What is WorkSafe?
WorkSafe is an Erasmus+ KA2 project funded by the European Comission through the Finnish National Agency for Education. WorkSafe brings together six partners from Finland, Norway, Netherlands, Spain (the Basque Country) and France. The partner all share an interest in developing tools and material that will help employers, work mentors and teachers across Europe raise awareness and improve work safety both nationally and during international mobilities. The project began in September 2017 and ended in December 2019.
WorkSafe has focused on developing, testing and implementing tools that clarify the tasks, responsibilities and obligations of the different stakeholders (Vocational Education and Training (VET) provider, Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME), Teacher, Work Mentor and Student) when it comes to work safety during WBL within the fields of metalwork and construction. |
Why was there a need for this project?
There is strong evidence that WBL helps to equip young people with the skills that can improve their employability and ease the transition from school to work. Work based learning has been a priority of the European Commission and it has been called upon governments, social partners and education and training providers to promote apprenticeships and other forms of work based learning. The project partners share the view that there is a need to develop tools and material regarding safety at work. Cooperation between VET providers and host companies should be strongly encouraged and improved when hosting students for a work placement period. It is important to clarify and improve the minimum requirements when it comes to work safety. This again would encourage and increase the learning during work based learning both nationally and within Europe. The issue of improving work safety during work based learning is valid for all vocational fields but in order to guarantee quality and sustainability we will only focus on the construction and metal work sectors.
Teachers within metalwork & construction have raised concerns when it comes to work safety during work based learning. It has come to their attention that some SMEs that receive students for work based learning tend to ignore health & safety (H&S) standards and regulations. The teachers find it difficult to address this issue with the employers/work mentors as they don’t want to interfere and jeopardize future cooperation. They also feel that they don’t know how to address the issue in a professional and appropriate way.
Employers of SMEs have raised concerns that they don’t know their responsibilities and tasks when it comes to work safety during work based learning. This makes them worried and (sometimes) unwilling to host (international) students during work based learning. The WorkSafe project aims at clarifying the role and obligations of each stakeholder. It also aims at making tasks more transparent and thus increase the number of SMEs willing to host metalwork and construction students. |
The transnational cooperation between the VET provider & SME and teacher & work mentor is important as todays’ worker is more mobile than before and the number of students doing work placement abroad is increasing. To guarantee work safety for students during work placements abroad we need to make them aware of different safety standards in different countries. We also need to lift up minimum requirements that hosting companies need to follow when it comes to providing international students with learning experiences in companies.
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The aim of WorkSafe is to develop, test, evaluate, amend and finalize a WorkSafe Manual and a WorkSafe Online Training Course . These two products will provide teachers, work mentors and students with information, tools and materials that help ensure that the work placements are safe learning environments for students both nationally and during international mobilities.
To learn more about the outcomes of the WorkSafe project and the impact and usability of the WorkSafe Online Manual and WorkSafe toolbox please click on one of the buttons below: