Occupational health and safety education for youth : the process of constructing knowledge in the high-school curriculum

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Occupational Health and

S

afe ty

E

ducation for

Y

outh:

The process ofconstructing knowledge

in the

high-school curriculum

by:

Suma iya Baqec

A

th

esis s

ubmitted t

o

th

e Sc

hoo l

o

f

G

raduate

S

tudies

in p

artial

fulfillm

ent of

th

e

d

egree o

f M

aster o

f

A

rts

20

12 D

epartment o

f S

ociology

M

emorial U

niversity

St.

John

' s,

Newfoundland

and Labrad

or

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Abstract

In 1998theGovernmentof Newfoundlandand Labrador(NL)introducedtheWorkpla ce Safety 3220course totheprovincialhigh schoolcurriculum.Similar to0ccupational health andsafety (OHS) courses introducedinother jurisdictions,this electivecourse aimstoreduce occupational accidentsand injuries amongyoung workers.Itisthe first OHS curriculum thathasbeen designed specifically for young workersinNewfoundland and Labrador.In thisthesisI describe thefindings of myMA research,which examined the waysin whichhealthandsafety knowledgeis construc ted in thehigh schoolcurriculum.I useda multi-methodsapproachto examine the contentoftheWorkplace Safety3220 course.My findings revealcertain assumptions,biases andomissionsembeddedwithin the curriculumabout what OHSmeans,and howit is experienced bydifferenttypes of workers.Thecurriculum usesatechn ical and scientificapproach to presentthe OHS knowledge,on rules, regulations,rights and responsibilitiesinrelation to various types ofoccupational hazards.Byusingthistechnicaland scientific approach,thecurriculum doesnot eftcctively captureworkers'experiencesof Oi lSor howthe socio-economicandorganizationalcontexts mediate accidents, injuries and management responsestothese.Thereisa biasin the curriculum toward sthe OHS issuesassociatedwith blue-collar, industrial work,whichisdominatedby adultsand maleworkers. Thework that youthand womendoisunderrepresented,as arewhite-collar andpink-collar occupations,and occupationsin rural and non-industrialized areas.Usinga socialconstructivistapproac h,I argue thatthesefindingsreflecttheimpact on thecurriculumof powerrelationsandstruggles within the governmentandofw idersoeio-eeonomiestruetures,suchaspublicand privateinstitutions, businesses,and theeducation system.Asa consequence tothesebiasesandomission in the

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curriculum,young workers and fem al ework ersin particular arcleftinadisad vanr agcdposition withinthcOI-l S curriclIlum.l argucthat onc ofthcfi rst stcpst o subvcrtingthcscpowcrrclations and power strugg lesisto examine textualknowledgeand bringtolighthow such knowledgeis produc ed.

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Acknowledgements

A number of instituti on s,and manymor eindividu al s,havehelp edme in differ ent waysin com p leting thisthesi s.I wouldliketothankeach andcveryonco fthc m.Firs tly, I wouldlikcto thankmy supe rv iso rsand memb er s of the superv isingcom m ittee,This thesis would nothave beenpossibl ewith outthelon g-standin g guida nceandcnco urnge me ntIromDrs.Nico le Pow er , Kathryn eDupre,and Barbara Neis.Ithan ktheAtlanti cRURA L Centre (based at Dalhou sie Universit y) , Sa fetyNe l (based at Mem ori alUniversity)and thc Schoo lofGrad ua teStud iesat Mem or ial Unive rs ity fortheir financ ia lsuppo rt. With outtheir suppo rtIwou ld nothavebeen able to continue my grad ua testud ies,orpayfo rthc expensesIaccum ulated in theprocess of collec ting resear chdata.Iamgra te fu l tothe Eas te rn Sch oolDistri ct ofNew found landand Labrador(NL) , espec ia lly theinstru ctor sand thc stude ntsfromtha t distri ctwhowillingl y participatedin myresearch .Ialsoowemy gra titude to anumber ofind iv id ua lsat the NL Workpl aceHealth, SafetyandCom pe nsa tio nComm issio n,includingBrend a Gree ns lade, Mary -LouDo wn ey,Lisa Cod ne rand David Legge.Ialso thankthe orga nize rsofanumber ofsem ina rs andcon fere nces, whohavegive n methe oppo rtunity topresentmyprelim inar yresearchdata to anexpe rt audien ce.Ialsothankthenam eless aud ienc e memb ers at these confere nces whohave given me valua b le feedba ck on myresearch . Fina lly,Ithankmyfamil y andfriends for giv ing me the continue dsuppo rt andenco urag eme ntIneed edto comp lete thethesi s.

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Chapter 1 OHS Education for Youth in Canada

1.1Abackgroundto youthemployme nt and OilSeduca tion program s

Youth employmenthasbecom ean integralpartofsocia landecono m icstructu res in most Western countr ies(Australia n Bureauof Statistics,2005;Betchenn an&Leckie.1997:European Agencyfor Safe tyand Health at Wor k,2004;Zierold,Garma n,&Anderson,2004).Young workers ' occupatio nal health andsa fety(OHS)hasincreas inglybecome a commo nconc ern amo ngresear ch ers, govern ments and policyma kers(Rube nstein,Stern bach,&Pollack,1999; West,deCastro ,&Fitzgerald,2005),aswellasamong youngwork ersthemsel ves (Brisbois, 2003).Canadian researcherE.McClosk ey(2008)ide ntifiesatleastthreefactorsthathavedriven thisconce rnandfocuson the OHSof youngworkers.Firstly, statisticssuggestthatyoungpeo ple tendto be employedinpreca rioustypes of jobsthatareoftencharact eri zedas shift work , on-call work,temporarywork ,whichareoftenassoc iatedwith unfavourabl ework ing cond itio nsand hea lth risks(Lou ghlin ,Barl ing,&Kelloway,1999,19) .Comp ar edto ad ult worke rs , youthofte n havesig nificantly higherrisk s of experiencing workplacefatalit y, inj ury(Z ie ro ld&Anderson , 2006,525)and adverseeffec ton theirmentalhea lth (Mortim er ,Harley,&Staff,2002; Sha na ha n,Finc h, Mort im er,&Ryu ,1991 ).Man ystudiesdemonstratethat thesehigh er risk sare associate d withyouth'satt itud ina lcharac te ristics,suc hasthe ir eagernesstoplease,willi ng ness totake cha llengesandrisks,andvulnerabilitytopeer pressure (Lavac k,2008;West ,2005). Othersatt r ibuteit toyouth'slack ofexpe rience duetothe irage,worktenur e,andoftendueto the irlackoftraining(Breslin,2( 07).Second ly, McClosk eysuggeststha t"thereisahe ighten ed sense of traged y whe na young personis killedorseriously injur ed atwork.. . .fam iliesofvictims

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havebecom emorevocalinseekingawa re nessandaccountability"(42). Fam ilies that havelost young wor ker s are increa sin gl ybecomin gmor e effective inadvoca ting forthe improve me ntof workin g conditions for youth.Thirdly,istheincreasin gl y acceptedview thata spec ific focu s on youn gwork ers'Ol-IS can leadtoa lon g-termpositi veimpact on the adultworkp lace health and safetycu lture.Preparin gyoun gworkerswithknowl edge onrigh ts, respon si bilit ies, and occupa tional risk s,and improvingwork env iro nme ntscan in thelon g runcontribute tothe redu cti onin injury rates ,and alsobuild asafetycon sciou sworkf or ce (McC los key,2008).

Even thou gh extens ivestud ies havebeenconductedon adult worker s ' OlIS, thcfindings from these stud ies cannotalwayscontributeto a compre he ns ive understandin g of thc distinct issue samon g young workers.Many studiessho wsignificant differ encesbetween youthand adu lts, includingin theexperie nceofworkacrossthesetwo groups(Kros nick&Alwin,19 89; Loren ce&Mortimer,1985) .Thcsediffer enc esinclud elevels ofcduc atio n andsk ills,palterns o f em ploy me nt(Zako cs, Runyan ,Schulman,Dunn,&Evense n,1998) andoccupa tiona l injuries and illnesses(Breslin&Smith,200 5; Mitch ell,Franklin,Driscoll,&Fragar , 2002),individuals ' percepti on sand knowl edge of risks,and thetyp e andsize of the emp loy ingorga nizationandits abilitytomainta inproperOHSstandards (Breslin ,Pol zcrb ,Mac Each cna ,Mor ron gicll oc,& Shanno n,2007; Messin g,1998;Zak ocs ct al.,199 8) .

Theratesofocc upationa l injuries andfata litiesamo ngyouth hav ebec om e a grow ing conc ernamo ng man yauthoritie sin post-indu striali zed countries(Bierm a,2000;Kosn y, 2005). Onc ofthe go vcrnm cntinitiati vcsin Canada andel scwh er cthatrcll ect sthis incr cascd con ccrni s theintroducti on of formalOlfS educati on and trainingin the schoo lsystems, parti cul arl y atthc junior and high schoo l level(McCl oskcy, 2008;Shearn,2006;Kosn y,2005;Lee,Westab y,& Bcr g, 2004).Ed uca tio n and training are frequ entl ydescrib ed astwo ofthc key cle me nts that can

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add ress theprobl em of highinjury ratesamo ngyouth,and helptobuild a cultureof preve ntio n andsafety(Euro pe a nAgencyforSafetyand Health at Wor k,2004;Wo rkers' Compe nsatio n Board ofBC , 2003).At the 2007 annua l meet ing ofCana dian ministersresp on sibl e forlabo ur, theparti cip ant shighli ght edthe serio us nessofyouthoccupa tio na l inju ries, andemp hasized the ir mandat eto add ress theissu ethrou gh youthed ucatio n.Theyarg ue d that"educationdelive red to stu de nts byinstru ct o rsplays a cruc ia lroleinraisin g awarenessaboutoccupa tio na l health and sa fety issue s amo ngyouth"(Ca nadaNewsCentre,200 7).

An investi gati onintothejurisdi cti onalinitiativesreveal sthateveryCanad ian provin ce and territory hasat least oneor moreOHSed uca tio nor trainingprogram spec ifica lly design ed and target ed atyouth.Theserangefrom schoo l-bas edcourses, to onlinecoursesoffe red bythe compe nsatio n board s,and work sh op spro videdbyindustr y safety associati on s.For exam ple,the e-eourse introduc edby Onta rio's Workpl ace Safetyand Insu ran ceBoard (WS IB),Health& Safety/0/ ,is offeredinOntario,Nova Scotia,Manit ob a andother places (Workp laceSafety Insu ran ceBoard,2005).Ano the r prog ram withconsi dera b le po pul arit yisthePassportto Safety Program ,inwhichyouthcan take online tests basedona curric ulumsetbysafety expertsfrom acrossthe country.Upo ncomp letio nofthetesttheleam er ispresentedwi tha lra nscrip ttha tcan be attac he d totheirresum e asproo f ofthe ir basickno wl ed ge ofOHS(Passport to Safety,2009).

In 199 8,three of thefiveseh oold ist riet s inthe pro vin ce of Newfo undla nda nd Labrador! sawtheintrodu cti on o f a simi larcurricu lumandcerti fica tio n program, ca lled Workpl ace Safety 3220 . Althou ghthe New found la nd and Labr ad or Emp loye r'sCounc il initiat edtheprogram ,the primary responsibilityfor ad m in iste ring thecourse wastransf erredtotheWorkplaceHealth, Sa fely andCompe nsatio nComm iss io n (WHSC C)in2004. Other organizationsinvo lve d in the IThe threeschooldistrictsincludethe Eastern.Western.and Nova Centra l.TheLabr ad orSchoolDistrictamithe French Imm ersionProgram were excluded from thisinitiative.

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initialdevelopm ent ofthe course includ edtheform er Avalon West Schoo l Distr ict2 andthe Govenune ntofNewfoundlandand Lab rador (Govenune ntof Newfound landandLabrador, 2004).Thecoursecurriculumconsistsof theWorkpl ace Safety3220textbook ,the curric ulum guide,andatextb ookrecomm end ed videoentitled,ThingsYou'dBellerKIIOll'10Work Smart,10 Work Safe.Stude nts recei ve grades forthe completionof thiselect ive course,andsince2004 they alsoreceivecertificatesasworkpl acehealth andsafety rep resentati ves, Accordi ng tothe WHSC C.thepurpose of thecourse isto createand increase youngstudents'awa renessof01IS, toreduc etheir risk ofoccupational injuriesand alsotoincreasetheir employabi lity, The course isalsointended to develop sa fety habitsamongyouthoutsideoftheir work environment (WHSCC, 2004) .

The course isnorm all y offered to students ingrades 11and 12 (also known aslevelstwo and three).Insomeschoo lsit is alsooffered to grade 10and level fourstudc ntsr'The pr ovince-wide patternindicates a genera l deel ine instude ntenro lme ntin this OHScourseover the past severalyears(W HSCC Preventi on ServicesDepartm ent , 2007). Sinceitsincep tionin 1998. the number of schoo ls that offerthis course and thenumber of stude ntswhochooseitas anelective havefluctu ated .As Table I dem onst rates,inits first year the numbe rof studentsenrolledwas lessthan 300,while enro lme ntwas grea tlyincreased ineachofthenext 6 years.Bythe 200 4-2005 acade m icyear,enro lme ntroseto1580 stude nts(in45 schoo ls). However,student enro lme nt fell stead ily in thefoll owin g years,with 1097 students(in34schoo ls)enro lled in the 2007-2008 academi c yea r (WHSCCPreventionServicesDepartment, 2007).Itis evident thatthe

lThe fon ner IIschoo l districtsintheprovincewereconso lidatedintofive districtsin the2004-2005 academicyea r in response10studen tdecline.The Avalon West School Districtnow fellunder theEastern Schoo lDistrict (Governmentof Newfoundlandand Labrador. 2004 ).

.1Levelfourcons istsof studentswhorequirean additionalyearallergrade 12 (orlevelthree) to completetheir graduationrequirement due to learningdisahilitiesor failure to receivepassinggrades.

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number ofpart ici pating schools decl ined over theyears contributing totheredu cednumber of stude ntsenrolledin the course.The WHSCC sugges ted that one possi blereason forthis variabilityfromyear to yea r isthe fact thatit rem ain sa'loca l'course. which is intro duce din schoo ls throu gh localinitiativesof instruc tors,schoolboards,andother interes tgroups (Gree ns lade,2007). The intro ductionandcontinua tio nof the course depend onwhe theror not the schoo lboardhas sufficie ntfunding,andsufficientinte res t fromtheinstru ctorsto teach the course. Anotherpossib lereasonisthefactthatNew found landand Labrad or ' sdemographic pattern sarc charac terizedbyanagingpopu lation,lowbirthrate, anddecline in the overall numberofschoolsand thenumber ofstudentsenrolled inschools(Com m unityAcc ounts. 2006).

TIIMeI: TheNumberofSchoolsOffering Workpla ce Safe ty 3220111111 theNumber ofStudentsTaking the Cou rse.Source:WHSCCPreventionServicesDepartme nt(2007).

Year Numbe r ofSchools Num ber ofSt ude n ts

1998 -1 999 Notavailable 275 1999 - 2000 Notavailable 882 2000-2001 Notavailable 1185 2001-2002 Notavailable 1251 2002 -2003 Notavailable 1346 2003-2004 50 1373 2004-2005 45 1580 2005-2006 39 1331 2006-2007 39 1317 2007-2008 34 1097

1.2 Statement ofthe problem

The Workplace Safety3220course wasintro duce d in the New foundlandand Labrad ored ucation systemas a strategy[0reducethehighrates ofoccupa tiona linjuries amo ngyouth.Like any otherschoo lcourse,this OHScourseconsistsofa setcurriculum that inc ludes thetextb ook , and

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its correspondingcurriculumguide, Even thoughtextb ooksarccons ide red tobe a crucial

componentof classroomeducation(Hogben& Wat erman, 1997,99),researchersarc

increasinglyquestion ingthetextua lcontentoftextb ooks (for examp le,Power&Baqee, 2010;

Chick,2006;Gord y,Hogan,&Pritchard, 2004;Macaul ay&Brice,1997;Peterson&Kro ner, 1992), and theprocessof deliverin g coursematerialsin the classroo m(forexample,Pow er&

Baqcc 2010;Beaman,Whe ldall,&Kemp, 2006;Chin,2006;Driver, Asoko,Leach,&Scott,

1994;King,1994;Younger,Warrington,& Williams,1999).Theseresearchersareprimarily concernedwith thewayknowledge is constructed intextbo oksand duringitsdeli veryin class roomsettings. Theyalsolo cus on thetypesofknowledgethat are includedinandexcluded fromthe curriculum,andon therepresentat ion of various socialgroups,ideas and conceptsin the

curriculum.Educationresear cherssuggest thatit iscriticalto examine the contentofa curriculum because curric ulaare not entire lyimparti alor value-freeintheirrepresent ation of

knowledge (forexample,Goodson,1994, 16). Curric ulumcontent(like anyotherformof

knowledge) issociallyconstructedandas aresult ,itadve rtently or inadvertentlyexpresses certai nviewsandknow ledge,andexcludesand marginalizes others,reflect ingpower andother dynami cs in the widersociety(Sm ith,1990).

Thepresentresearchstudyexam inesthe contentoftheWorkpl ace Safety 3220course

curriculum,andexploresthe constructionofOHSknowledgewith init.Itexamineshow knowledgeis sociallyconstruc tedin thetextu al contentof the courseandduringitsdeliver yin

the classro om,and howthat knowledgereflect sand maycontr ibutetodiffer entdiscoursesand biases aboutyouthandOHS(particularlyaboutNewfound landyouth). Forexample,the study examineshowthecurriculum reflectsknowledgeaboutoccupationsatrisk,thenatureof risk,

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theideathatthe crea tio nand usc ofknowl edgeis sociallysitua ted,imp lyi ng thatknowledge inev itab ly refl ectsthe curre ntsocialorder.Itis alsoin fon nc d bythenoti onthatther e arc multiple andalterna tive unde rstand ings of OHSand that some ideas arc mor e preva le nt than

others.These not ion s dictatewhichideas andconcep tsarc cons ide red to be validOHS knowled ge and whicharcignored , silence dor underm ined.Thisprefer en ce for certai n knowledge overothers reflectsthe curre ntcultural,socia land polit icalstruggles(Power& Baq ee, 201 0(

The presentstudyrecogni zesthattheculturalandsoc ialorders repr esent ed in thc curric ulumarc mediatedbyage, gender, socia l classandgeographiclocations(i.c.,ruraland urban lifc). Toillustrate,femin istphilosoph er ofscience,Sandra Harding,arguesthat ifwe believe thata Ku KluxKlanmem ber' sbehaviours and beliefsarc informedby class. race and gende rrelation s,thcn we sho uld alsobelievethatthose samesocialrelation s(am on g others) sha peour "empirically supported" knowled gethatis "con firmedbyevidence" (Ha rdi ng, 1991 , 12). Forthese very reason s,thepresent studyconce ntratcson ho wthc curric u lum re flects ideas

aboutOHSspecificallyin relati ontothediscou rses onyouth,gender,socialclass andgeographic

locat ionin ewfoundl and and Lab rador society. This processbrings a socio-econo micand

pol iticalfocu stoth c stud y.

,Based onthe findingsfr ommyMA researc h.Ico-author edan article inassociatio nwith Dr.Nicole Powerwh ich waspubl ished in the2010editionofthe journalPolicy and Practicein llculth and Safety. entitledConstructinga 'culture of'safety':an examination or the assumptionsembeddedin occupationalsafetyand health curriculum dclivcredtohighschoo ls tudel1lsa ndfishharvestersinNewroundlandandLabrador. Canada.

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1.3Significanceoftilestudy

Muchlike the rest ofCanada, manypeopl eare employedduringtheir youth in ewfoundl and and Labrador.Employm ent statisticson peopl ebetweentheagesof 15 and24 in ewfoundl and andLabrado rsugges t thatin2006 atotal of 25,320 were employ ed(38.7%),and34,585(52%) parti cip atedin thelabourfor ce (StatisticsCanada,2008).The introdu ction oftheOHS courseat the high schoo l level isan indication of thegove rn ment's intere stinem po we ringyoungworkers with knowl ed ge on OHSmana gem ent,and protectin gthemfrom occupationalhazard s and injuries.While theimportan ce of anOilSeduca tio n program asa govern me ntstrategyto address young peopl e 'soccupa tionalinj uries isunderstand able, it iscritica lto examine the contentof thc curriculumusedto convey theOHSknowled ge(Porter , 2002 ).Itisimperativetoundersta nd whatisbeingcon structedas va lid OilSknowled ge and how such knowled gerelatestothe young workersand thesocialorderasawho le.

The existing resear ch on OHS educa tionand trainin g foryouth primaril yfocu ses on the ove ra lleva luatio nof the program s.These stud iesconcentrateon evaluating students'abilityto recallOilS knowledge ,andon evaluatingthebefore-und-ufte reffec tsof introducin geducati on or trainin gprogr am s onyouth's workpl ace inj uries(forexa mple, Burke ctal.,2006;Lamb , Joshi , Ca rter, Co wbum ,&Matthews. 2006;Lerman,Feldma n,Shna ps, Kushnir ,&Ribak,1998; Linker ,Miller,Freeman,& Burbach er,2005;O'Conn or.Loomi s,Runyan,dalSanto.& Schulman"2005).Veryfewstud iescritica lly examinethe types of knowled gethatareincluded (orexclude d) in the OilScurric u lum,orthe construct ionor presentatio nofthisknowledgein the educatio nalmateri als(fo rexample. seeShearn , 2006;and Kosn y, 200 5) .In mostresear ch studi es. thecontentof the curricu lumisnot exam inedor questionedatall;rather it ismostly accept ed as aneutralfactortobetakenfor granted(Eng lund. 1997).The significa nceof the

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present study liesin thefactthatratherthan evaluating the effectivenessorO HScurriculumas an interventionstrategytoreduce workplace- relatedaccidentsandinjuries,it draws attention to whatcountsas OHS knowledge and howthis comes to be.Thestudy questionshowthe OHS knowledgeis constructed,andobservesthetypesor knowledgethatareemphasizedin the curriculumand makesnote or othersthatare marginalized.Bydoing so,the researchrevealsthe relationshipbetweenthe curriculumand the competingdiscourses onyouthand their Ol-IS. Ultimately,the study contributestotheunderstandin g of thesocialorganizationorknowledge.

Sociologists and education researchers have tradit ionally examined the social constructionor knowledgeinvarioussubjectareas includingPsychology,Language,History and Science(forexample,seeChick,2006; Chin,2006;Hogben&Waterman,1997;Macaulay& Brice,1997).However,theyrarelydeviatefrom thislistor disciplines.Byfocusing on anOHS curriculum, thepresent studycontributes to ourgrowing undcrstanding of the socialconstruction or knowledgeasawhole.Likemany otherstudies on thesocialconstruc tionofk nowledge,the present study demonstrates aparticular focuson howthe OHSknowledge isconstructed in relationtoideasaboutyouth,gender,socialclass,andgeographic location.This hasthe capacity to enhanceour understanding or howthesefactorsinteractwithany body or knowledge. Throughfield research,thisstudy alsocontributestounderstandings of how classroom interactionsbetweeninstructorsandstudentscontribute tothe constructionof knowledge.While thereisagrowing interestin theprocess or knowledge construction through classroom interactions,the existingliteratureisnotinformntive about how such interactionscontribute to theconstructionora typeor knowledgethat isintended tod irectlyrelatetothe students'health andemploymentexperiences.Thisstudy contributestotheliteratureby introducingaspecific focus onOHS knowledge,Overall,areviewor thc existing literaturerevealsthatthe subjector

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knowled ge construc tio n in OHScurriculum,particul arl y ones tar geted atyouth,remai ns little explor edand thepresentresear chwillcontributetotheliterature.

1.4 Overviewofthe study

Usingamulti-m eth od s appro ac h, includ ingdiscour se ana lysis, part icip ant observationand interview s,this studyexplo res theprocess ofkno wled ge cons truc tionwithin theWorkpl ace Sa fety3220curriculuminthe Canad ia n province ofNew found landand Labrador,revealing a number ofunderlying socia l assump tion s,biases,andom iss ions embeddedinthecurriculumand itsdeli very.I useasocialcons truc tiv ist persp ecti veto exp lain thesefindings,discu ssthe social implicatio nsof thesefindings, and mak e anumber of recomm endat ion sforacu rric ulum revision.

TheWorkplace Safe ty3220 curriculum isthefirsthigh -schoolbased curricu lum introduced totheyouthof Newf ound landinan efforttoredu ce occupa tionalinjuries and accident samon g youngworkers.Itconv eys critica l knowled ge on identifyingand definin g various typ es ofoccupa tiona l hazard s in the workp lace,preve ntion mech ani sm s, accide nt inves tiga tio nand report ing andoverallOI-lS man agem en t. Thecurric ulum uses atechn ical and scie ntificapproac h to convey the OHSknow ledge,whichgivesthe impressio n that wha t constitutesworkers ' OHS ca n beeas ily identi fied ,quantifi ed ,measur ed andcontro lled.Th is technicalandscientificlan guageleaveslitt le room foralternati veunderstandings or mana gem ent ofOHSorfor examininghow individu alwork ers expe rienceOHS underdiffer ent circums tances. The curric ulum is also refl ect ive of thedomin antdiscour ses or"atrisk"youthand

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suggests that youth'srisk-taki ngbehaviourand their tendencyto see the mse lvesas invincib leare the prima rycontrib utors tothehighlevels of occupa tiona linjuryandfata lityamongthem (Be nthin,Siov ic,&Severson, 1993,153 andCenters forDisease ControlandPrevent ion , 1997), and that OHSeduca tio n targeted atyouthis one of the primaryanswersto the pro blem (Lerman etai,1998;andLinker,etaI.,2005). Fur the rmore,the curriculumis writtenbased onthe ideologies ofindividu alresp on sibilit ytowa rdperson alhealth andsafety anda cultu reofinju ry preventi on atwork.ThisOHS managem ent cultureadvoca tes that workers needto be respon siblefortheir own OHSand prevent injuriesandaccide nts at work(Walt ers,1988).In co mbination, theseideas senda strong messageto youth thattheir au itudcsand beha viour s are respon sibl e for the irhigh occupationa l accid ent s and injuriesand thatfortthemostpart ,they are respon sibl efortheir ownsafety(and inju ries).TheWorkpl ace Safety3220 curriculum fail sto incorp orate find ings fromthe cons iderab leamo untofresear ch thatsugges ts there aresocial, economic,orga niza tio na l,andworkenviro nment-re latedfactorsthatalsosha peyouth'sOilS expe riences.In genera l, the curric u lumunder-rep rese ntsfactors whic hcontrib ute to youth occupatio na linjuriesbutarc beyondthe irperson al contro land falloutsi deoftheirtrain ing and mind sel. Forexamp le,thecurric u lum mostly remai nssilentabout the power relations atwork betwee nyoungworkersand their supervisors,about fears of jobloss, andabout howthelack of employme ntoppo rtunities for youth in acom m unitycanoftenaffectyoung work ers ' actio nsand expos uresas we llas the ir failure toexe rcise their right to ref use unsafe work(forexam p lesee, Kosny, 2005 ).

TheWorkplace Sa fety3220 curriculum isalsobiasedtow ard OHS issuesinad u lt, male, blue-collar occupatio ns and theassociated OHS know ledge.Thecurricu lum contai ns inform ationrefl ect ive of many OHS resear chprogram s, officialstatis ticsandgovern ment

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agenc ies that place adisp roporti onatel yhigh er em phasisonoccupation alinjuri es an d fatalit ies amongblue-c ollarworkers suchaselectri c ians, construc tio nworke rs,andmanufactur ing workers.The discour sesassociated with these voices of authority prima rilyfocus on compensable incid entsthatare clearl y job related .Researchhas shown thatmaleblue-coll ar workers arcmostlikelyto expe riencesuc hinjuries(Mess ing, 1998).Whilemaleblue-coll ar workersadmi tted ly havehigherthan average rates of occupa tiona linj uriesandfatalities,the curricu lum'scom p letefocuson theOHSissu es of thesewor kersmean s itunder-repr esent s and oftenomitsknowledgerelevanttofemalework ers and work ers conce ntratedinrural,non -industrialized andwhi te-and pin k-coll aroccupations.Morcimportantly,the curr iculum largel y excludes theOHSexpe rienceof youngwork erswho arenotalways wor kingin blue-collarjob s andarc mostl yrestri ctedtopart -timeprecari ou sjobsduetotheirlack of experienceand acade mic qualifi cation s (Vosko,Zukewic h,S:Cranfo rd,2003).

UsingSmith' s(1990)theoreticalframe wo rkon the socialconstructionofobjec tified know ledgeand theFoucau ldia n newsociologyof the curr icu lum,Iarguethat theresear ch findi ngspresentedin thisthesisaretyp ical examplesof thetyp es of pow er strugg les that continue to exist within the socia lstruc turesof work,educa tio nandinsociety ingene ra l. While the introd uctio nofanOHScurric ulumwithin thehigh schoo leduca tio n programrespond sto the needto educa teyouthabo ut OHSissu es,theWorkpl ace Safety3220 curricu lumfail sto repr esentthediversit y oftheworkforceandoverloo ksOHS knowled ge and issu espertin entto thenon-dominantsocialgroups.Thecurricu lum 's primarylocus onadu ltblue -collarwork ers and their OHS issues and theunder-represent ation ofyoung wor kers,womenwork ers,whit e-collarworkersandother ruralnon-indust rial izedwork ers initreflec ts therecentem phasis the localgovernme nt hasbeenplacin g on prom ot ing vocatio na l trad es (forexamp le,see Stacey,

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2002). Itreflect s govern ment's relian ce onofficia l dataprodu ced bytheburea ucracywhic h reinforc ethediscour ses claiming that male,blue-coll arwork ershavethcriski estjob s andarc ther eforemore worthyof atte ntionandassistan cefromworkers'compensationandgove rn me nt insp ecto rs.Theassumption in the curric ulum that youtharcprimarilyresp on sible for their own occupatio na l injuri es, and the overwhe lmi ngemphasisonind iv idua lrespo nsibi lityinOHS man agem ent ,refl ectsthetend encyto at times pus h theburd en of ensuring workpl acehealth and safetyontothese oftenvulnerabl eindividu alworkersandawayfromgovern me nt, wor kers' compe nsati on boards,and employe rs.AsKosny(2005 )argues."Messa ge sthat worke rs sho uld 'knowtheirrights.''protectthemselves.'and'avo id risk'arecom mo nplaceinoccupationa l healthdiscou rsesand leavein the ir wakethe impression that sta te andemp lo yerresp onsibility lorwork erhealthis seco ndaryand unimport an t. ..Thefindings from thepresent studyalsoshow how wome n's Ol-ISconce rnscontinue to bepoorl y capturedin dom inantdiscou rses.Theunde r-representati on of wome n'sOHS issuesandexpe rie nces in theWor kpl ace Safety3220 curric ulumechoes thebroaderpattem s ofgende r inequ al ity and powerdiff erenti al s with inthe educati onsystemand intheworkplace.

As Sm ith(1990)recom me nds, thc firstste p toward subve rti ngsocialinequa litiesandthe patr iar ch alrelat ion s ofruling istodecon stru ct objectifie dknow ledgeand the socio-econo mic contex twithinwh ichsuch knowled ge is orga nize d.Thepresentstudy does jus t thatwith inthe WorkplaceSafet y 3220 curriculum.Itis expec ted thatfutureresear ch on this subjec tcanraise

greaterawarenessandcreate afor cefo rfundam ent alchangesinsimilarcurricu lum. In doing so, thesestud ies cancontributetothe alt crn at ivediscoursesthatnot onlychallengethedom inant discourses and beliefs onyouthand OJ-lSbutalsocontrib ute tothe subve rsionofthepower strugg les that sha peyoung worker s'Oi lSexper ien ces.

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The thesisispresent edin8 cha pters,inc lud ing the prese ntintrod uc torycha pter.In cha pter twoI present areview of theliteratur e onyouth's uniqu e occupa tio na l heal th andsafety expe rie ncesandcha llenges,andon OHS ed uca tio ncurriculum targeted atyouth.Chap ter three cons istsofanexami nationofthetheoretical workonthe socialconstruc tio nofkno wledge, parti cularlyknowledgepresented inschoo lcurric u lum. In this chapter I develop atheoret ical perspcct ivethatisused in the study fortheor etical and meth od olog icalfra mewo rk. Inchapter four Idiscussthc differenttyp es of research methodsI used to collect dataforthe study.These methodsincl udediscourseanalysis, contentanalysis,personalintervi ewsand particip ant observa tions.The nextth reechapters present thekey find ings of this study. Inparticu lar,in chapter five1discusstheWorkp laceSafety 3220curriculum's focus onobje ctifiedknowl ed ge and itsimplication s.Next inchaptersixIillustratehowthe curriculumidentifi esthe young workerastheproblem ;i.e.the young work ersdonothave eno ug hOHSknowled ge,andthey feel thattheyarcinvin cibleat work.Ifurtherdiscu ssthe curric ulum'sprimar yfo cu s on individu alresp on sib ility anda cultureof prevc ntio nforO HS managem ent.Inchapterseven I presentthe assumptio ns, biases andomiss ions that areembeddedwithi ntheWorkp laceSafety 3220 curr iculum.Finally, incha ptereightImake my conc ludingrema rksand discu ssthe implicati on sforthe study's findings.lalsodiscu sstheneed for futureresear ch on thisparticul ar subjec t.

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Cha pte r2 Literat ure Review

Resear ch on workplacehea lth andsa fety-relatededucatio nprogram s suggeststhatthe curric ula used fortheseprogramstendtobeinforme d bydiscoursesthat individua lizeworke r'sOlIS (Kosny,2005).Even thou gha conside rablebod y ofresearchshows thatjob-relatedfactors, em ploye rand man agem ent-relatedfactors,aswellas externa lsocio-eco no micfactorsplay import ant roles insha ping work ers 'healthandsa fetyexpe rie nce s(WestctaI., 200 5; (Mayhew& Quinlan ,2002; Breslin&Smith, 2005),manycurriculacontinue tomaint ain aprimaryfocu s on theindividualworkcr'sOI-lSknowlcdgcandskills.Work ers' com pensationclaims,inj ury and hospitalizati onrecordsandotherofficial record scom monly used asmark ers of OHSincid ents tendtotrace occupatio nalaccide ntsand illnessestotheind ividualwork ers,who arcoften deemedresp on siblefor theseincide nts.Man yresearch ersusethese o fficial stat isticsto examine OHSissu es amongyouthas wellas adults(forexam ple,sec AggazottietaI.,2006;and Breslin, Koch oorn, Smi th&Manno , 2003).While discoursesin these curric ula tendto focusoninterna l respon sibility and to em phas izeindividual approac hes tothemanagem ent ofOHS, whichcan effectively teach workers about their individ ua l right s and responsibilities,theydonot take into account the socio-econo micenvironme ntwithi nwhichworkand OI-lS areexperience dand practi ced .Forexam ple,theprom oti on of indiv idua l respon sibil ity can teachthe workerabout unsafework conditions theyshould avoid;it doesnot,however,bringtolightissues suchas con tl iet withsupervisors, fear ofjobl ossorlinancialneedswhichcansilenceworkers'concerns aboutunsafework cond itions .The presentstudytherefor ebeginsby exploring rese archon how youngworkers experience OHS in their workplace sand then exami nesthe waysinwhich these

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experiencesare represented orsilenced within the ewfoundl andand Labrad orhigh school Workpl aceSafet y3220 curriculum.Thefirst section of thisliteratur erevi ewexamin esthe pattern ofyouth employmentin orth America, and theuniqueOI-iSchallengesyoung work ers exp erience.Italso describe stheriskfactorsfor youth in tenusofoccupational injuriesboth at the individuallevelandat thesocietal level.

Thepresentresearchstudy isfocu sedonthe con structi on of OI-iSknowl edgewithinthe WorkplaceSafety3220curriculum. ManyO I-iSeducationprogramsaresaidtobe written in a languagethatprom otes objec tive knowl edgewhichfocuses on the'dos and don 't s' ofp reve nting occupationalincidences, and havelittle room forknowl edge onhow workersexperienceO I-iSon a daily basisand howthese experie ncesmediaterisks, andtheirO I-iSrightsandresponsibilities (Kosny,2005 and Pow er&Baqcc, 2010).In ordertounderstandthe process of knowledge construc tion within theWorkplaceSafety 3220curriculum,thesecondsec tionof the literatur e review exami nes research on howknowled geisconstru ctedinvariousschoolcurriculaand how theyrepresentspecifickindsof knowl edge,ideasandsocialgroups.Itspecificallyfocuseson the knowled ge construc tion processwithin thetextual material srepr esent ingthe officialcurriculum, and within the classroominteractionsrepr esentingthedeliveredcurri culum.

2.JYoutlt'sunique OHSconsiderations lindclutllengcs"

Research sugges ts tha!youngpeople 'sworkand OHS experiencesarenotalways compa rable to their ad ultcounterpar tsand therefore,know ledgeon these experiencesarenotalways sHead ingtakentrornWest etal.·s(2005 )articl etilled.The youthworkforce:unique occupationalhealth considerations andchuttenges.

