 

The pilot version of the Communication Toolboxes has been developed by the project through a consultative process that has included Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), a sub-regional consultation session, an online survey of Youth Champions for OSH who participated in the SafeYouth@Work Congress during the XXI World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, and a Design Workshop.

Based on these consultative inputs, the pilot version of the Toolboxes contain tools templates for developing effective communications strategies and campaigns, tips and tricks on how to best use of social media to raise awareness on OSH and youth issues, and guidance on effective engagement with the media.

Piloting of the Toolboxes will commence on World Day for Safety and Health at Work, 28 April 2018, with a ‘Micro-Pilot’ workshop in Jakarta, Indonesia, as part ILO Indonesia’s celebration of Safe Day. The Toolboxes will then be further piloted in one selected industry sector in each of the project’s target countries, before being disseminated with networks and organizations at country and regional-level, including via training sessions on how to address OSH and youth issues through effective communication and advocacy strategies, tools, and skills to promote OSH awareness and preventative action.

The Youth4OSH project is a core project of the ILO flagship programme Global Action for Prevention on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH GAP), which seeks to foster the creation of a global culture of prevention, with the objective of achieving real reductions in the incidence of work-related death, injury and disease. Find out more about the Youth4OSH project here.