Brief Reports
Photo Competition as a Tool for Providing Occupational Health Education to General Secondary School Students
2013 Volume 55 Issue 6 Pages 516-519
Details
2013 Volume 55 Issue 6 Pages 516-519
Objectives: Education on occupational health and safety (OHS) is not a compulsory part of the curriculum of general secondary schools (GSSs) in many countries. Adolescence is a formative period. Mainstreaming education in OHS into GSSs is necessary in order to initiate in students a risk prevention culture. We explored the feasibility of using a photo competition (PC) concerning health protection at work as a health education tool by assessing the degrees of relevant responses of students aged 13–18, teachers, parents and private enterprises and by identifying the types of work and hazards selected in 17 state and non-state GSSs of a Greek municipality. Methods: Following the mayor's decision to hold a PC, prizes were secured from 11 private donors, the PC was publicized widely, and presentations on OHS were delivered to students by an occupational physician and suitably instructed teachers; the students then took photos of identifiable work situations containing OHS hazards, with protection either present or absent. Photos were assessed by juries of the Municipality and of the European Centre for the Environment and Health of the WHO. Results: The 87 photos submitted revealed that students had an understanding of 15 types of OHS hazards, mainly knocks and blows (28.7%) and falls from heights (26.4%) but also of diseases (respiratory, back pain, hearing loss), in 28 types of non-school work, mostly in transport (12.6%) and construction (9.1%), and recognized measures for protection in 50.5% of photos. Conclusions: This PC concerning OHS in GSSs is the first reported in the literature, and it proved to be a feasible, extracurricular educational activity that requires increased teacher collaboration within the school curriculum.
(J Occup Health 2013; 55: 516–519)
Adolescence is a formative period, during which schools can have a critical influence on young people1). The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work recommended that for young people to acquire a risk preventive culture, OHS should be integrated into all stages of education2). The educational curriculum of general secondary schools (GSSs' specified by the Greek Ministry of Education includes hardly any instruction on occupational health and safety (OHS’ hazard recognition and prevention3). Thus, a study of students' attitudes and knowledge and an essay competition regarding OHS was conducted in seven GSSs in an Athens municipality, and the results showed that only one-third of them knew about health effects of work, most of whom would overestimate OHS hazards and underestimate the feasibility of protection3, 4).
Young people acquire OHS information more readily and remember it longer when it is conveyed by positive real-life examples rather than by theoretical teaching5). We carried out the first photo competition (PC’ on “health protection at work” in general secondary schools (i.e., not in vocational secondary schools' ever reported in scientific literature. Our aims were to educate students on the concept of OHS hazards and risks; to explore the feasibility of a PC in Greek GSSs by evaluating the responses of pupils, teachers, parents and sponsors for possible future reference and repetition; and to identify the types of work and hazards selected as themes by the pupils as evidence of practical examples that they could easily comprehend.
Announcement of the PC to be held in 9 junior high schools (3 private, 6 state) and 8 general senior high schools (5 private, 3 state), with a total student population of approximately 4,000, located in Philothei-Psychiko municipality (one of the municipalities of Athens, the capital of Greece) was issued in accordance with a Mayor's Decision on 14 October 2011. A Decision of the Municipal Secondary Education Committee, sending of letters to the school principals and free publicity via a wide range of websites, newspapers, journals and posters (in over 30 municipal buildings, local private shops, restaurants and the participating schools) followed. All work performed by a senior consulting occupational physician (COP), principals and teachers of all schools and municipality staff related to this study was unremuner-ated. Eleven private donors offered books on OHS, concert and theater tickets, tennis lessons, a laptop, a camera, a stereo system, gift vouchers and hotel accommodations for the pupils and their parents, for the 14 prizes and 16 commendations to be given to participants and were not involved in the PC in any other way. The COP sent photos from other similar OHS competitions, OHS informational materials and presentation guidelines to school principals and teachers. The COP and teachers delivered oral presentations to pupils in classrooms, auditoriums or after the traditional morning prayer in all participating schools.
Students aged 13–18 were asked to take photos of people working in actual identifiable work situations who were exposed to identifiable OHS hazards with or without obvious protection against them (without risking anyone's safety or health) and to add captions. Editing of photos for brightness and contrast and setting up the working scene was allowed if the photo depicted a real working situation. Parents of students cosigned the competition entry forms, which included a statement indicating that the photos were taken by the students and that permission was sought and obtained in cases of photographs of recognizable persons. Copyrights of all photos were passed on in writing by the students and their parents to the Municipality of Philothei-Psychiko and to the COP. Students were encouraged to photograph their parents, relatives, family friends, work associates or clients of family members at work after asking them about their perceived OHS hazards and any protective measures taken.