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transferabl efrom oneage group tothe other(Bres lin&Smit h,2005; Mitchell,Franklin, Driscoll ,&Fragar, 2002; Zakocs, Runyan , Schulma n, Dunn,&Evensen, 1998). Compa redto adultworkers,youngworkers tendtohavelow erlevels of educa tionand training,and less accurate percept ion s ofrisks and hazard s.They arealso morelikelytobe employed in precarious jobsinsma llerorganiza tions with fewerOHS sta ndards,and theytendto experience higher rates of injuri esandaccidents (Zakocs, etal.,1998;Breslin&Smith,2005;Mitchell, etaI.,2002; Breslin,etal.,2007;and Messin g,1998).Broadly speaking, there are twomainapproaches in theliteratur e explaining yo uth's distinc tive emp loyme ntexperience.Thefirst takes a developm ental approac handassumes that chro nolog icalage can tellussome thing about the

abilities,capabilitiesandexperiences of workers.Thisapproachisoft enusedin quan titative studies (Tyyska, 2009).Researchers commo nly usethefollowin gagerangestodefine youth: peopl ebetweentheages of14and 18,15 nnd 24,16 and24(Austra lian Bureau of Statistics, 2005; Betch erm an&Lecki e,1997;LUC<lS&Ralston ,1997; Zierold&Ande rson,2006). The secondapproac h takes a socialconstructivis t perspecti ve andassumes that a society's definitio n of youth reflects widereconomicandsocialchanges.Forexample,Tyyska(2009) sugges ts that thc curre nt vpressureto stretch'youth'in theindustri alizedWest, basedon their tota lor partial dependence on parent s and/orthe state,reflects social processesthatpresentl y include

length enededucati on and part -time or temporar yemployment " (5).6Regardle ss of their approachtodefining youth, researcherstendtoagreeon thedistin ctn ess of issues experienced by youthinO HS as wellasothe r aspects o flife.

binkeeping withthe Government of Canada(2000) definition,in thepresent studyyouth are definedas people between the ages of15 and 24.This particular definitio nis chosenmainly lor the case ofdata collection since most oflheprovincialandfedera lstatisticsonyollthemploymen tandeducationlise this age range.

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In orthAmerica,Austra liaand most of Euro pe,yout hemp loy me ntis a very commo n pract ice (Aus tra lian Bureau of Statistics,2005;Betch crm an&Leckie,199 7; Euro pea nAgency forSafetyand Hea lth atWo rk, 2004;Zierold&Anderso n,2006).In most of thesereg ions, approx ima te ly70t080 pe rce ntofa ll tee nagers hav eatsome poi ntwo rke dfo r paybefore leavi ng high schoo l(Wes tcral.,200 5. 297;Ziero ld&Ander son,2006,525).Infact,most young workerssimultaneouslypursu e educationand work(Betchcrma n&Leck ie,1997, 9; Ziero ld& Anderson, 2006,525 ).Theyworkina varie ty of jobsbothintheformaland theinformallabour mark ets.Commo njobsforyoung workersin theform al economyinclude those insales,serv ice andcashierjobsintherood and bevera geind ustry,the reta il tradeind ustry,and incle ricaland ad m inistrativejobsinvariousind ustria lsectors(Breslin&Sm ith, 2005,51).InNorthAmer ica, youtharcalsohighl yrepresentedindif fere nt typ esof jobsin theinformalecono my(i.e.,job s thatdonot generatetaxrevenu es)(Ape l,etal.,2006 ; Sha nahan,Mortim er,&Kriiger , 2002). Bab ysitt ing, yardwork,andfarmingare someof themostcommo njobsdon e by youthin the informaleconomy(Zierold,2004).Mostjobs heldby yout hin ewfound landand Labra do r and elsewhe re,are precarious, consistingofshift work, part-t im e work,temporarywork, seasonal work,andothe rformsof non -stand ard work(Vosko,Zukewich,&Cranfo rd,2003).These typ es of jobsareoftencharacterizedby irreg u larwork hou rs andworkarrange me nts,poor pay and ben efit s,job insecurity andhighlevel s ofhealthandsa fetyrisks(Voskoetal.,2003;Lou ghlinet al.,1999 ,1 9).

Youn gCanad iansarcalsofrequentlyemployedin the goods- prod uc ingsecto r. About 18 percentor em ploy edyouthinCanada wereworkinginthegoods- prod uc ing industriesin2003. Amongthem,alargemaj orityworked in themanu facturing scctor.Tollowed bytheconstruction, agri cu lture,and resour ce extractionind ustries(Emp lo ym ent ProgramPoli cyandDesignBranch,

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2005 ). Whilemale youth inCana dawere mor elikelyto workin themanu allab our secto r (cons truc tio n,stoc k handl ing, etc.)and the fan ni ngsecto r, the irfem ale counte rpa rtswere mor e likel ytobe em ploye d in the salesandservices, andad mi nistrativesectors(Ape l, Pat ern oster , Bush way,&Bram e, 2006). In ewfound la ndand Lab rad o r youngworkerswere prim aril y concentra tedin the salesandservices sector(46. 54%)and the cons truc tio nsector(12.27%) . Table2dem on strat esthat simi lar tothenation altrend,the employ me nt pattern varies between maleandfemaleyouthinNew found la nd and Labrad or.Accordin gto 2005sta tisticsyoung wome n mostly workedasreta ilsalesperso ns,clerks,cashiers,foodandbeverageworkers, ch ildca rcandhomesupportworke rs,cler icalwork er sandotherse rvice relate d work ers .In contrast ,the young mentcndedtobe emp loye dina widerrangeof industrialsectors.They mostlyworkedasretailsalesperso n,clerk,cashier, foodand bevera gework er , cleane r,clerica l worke r, fisherandothe r resour ce extrac tio nworke r,eq uipme ntope rato r, lab our er, andothe r cons truc tio nandservice related worke r(Comm unityAccounts,2006).

Table1: The J'lIIIl1K Worker.'ofNI. Based(11/Genderand Occu pation (1005).Source:COIllIllI/II;ty Accol/llts(2006).

AIIOcCllp~ i\hllc Female __

Total

T

~~a:cent:;~

~·

~,~~

o

,Percentage Total Pcrc entuu e

AllOccupatio ns 20,405 41,435

Ilealth 75 0.36% 310 1.52% 380 0.92%

,...~rs_es_ _ _ 10

_-

O~.JlL 0.61%

_..1.

4

_.2....-~

Other 70 0.33% ISO O-:8S% 240 0.5S%

~d llea t i(_lIl_ _ _

_-

325_- 1.55'1.. 780 3.82 %

_-

1,11 0 2.68 % Schoolteachers

r

IO

0.05% IS5 0.91% 205 0.49% ~~-- 1315- 1.50% 595 2.920/.. 9Q.5_ ~.

~I

W*~

-rs---

2,340 11.13% 525 2.57% 2,860__~ -765 3.64% 135 0.66% 905 2.IS% ~gg_c rs_ _ _ _135

t

o

.

64% 10 0.05% 140 0.34% Other 1,425 6.78% 3S5 I.S9% I,SI O 4.37% 19

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Sulesandservice 7,330 ~1l5% 11,945 511.54% 19,2115 46.54%

~

~I

&

C~C

:~

r

:g:~~~~~~

r

11,8.30 8.70% 5,075 24.87% 6,905 16.66% 1,630 7.75% 3,08 0 15.09% 4,710 11.37% I'rotectiveservices I

worker 555 2.64 % 150 0.74% 705 1.70%

Childcarc & home

support worker 110 0.52 % 1,390 6.81% 1,500 3.62 %

Cleaners 815 3.88% 525 2.57% 1,340 3.23%

Other 2,390 11.36% 1,735 8.50% 4,125 9.96%

Managcmcnt 305 1.45% 320 1.57% 620 1.50%

Ofliee&relaled 1,740 8.27% 3,015 14.78% 4,755 11.48%

support worker 95 0.45% 430 2.11% 520 1.25%

1,54 5 7.35% 2,440 11.96% 3,985 9.62%

Other 100 0.48% 14 5 0.71% 240 0.58%.

Const r uction and related 4,6115 22.211'Yo 405 1.911'Yt. 5,01l5 12. 27'Yo

Construc tionworke r 700 3.33%. 20 0.10% 720 1.74%

Mechanics 485 2.31% 30 0.15% 510 1.23%

~I~nentoperators 680 3.23% 100 0.49% 785 1.89%

Labourers 2,040 9.70% 175 0.86% 2,220 5.36%

Othe r 775 3.69% 75 0.37% 850 2.05%

Proc essin g e;

mannfactnring 1,745 1l.30% 560 2.74% 2,305 5,56 %

Fishiroce ssingworkers 835 3.97% 335 1.64% 1,175 2.84%

Other 915 4.35% 225 1.10% 1,135 2.74%

Even though mostjurisd ictionshavepieces oftheir legislationthatapplyparticularlyto youthand theiremploymentsafetyissues(Zakocset aI.,1998,342-3 43 ),someresearchers suggest that "[tjeenagersarcapproximately twice aslikelyasadultstosu ff e rinjuriesresultingin workers'compensationclaimsandemergencyroomvisits"(Zierold&Anderson,20 06, 525). Canadianyouth injuryrecordsshowthatthey colnm only experiencc "burns.scaldsandchcmical burns,aswellcuts,punctures,biles,scrapes,bruises,and blistcrs" (Breslin& Smith,2005,52). Inaddition, statisticsfromtheUnitedStatessuggests that about70youth die eac hyearon the job.Most ofthese youngworkersexperienceoccupationalfatalityduringtheiremploymentin

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theagricultura l andthe retailtradesec to rs (West ,Ca str o,8:Fitzgerald , 2005,299).In ewfoundlandand Labradorin particular, compensa tio n claim sdata for16to24yearolds sugg est thatsix youn gmen diedon the jobbetween 2000and2006.Duringthatsameperiod, youn gmenand womenworkingin different industri al sec tors mostcomm onl yexperienced sp rains , strainsand tears, cuts and lacerati on s,muscle injuries,bumsand bruise s.Youthworkin g intheretai l tradesector andtheserv icesecto r made alarge majority of the compensati on

claims?Inaddi tio n,youngmenworkinginfish process ingalsoexperiencedbonefractures, Overall,thepro vincialcompensatio ncla imsdatareflect agende red patternwhere over70

percent ofallsuccess fu lcla imswere madebyyoungmen(Cod ner,2008 a).Thisgcndcrcd

patt ernis a eonsequcnceofthetypes ofinjuries thatarc typi cally approvedforcompensa tion

claims(Cod ner,2008a).

