DIRECTIVE	:	TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION NOTICE NO. 06-98
TO	:	ALL STATE JTPA LIAISONS ALL STATE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY AGENCIES ALL STATE WORKER ADJUSTMENT LIAISONS ALL ONE-STOP CAREER CENTER SYSTEM LEADS
FROM	:	DAVID HENSON Director Office of Regional Management
SUBJECT	:	Safety in the Summer Youth Employment and Training Program

1. Purpose. To announce the "Safety During the Summer" Workshops and to increase awareness of the need for safety in Summer Youth Employment and Training Programs (SYETP).

2. Reference. Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 4-97, Subject: Program Guidance and Allocations for Calendar Year 1998 Summer Youth Employment and Training Program.

3. Background. Each year for the last three years, the Department of Labor has issued a press release at the beginning of the summer in an effort to prevent deaths and injuries to working teens. On June 9, Alexis M. Herman, Secretary of Labor, launched the Work Safe This Summer campaign to educate teens, employers and parents about the importance of workplace safety. This effort is supportive of TEGL No. 4-97 which provides guidance for this summer's program. One of the key items addressed in this issuance is "Job Safety and Health." The language in the TEGL is as follows:

   "States and SDAs are reminded to review Federal, State and local safety and job health standards and child labor restrictions to ensure that participants are not assigned to job activities which violate the standards and/or restrictions. For specific guidance, States and SDAs may refer to TEIN 33-92, "Child Labor Restrictions Applicable to Youth Participants in Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Funded Programs."

   Regional Office staff also make safety a basic part of their message each year when they participate in SYETP kick off meetings and other related meetings in conjunction with the States and Service Delivery Areas (SDAs).

   While safety in the SYETP has always been a major priority, this year we experienced the first death of an SYETP participant. This tragedy occurred on June 19 in the first week of a local SDA program. This unfortunate event drives home the need to renew our efforts to ensure that Job Training Partnership Act Summer Worksites are attentive to safety issues for the remainder of this summer.

   Assistant Secretary of the Department of Labor's Employment Standards Administration (ESA), Bernard E. Anderson, and other Department officials talked to employers, teens, their parents and members of the media to educate the public about what can be done to reduce the number of summer deaths and injuries to working teens. Compliance with all child labor provisions is the first step in any teen workplace safety campaign. For the first time, the Department of Labor has also distributed warning stickers that employers can attach to machines that say: "you must be 18 to operate or clean this equipment." The Department of Labor has "Employer's Pocket Guide to Teen Worker Safety" pamphlets and posters listing "The Teen Workers' Bill of Rights." The pamphlets and posters may be obtained by calling the toll-free Teen Safety Hotline number at 1-800-959-3652, or by visiting the web site on the INTERNET at:

   http://www2.dol.gov/teensafety.htm

   ESA has obtained the cooperation of the Kmart Corporation to get the word out to their shoppers this year by printing 37 million shopping bags with the Work Safe This Summer logo and the Teen Safety Hotline number.

4. Work-Based Workshops. Representatives from ESA will be making a presentation on "Safety During the Summer" at three forthcoming multi-regional Summer Youth Academic Enrichment Training Workshops in the Fall --September 17-18 in Seattle, September 22-23 in Atlanta, and October 8-9 in Chicago. Attendance at those workshops is strongly encouraged for State summer program coordinators and key service delivery area workers. Additional information on the workshops is forthcoming.

5. Actions. States are asked to make the service delivery areas aware of the forthcoming "Summer Youth Academic Enrichment Training Workshops" and to renew their efforts in getting the "safety during the summer" message to local service providers and their work sites.

6. Inquiries. Questions on this TEIN should be directed to your Regional Office.

7. Separate Cover. Copies of "Employer's Pocket Guide to Teen Workers Safety" and "The Teen Workers' Bill of Rights" will be sent directly to State JTPA Liaisons for distribution.

NOTE: "Employer's Pocket Guide..." not available to DMS