YOUTH IN INDUSTRY

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31767, 26 August 1968, Page 6

YOUTH IN INDUSTRY

Prevention Of Accidents

The theme of Accident Prevention Week, to be held by the National Safety Association of New Zealand from September 9 to J 3, would be accent on youth, said the field officer of the association (Mr G. V. Williams) on Friday. Workers under the age of 21, he said, were a special problem in industry. They formed about 12 per cent of the work force. But they had nearly 20 per cent of the accidents.

“Training and supervision, he said, were the prime requisites in helping younger workers to avoid accidents. There was a real need for employers to co-operate in this.

The association had been holding one-day courses for apprentices throughout New Zealand to assist in making them conscious of industrial safety. About 200 apprentices had attended the eight courses held in Christchurch in the last month. Mr Williams said that several big organisations—the National Airways Corporation, the New Zealand Electricity Department, the Post Office, and the Municipal Electricity Department ’—had co-operated. They.had provided alt their apprentices for individual courses and others had been made up of composite groups. Mr Williams said that in Accident Prevention Week "the association, in co-opera-tion with the Institute of Management, would hold an evening forum in which a panel representing management, the Federation of Labour, supervision, Industrial health, ' and young workers would’ express opinions and answer questions on the general problem of youth in industry.