Withregardsto theruralurbandifferencesrelatingtoyouthemploymentand OHS,it is

frequen tlysuggestedthat, com pa redtourbanareas,theruralenvironment often restrict sayoung

person' s oppo rtun ities and accesstoamenities .Manyresearchershave foundthat ruralyouth have distinctiveOHS issu es .Theseissue srelat etothe types of industrie sprevalentin rural envir onments(resour ce-dependent.fanningctc.),aswell astothestruc tureof rural industrie s, theirfrequen tembeddednessinsing le-ind us try communities,limitedaccesstoOl-IStrainingand

expertiseandlimited accesstohealthprofessionalstrained in diagno singandmanagingwork

-relatedinj uriesandiIInesscs(secBreslin, Smi th, Mustard,8:Zhao,2006;Laure nt,2002;Lee ct al.,2004;Parker etaI.,2002).Alasia and Magnusson(2005)suggest thatthelon gterm

em p loyment pattern sinCanadadem on strate aconce ntrationor low-skill jobsin theruralareas

andhigh -skill job sin theurbanareas (2). Austra lianstatisticsindicatethatruralpeopleha ve an

'WIISCCdocs nol mainlain anyrccords tixunsucccssful compcn salionciaims.i\lIs1alislics andpallcrnsprcscnlcd here arc based onsucccs sfulclaims.

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increa sedexposur eto risk s,but a decrea sedacce sstoemergen cy services andother healthcare

facilities(Loos,Oldenburg,S: O'Hara. 2001, 222).Both of these fac to rscan adversel yaffect

young worke rsin ruralcomm unities. Howe ver,notall rural envi ronment s offer the same types of

work oppo rtunitiesor OHS cha llenges. and thework experienceofspec ific ruralsub-po pu lations

isdistin cti vewithintheir environments.

Incr easingly, stud iessugg es t that employmentduringhigh schoo lyea rsca n not only

affec tyouth 's physicalhealth,butcan alsohave significantimpacton youngpeople' sment al

health. On the one hand.worki ng youth dem on strateimprovem ents inself-co n fide nce. punctua lity, academic achievement, financial managem ent.sense or responsibilityand inde pe nde nce,andsocialskills in dealin g with people(Dunn,Runyan , Cohe nS: Schulma n,

1998).On the othe r han d,researchalso suggests that youngworker s candisplayincreasedrisk

forproblembehavioursinschoo l,smo k ing . alcoh olabuse . stress a nddepression(Mortimeretal.,

1996;Mortimeret al.,J992 :Mortimeretal., 2002 :Shanahan etal., 1991 ;Wegm anS: Davis,

1999;Greenberger&Steinberg.19 86 ).

What factor s contribute tothe aJan n ing rate ofoccupa tio na l health incident s amo ng

youth? Research sugg es ts that ther e arc man yfacto rs,both at the indiv idua l level andat the

societa l level.that contribute towork-r elatedrisk stoyouth' sphysicaland mentalhealth.The

nexttwo sections describethesefactor sin detail.

2.l. a Riskfactorsat the individual levelcontributingto you t h injury Ado lesce ntep ide m io logy ,psych ology,and phys iol ogy arcsome of the promin ent

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Ol-ISdiscourses,thesedisciplineshelp tolocate and understand youth 's wor kpl acehealthrisksat theindividual level.Theresear chfromthesedisc ipl ina ry ang lessuggests that give n their cogn itive abilitiesandex perience, youthare morelikelyto ex perienceaccidents and injuri esthan arc adults (Centers forDise ase Contro land Preventi on ,199 7).lt isfurther arg ued that as young peopl e age, thelikel ihood for these accide ntsand injuri esdecrease asthcy gainexperienceover timc.Thisfocu s on understand ing and identi fyin gtheindividu al worker'sabilitiesand limitation shelps suppo rt thcnoti onthatpropertraining anded uca tio n for youngworkersis important toreducingtheir occ upatio nalrisk sand inju ries(Linkerct aI., 2005).

Physiological stud ieshavcfoundthat atthei r age ,youngpeopleexperie nce ra pidgro wth of organand musculoskeletalsystems, whichmay increasetheirrisk s of bcin gharmed by ex pos ure tohazard ou s subs tancesor todevelop cum ulative trauma diso rde rs( atio na l Institut e for Occup at ionalSaf et y and Health . 2003; CentersforDisease Contro land Preventi on.1997). Mor eo ver,stud ies examin ingthe worksetting havefoundthat often there isapoorfitbetween eq u ipment designedfor ad ult-s ized bodi esand the bod iesofgrowingyouth(Ya dav&Sengup ta, 2009 and Cent ersfor Disease Contro land Prevention,1997) .For exam ple,whileopera ting tract or s on farms, youthofte n findit diffi culttoreachthebrake with their feet,orarc una bleto use ad ult-sized person alprot ect ivecquiprne ntsprop erly.Litera tur e suggeststhatit isnotjust young bodi esthat growandcha nge.A wealthof literatur e on riskpercepti on argues that youthis a phaseduring wh ich peopl e gothrou gh sig nifica nt psych ol ogicaltransiti on.whichoften "requiresmor e time to comp lete,and typica llylagsbehind physicalmaturati on "(Cent ersfor Disease Contro land Pre venti on,1997).Youthare descri bedtohave apoorsense of judgme nt and riskasse ssment,incompleteself-imag e,andadesireto con form(or convers ely,reb el ),Thcy arealsoknownto seeksensa tion,indep end en ce and mat urity,andarc vulnerabl eto peerpressure

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and thepressur eto excel.Itisfurther sugges ted that young peopl emayfccIasenseof inv u lnerability or immuni tyto injuryduetotheir poorjudgm entand thei rdesir etow ard sensationseeking .Duringthistimc young workersmay be assi gne dworkthatwou ldnot necessarilyfittheirl cvel ofpsychol ogi calmaturityand levelofex pc ricnce (Ce ntcrs forDisease ControlandPrevention,1997).Researchsugges ts that whe nfacedwitha choice topart ak e in risk y activities,young peopl etendtoper ceive grea terassociatedbenefi tsas compa red tothe risk s involved (Benthin,Sio vic,&Severso n, 1993,153).Inothe rwords,youth arc ofte nat greaterhcalthriskduetothewa ysinwhichthcypcrcci vehca lth, sa fety andrisk.

Gree nbe rge r&Stei nbe rg ' s(198 6)work focusesspecificallyonyouth'sbehav iourat worktonot ethat adolesc entsfreque ntlydemon strate charac te ris ticssuchas grcatenergy, enthusias m, anddesir etotak e oncha lle ng ingsitua tio ns .Thesecharac teris ticscan makethem Icssinclinedtoaskquesti ons abo ut the ir jobs,and mor e inc line d todotas ksthat arc beyon dthe ir physi calabilities,wh ichofte nIcadsto injuries.Itis alsosugges ted thatthcy ar e oft enunawar e of the OHS-related right sandresp onsibilities of the em ploye rand theemployee,In these situatio ns, youtharcrelu ct anttoseck impro vem entsinpay orworki ng cond itions(Wcstctal., 200 5, 298). Somestud ies ind icat ethatyouthalso have difficult yrecogni zin g occupatio nal hazards and risk s (Lava ck , 2008). Ba sed onevalua tive test s given topre-teen chi ldre n, Lam b and his co-authors (2006) concl ude that dep end ing on the comp lex ityoftheinform ati on , youngpeoplealso have difficult yretaininghealthandsafetyskillsand kno wl edge.Mor eo ver , youngworke rsarcofte n sa idtolackthe workexperienceandemo tio na l maturit ynecessarytodotheirjob s safely (Nationa l Institut efor Occupa tiona lSafetyand Health , 200 3,1-2).Thefollowingsection prcsents areview ofthelitcraturetha tgoesbeyondthephysi ological andpsych ologicalattr ibutes

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ofyouthandfocuses onriskfactorsassociat ed with the jobsyouthcommo nly perform , andtheir work environments.

2.l.b Social factor scontribu tin gto youthinj ury

Sociolog ica lliterature onoccupa tionalinjuri es and riskstendstolocate youth'sworkplace health

risksat thesocietalandorganizational le veland to attend relati velylittletotheirphysical or

psychological attributes.Thesociologicalapproach to studyingyouthOHS callsfor an

understand ingof whyyoungworkersexperience highratesofoccupationalinjuries,fatal ities andconditions and dem onstratestheneedfor amulti-sectorintervention thatfocu ses onOi lS educa tionand tra iningforworkers,aswellas employers.andon theparti cipat ion of govemm ent bodies andothersocialinstitutions in the enfo rceme ntoflegisla tion protect ing workplace healt h

andsafetyand tobringabout necessarypolicy changes(Kosny,2005).Thesestud ies have show n

thatyoung people ' s job-relatedfactor s andworkenviro nment-rela tedfactors play critica lrolesin theiroccupationalrisksandinjuries.For example. researchsugges tsthat youthwork ing in precarious jobs wheretheyhavetohandl e cash,workaloneorworkin thelate eveningsand

early momin gs arcatincreasedrisk ofhom icide (Wes tetal.,2005,299). Comparedtotheir adult

counterpa rts,youngwork ers often experience ahigher rateof occupatio nalviolencein theform ofverbalabuse,threats,andassaultsfrom customers andsupe rviso rs(Mayhew&Quinlan , 2002, 261).Studieshave shown thatyouthemployme nt is conce ntrated incertain industries cha racterized byhighernumbersofoccupational hazards, suchasinthctrudc.una nufucturing, construction,andothergoods- producingindustries (Breslin&Smith,2005).Youth arealso

significantlyover-represented among employeesinsmall-sized firms,which often havelo wer

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standardsof workplace health andsafetythanlargerfirmsas a resultoflimited resourcesand OHS knowledge (Breslin& Sm ith,2005,54-55).Infact,basedonthreesurveys of representati ve samplesofCanadian workpla ces,Smith and Mustard(2004)havefoundthat just one infivenew workersofany agehadreceived anysa fetytrainin gfrom thei remp loyers(also sec Centersfor Disease Controland Prevent ion,1997).

Thesituation for youngworkerscanbe exacerbatedby superviso r-pressuretoperform faster, orwhen theirstrengthand mascul inity are questionedby theirco-workersinrelation to usin gprotecti ve eq uipme ntorcarry ing hea vyloads,leadingthemtoignorethe advocatedsa fety behaviour s(Breslin et aI., 2007,791 andLavack,2008, 4).A recent studybyBresl in etal. (2007) onCanadianyouth and theirperceptions ofoccupational healthrisks providesan importantinsight tohow workenviro nme ntand workplace relat ionscontribu te tothe vulnera bilityof youngworkers.Thro ughfocus groupsessionswithyoungworkers,Breslinand hisco-a uthors(2007) found that youngworke rsoftenviewed the iroccupa tiona l injuri esas "part of thejob"due totheirfrequ ent occurre nceand lowseverity.Theyalsofoun d thatyoung work ersdid notnecessar ilylackknowl edgeabouthealth andsafetyand theirright sand responsibiliti es;rather,they perceived alack of contro l toimprovetheir workingcond itions. Thissense oflack of contro larose from the fact that often the youngfema leworkers' complaints weredisregarded by supe riors,and the young menandyoung womenworkinginmal e-domi natedjobsstifled thei r complain tsinorderto fit in with theirmascul ine,adultcounterparts (791).Theauthorsargue thatthese behavio ursarcnotnecessaril yuniqueto youngworkers; qualitativ e studieson adult worker salsoindicat ethat tosomedegreethey acceptoccupa tiona l risksand injuries as"partof the job:'Theyconc lude thatthese behav ioursofstiflingand disre garding health andsa fetyrelated comp laintsreflectthe"imbalancedpowerrelationswithin

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man yworkplace s"between worker sand theirsuper viso rs(Kosny,2005, 75 in Bresl in etal, 2007,783).

Breslin andSmi th(2006)ha ve found that job tenu re (i.e.time on the job) is ano the rrisk facto rforinjuryand fatality amo ngworkersof allages.Jobtenu re contrib utes tothe shapingof eve ry work er' s occupationalrisk s.To support thisclaim ,thc auth or shavenot ed simila rratesof declineforbothyoungand adu ltworkersincompe nsa tionclaims with time on thejob.Thatis, anyworker's occupational riskslendtodeclineovertime withexperience.Theseresear ch

findingsindicatethat facto rsouts ideofyouths'physiol ogicaland psych olog icalattributeshave

tobe conside red whenexami ningyouth'srisk factorsloroccupationalinjuries.Researchers ofte nargue thatyouths 'risk-tak ingbehaviourisnotthemain factorthatincr easestheir occupa tional risks.Rath er,it isthetypes of jobsthat youngworkersdo,thctypes of work envi ronmentsand work scttingsinwhich theyworkandthcir oftensho rterjobtenurethatlargely sha pc thei rocc upationalhealthrisks( Breslin & Smi th,2005).

Thc literature onyouth' s occupationa l risk s and inju ries suggests that therearc numerous ind iv id ual-base dandsocieta lfactors thatinteract andcontr ibute to youth'soverallworkplace health andsafety. Thesefacto rsdonot ope ra te in isol ation; inorder tounderstand theOilS expe rie ncesofyoung work ers, weneedto acknowledgeand apprec iatehowtheindividu al-based factor sandthe societalfacto rsarcinterconn ected.

2.2Schoolcurriculum for youth

Thepresentstudyfocuse s on theconstruc tio nof OlISknowledgewithi n theWorkpl ace Sa fety3220 curric u lum.The refore,inadd itiontoundcrstandingthefactor sthatinfluence OilS

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expe rie ncesandoutco mesamongyoungworkers, itis alsocri tica lfor this study to examinethe literatu re on sociologyof ed uca tio n to examinetheprocess of know ledgecons truc tio n with in the curric ulum. In part icul ar ,it isimport antto explore ho w scho lars have exami ne dvariousschoo l curric u la torevealtheways in whichtheyrein fo rce orsilencespecific kind s ofknowl edge, ideas andsocialgroups.The existingliteratu re on the contento fOI-l S ed uca tio nand training curr icul a isnot extens ive.Thisis arelativel ynew areaof investi gationthatrequ ires scho larlyattenti on.In this sec tio n I revie w theliteratur eon the cons truc tionof knowled geinschoo lcurricu lumin varioussubjectareas,and thendescrib ethenature ofthe few researchwork thathave been conduc tedso faro n OHSc urriculum.

Withthe grow thof theed uca tio nsystem, theusc of textb ook s-particul arl yin West ern society, hasincreased to suc hanextenttha t most schoo l-goingchildrenreadseve ral textbooks in eachgrade(S tre itma tter,1994, 74).Datafrom the1990s suggest that inat least 90percent of theirclassroom learnin gtime, stude nts use somesortof ins truc tio na l mat er ial,textb oo ksbeing oneof the most com mo n.Researchsugges ts thatbothteach ers and parents areconfide ntabout the contr ib ut ionoftextb ook stothest uden ts' success (Hogbc n& Waterm an ,1997, 99; Woodward&Elliot, 1990 ,148).Despit e thevalueattrib uted to andthe wide usage oftext book s inschoo ls, questi onsremain abo ut their rolein the ed uca tio nsystem(Chic k,2006; Gordyet'II., 2004; Macaulay&Brice,199 7;Peterson&Kroner ,1992).Researchersarc alsoexam ining classroom interact ion sandcurriculum del iverymethodstounderst andhowthe socialprocesses ofknowledgeconstructionand knowledgetransferoccur(forexample,Beam an et'II.,2006; Chin,2006;Driveret'II.,1994;King,1994;Youn ger et'II.,1999).The followingtwosections reviewthefindingsfrom anumber of import ant stud iesthathave exam ine d theprocess of

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knowl ed ge cons truc tio n in thcoffic ia lcurr iculum present edin textb ook s,and in thedel iver ed curriculumco nv cy cd throug hclass roomintc rac tions.

2.2.aKnowledge constructionin textual materials

Ed uc ationa lsocio log istAndy Har gr eaves sugges ts that the studyof the'curriculum' hasbecom e oneof thcmostimportantfieldswithin educati on alresear ch since thcmiddle of thetwenti eth

century.However,priortothistim e thepolitical nat urcofthccurri culumconte nt,interms of its construct io nand presen tati on was,for themostpart overloo ked(inGoodson,1994 ,2). Thc

contentofthccurr icu lumwasprimari lytreated asaneu tral factorwo venintoanothe rw ise

com p lexstruc tureofed uca tion (Good son ,1994,16; Eng lund, 199 7).How ever,this cha nge d

sign ifica ntly lat erinthc century whenresear ch,particul arl yfemini stresear ch oned uc atio nand

sociology,began exam ining thcconte ntof textb ook s,and foundthcpreval en ce of certa in typ es

of knowledge,andthcmargin alizationofothers.Some resear chersarguetha ttextbook s ofte n

refl ect alanguage andconte nttha t favou rideasandknowledgerep resented in domin ant

disc ourses andmarginal ize orsilenc e alternativediscourse s.Resear chhas show nthat racial

minor ities,wom en , andothe r minoriti es arcofte n marginali zed oromi tted altogeth erfrom man y curricu la.More o ver , certa in types of kno wl ed ge, for exam ple non -sc ientif ic alte rna tive

kno wled ge areofte n marginalizedandeven triviali zedin form al curric u lum.Th is literatur eis

review edbelow .

Inacontcntana lysis study,Hogben andWaterman(199 7)demonstratetha tthe28U.S.

psycholo gytextbookstheyana lysedrefle ct alanguagethatsilenc es certainfact s and idea swhile

reinf orcin g others .Theyreveal edthat racia l minorit iesweresig nifica ntly under-repr esent ed in

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these books and,whe nthey werement ion ed , 61.7%ofthetimethe booksfocuse don Black people (whic h mean s othe rracesrece ived even less coverage tha n Black s).Interest ingly,the authors notethatin these books,a subs tantia l prop orti on of thecoveragedevot edtoBlack s actua llyfocusesonthe controvers ialresear ch find ingsof Arthur Jen sen , whoargued thatBlack peopl e arcgene ticallyandenviro nmenta llydisadva ntage d,wh ichcauses themtohave alower IQ.Whilethe textbooks sugges t that they favo urenviro nme nta lca uses forIQ differen ces,they remainsilentabout the remai nde rofJensen' sfindings.whichdemon stratethat AsianAme ricans norm all yscor ehigherin IQ testsascomparedtoWhi te Amc ricans(99).Whi leHogbenand Waterma n tak e apsychol ogicalperspe ctivetosuggest thaisuch'l1lentions'and'om issions 'can discouragepsychology studentsfromracialminority groups topursuefurther stud iesin psych ol ogy,critica l theoristswou ldlikelyview itasa reflectionofracialoppress ion.

Streitma tter(1994)sugg es tsthattraditionally,the Englishlan guage often refl ectsmale domin ance . andgenerallyspea king."subsurne ]s]fema le existen ce" (94).Shesugg eststhatthis patternis clearlyevide ntinEng lish Literatur e andHisto rytextb ook s. whic hare primaril y writte n bymale authorsandrarely have wome nasmain characters,orment ion sign ifica nt wom en or wome n's movem ent s. The rearc also stro ngsignsof genderstereo ty p ing in terms ofthe occupa tio ns the cha rac ters hold, and their atti tudesand beh aviou rs, particu larly invocationa l educa tional materials.Hamilton eta\.(2006)notesim ilargende r pattern sinamor erecentstudy based on theillustra tionsin200top -selling chi ldre n' sbooksin theUnitcdStates.Among other patterns,theynot easignilicant preva lence ofmalemaincharactersand thegenderstereotyping ofoccupations.Theyobservethata comparisonof theirsam p le of booksfrom2001with books fromthel9 80s andl990sdidnotdemonstrate any signilicantreductioninsexism .lnordcrto add ressthese issues ofsex ism.wh ich havebeen raisedbywome n'srights groups, many

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publisher s sim plyadd inform at ion onwome nat the endof a sectionorchapter,rathe r thanre -writingand reorgan iz ingthetext.This fragme ntatio norisolatio nof womcns top ics cansigna l to stude nts thatthose are lessimportant issues(Streitma tte r, 1994, 76-78).

This historicalpatt ern ofunder-r epr esent ati on of wome nisathem ethat is also not edby Petersonand Kron er (1992)in the ir contentana lysisofintroduc toryanddevelopme nta l psych olo gytextb ook s.Despit ethe1975 recommendati on s of the Ame rica n Psycholo gical Association(APA)on languageuse,andsome associatedimpro vem ent s,thestudy foundthat genderstereotyp ing andgender biasescontinue to exist in thetextbook s.Although there isahigh perce ntageof wome n psych ologists(56%psycho logyPh.Dholdersand78% ofdevelopm ent al psycholo gyPh.D holdersarcwomen)in the US,the textgives theimpressionthatthe practiceof psych olo gyis amaledomain ,while womenfitwithin thisdom ain aspassi vevictims or patient s of dysfun ct ionandabno rma lity(Peterso n&Kroner,1992, 31).Hogbcn and Waterm an (1997) sugges t that altho ug h morerecentpsych ologytext bookshavemad e significa ntefforts toward incorpora ting diversity-related content, they still remain genderbiased.

Inamo re recentstudy, innes(2001)exami ned therepresent a tio n of scientificand non -scientific knowled ge inanumber of junior high schoo l text books inAustra lia to reveal that the autho rsof thesebook s often use vario us lingui stictechn iquesto esta blishand maint a inthe super io rityandvalidi tyofscientific knowled ge ,andconcurre ntly debunk or triviali zenon -scientific knowledge .Some techniqu estha tNinnesfoundinthe textbook sinc lude."messa ges abo ut thenatur e ofknow ledgeand theprescription of possibleinte rp retations, theusc of univer salisticandobj ectivela nguage andthetendencyto avoidconflictandcomp lexi ty,and representation ofthe ways of knowin g of minorit y groups as archa ic,inadequate orsupe rsede d

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byscientific knowled ge"(91).l'hisdemon strate showknowle dge(romdom inantdiscou rsesis refl ectedinschoo l textb ook s.

Whiletheprocess ofknowledgeconst ruc tionin text boo kshas beenexam inedquite extens ively in man y subjec tareas includingScience,Psych ol ogy,History,Anato myand Langu age (forexam ple,Giaco m ini, Roz<;:e-K ok er,&Pepit on e-Arr eol a-Rock well ,19 86 ; Gordy et al.,2004;Hogb en&Waterm an .1997;Macaul a y&Brice ,1997; Sleeter etal.,1991),a review of theliterature producedonlya fewscholarlywork sthat exam inethe construction and present ati on ofk now lcdgeinOl-IScurric ula in particular.For example,inanexami na tionof youth-targe tedOI-lS knowl edgepresented in twopopul arpam phl etsauthore dbythe Ontario WorkplaceSafetyandInsura nce Board,Kosny(2005) explores theprocess of knowledge cons truc tion usin g criticaldiscou rseanalysisashermethod ology.Inano the rstudy , Pow erand Baq eetake s a simi la rapproac h tounderstandhowknowl edgeis cons truc tedin two safety courses mad emandator y forfish harvestersinNewfoundlandand Labrad or in 1990s (Powe rand Baqce,20I0).Thefi ndi ngsfrom both ofthese studies reveal edthatthe construc tio nof OHS knowl ed ge isdomin ated by anind iv idua lizat io n discou rsethat promo tessa fety,prevent ion and OHSrespon sib ility at thelevel ofthe indi vidua lworker while marginal iz ingthe OHS resp on sibiliti es of employe rs,the govern me nt andothe rautho rities.

In additionto schoo l-bas ed OHScurr iculum, ther ehasbeen a grow th insocia l marketing ca m pa ignsthataimtoraiseOHSawareness amongyoung workers in particular(Kosn y, 2005 andLavack,2008).Forexamp le,ina2008study conducted by WorkSafeBe ,Lavack exami ned over250sa fety com munica tio nsmaterialstargeted atyouthandfound thatmor ethanhal f of thesemateria lsapplyfear appealsto promote individualresp on sibilit ytow ardOI-lS (2008 ,14). Fearappealsare"persua si ve communicati on swhich att empttomoti vatepeopl eto conformwith

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asetof recommendati on sby stimulating fearreaction s"(Janis.&Fcshbach ,1953).l.a vack' s

studysugg es ts thattoda y ' sOilSsocia l marketing cam pa ig nsach ieve fearappealthrou ghtheusc of pictures of healthy young peopl e juxtapos ed with theirpictur esin wheelch air s orcru tc hesor in the mor gueafterserio usaccidents(6).Thesecampaign sarcusedto create OHSawa reness amon g youth and toinstillacultureof injury preventi on.Ho wever ,theireffecti vene ssin alterin g

youthbehaviouris ofte n questi onedasthesecampaign s often donotdeveloptheca mpa ign

materialsfollowingthesoc ial ma rket ingmodelthatensure stheir effectiveness.Nevertheless,

these campaignsarc usedheavilyto educateyouth(Lavack ,2008).

2.2.h Knowledge constructionin theclassroom

In additiontoexaminingthecon structionofknow ledge in textbook s,researcher salso see

importan ceinobs erv ing theknowledge cons truc tion/ reco ns truc tio n proc essduringclassro om

interacti on s and deli ver y ofthe offic ialcurric ulum(forexa mple,Chi n,2006;Driver etal., 1994 ;

King,1994 ).Resear ch er s ofte n differenti atebetweentheofficialorpla nnedcurric ulum and the actu alorrecei vedcu rric ulum to sugges t that thesetwo arc notnecessaril ythe same dueto

variou sfact orsincludingthc instruct ors'consc io usor uncon sc iou s efforts totailorthe

curricu lumto thestude nts ' interests(Kelly,2004 ,6). either ins tmc lo rs no rs tude ntsare pass ive partic ipa ntsin theclass roomlearningenvironment.Ch in 's (2006 ) stud yonthecontributionof classroominteractionto know ledgeconstruc tion revealsthe differencebetween the official

curricu lum repr esent edintextbooksand therecei vedcurriculumin the classroom.She takesa

socialconstructiv istperspec tiveinher researchon ho wscientifi cknowledgeiscons truc tedin classroomsamong12 to13 year oldstude nts.Sheobserves tha t"[wlhcnstudentslearnscience in

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a classroomsetting,aprimarysourceofin format ion inputcomesfrom teachertalkand tcach c

r-stude nt interacti on s, astheprocessesand transact ion sinvolvedinthc cons truc tio nof mc ani ngs

arcmediated through language"(1315 ).More over, Chindescribe sthc differencebetween

authorita tive discou rseanddialogicdiscourseto elabo rate theprocess ofsociallycons truc ti ng

and reconstmctingknow lcdgc thro ughcl assroomintcractio ns.lnautho rita tivc disco ursc, thc

teach ermainly conveys theknowl edgein theformof factualstatements, review sand

instructionalquestions.Ina way,theauthorita tive discour sereflectsthcofficialcurriculum. In

dialogi cdiscoursethccon stmct ionofknowl cd geismor cflu id,whcr etheteacher enco urages

discussions.dcb atcsandchallenges.Altc ma ting bc twcc n thc two typesof d isc oursc stocrca tca

"rhythmofthe discour se,"allowstheteache rstogobetw eenpresent ingknowl edge,and

enco uraging the exp lorationofnewknowl cd ge(1 31 7).

Thisreviewoftheliteratu rerevealsthat theexaminatio nof OHS cu rr icu lumisa

relativelynewareaofsociologicalor indeed anydiscipli na ry study. The existing literat ureis

limit ed in itsunderstand ing of ho wOHSkno wledgeis construc tedin the offic ialas wellasthe

deliveredcurriculum.However,it isworthexamining therecent UK- basc dstudy byPeter

Shearn(2006 ).Heinvestigated an ini tiati vebythe Natio na lCurr iculum toincorp o rat e an

in formal healthandsafetyelementintothe otherw ise formalsetofschoolcur ric ulum.Throu gh

teacherinterv iews,theauthorrevealedthewaysinwhich thehealthandsa fety knowled ge was

construc ted andconveyed in the classroom in-b etw eenlesson s on othersubj ect s.Shea rnfound

thatthetea cher susedawide rangeofsty lcsand method stoteachsafctycd ucation.Amo ngo thcr

tactics,theyusedhazardidentifi cationingivenscenarios,learn ing-b y-doing.prcsent ation sby

outsideexperts,videos,andgroup discu ssion s(344-349).Thecurric ulu mcontentis generally

influencedbynumerousauthoritiesand discourses,but ultimat elyitisuptotheteachersto