A five-member municipal jury established by Mayor's Decision included the COP, a civil engineer, a history of art and museum expert, a Greek language and literature GSS teacher and a sophomore law student. This jury evaluated the photos with the following criteria, which are listed in order of importance: power in conveying a message, educational value, originality and artistic value. An additional six-member jury at the European Centre for Environment and Health of the Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Bonn, Germany, evaluated the photos independently using similar criteria, and obtained the right to publish the 23 best photos. Photos were scored “blindly” by a single transferable vote system, in which all photos were ranked in ascending order; this was done similarly by both juries.
Eighty-seven photos from 17 schools were entered in the PC, demonstrating that a collaborative PC concerning OHS in GSSs is feasible as an extracurricular activity and that the pupils involved did identify and learn about OHS hazards. Analysis showed that 28 different types of work outside school were depicted, many in transport (11 photos, 12.6% of total) and construction (8, 9.1%) (Table 1); fifteen types of hazards were spotted, mostly potential causes of knocks and blows (25 photos, 28.7% of total) and falls from heights (23, 26.4%), but there were also some for a few late latency diseases, e.g., respiratory diseases, back pain and hearing loss (Table 2); protective measures were identified in 44 (50.5% of total) photos.
The only other PCs for GSS pupils with regard to OHS topics ever announced were in Malta (10/2011)6), Singapore (3/2012)7) and the Philippines (7/2012)8). These PCs were not preceded by presentations on OHS in the schools or followed by an analysis by type of work, hazard and means of protection.
In the case of the present PC, the 87 photos were submitted by 40 pupils. Perusal of the home addresses of the participating pupils revealed that they lived in low, middle and upper class areas of Athens. Therefore, the results of our study may apply to most but not necessarily all general secondary schools in Athens. Nevertheless, they indicated that PCs concerning OHS can be used as a feasible, low cost, health education tool in GSSs, and that the participating students learned about or at least gained a fuller understanding of OHS hazards. Attributing an increase in knowledge about OHS definitively to a health education activity necessitates an evaluation of relevant knowledge of a target population before and after such an activity9). It cannot be ruled out that prior to the competition, some pupils had a little knowledge about the subject. However, the following evidence strongly suggests that the participating pupils learned about OHS by participating in the photo competition. The numerous substantial questions asked by pupils (including many who did not participate in the PC’ at the end of the classroom presentations convinced the presenters that the pupils grasped some of the basic principles of OHS in class. The hazards presented in many photos occurred in the type of workplaces that had been highlighted in these presentations. All photos were spot on the subject. More than one type of hazard was identified in many pictures. The originality of several themes and the educational value of some photographs indicated increased knowledge. A future study could investigate whether participants achieved a greater understanding of OHS compared with those who merely attended the classroom presentations.
| Type of work | n* | Type of work | n* | Type of work | n* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transport/driving | 11 | Construction | 8 | Tree trimming/gardening | 8 |
| Health care | 6 | Office/building cleaning | 5 | Repairing water pipes | 3 |
| Painting | 3 | Policing | 3 | Handling glass boards | 3 |
| Repairing power lines | 2 | Repairing gas main lines | 2 | Arc welding | 2 |
| Zoo animal feeding | 2 | Garbage removal | 2 | Butchering | 2 |
| Operating office PC | 2 | Piano/violin playing | 2 | Demolition | 2 |
| School chemical laboratory | 2 | Under high voltage lines | 2 | Road repair/paving | 2 |
| Cutting metal tubes with machine tools | 1 | Waiting tables | 1 | Stacking | 1 |
| Repairing underground phone lines | 1 | Baking | 1 | Street vending | 1 |
| Chemical laboratory | 1 | Unemployed/ begging | 1 | Unclear | 9 |
| Total number of types of work shown: 28 |
| Type of hazard | n‡ | P̄ | Type of hazard | n‡ | Pi | Type of hazard | n‡ | Pi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knocks and blows | 25 | 6 | Falls from heights | 23 | 7 | Respiratory | 10 | 1 |
| Infection | 8 | 4 | Chemical injury | 7 | 5 | Cuts | 7 | 7 |
| Burns | 6 | 2 | Back pain/neck pain | 4 | 1 | Eye injury | 5 | 1 |
| Cancer | 4 | 3 | Noise | 3 | 0 | Low temperature | 2 | 1 |
| Electromagnetic field | 2 | 0 | Falls | 1 | 0 | Electrocution | 1 | 1 |
As reported in a survey in Spain, the pattern of type of injury (e.g., from falls, knocks and cuts' observed among fifth and sixth grade pupils was very similar to that of job injuries10). This pattern was compatible with the ranking of hazards identified by pupils in our PC and might partly explain their choice of photo topics.
Perception of preventive actions of others can have a powerful effect on one's own behavior5). Half (50.5%) of the participating students took photos showing not only hazards but also protective measures being applied, and they learned about safe and healthy work practices and conditions.
Hence, it may be useful to repeat the PC in GSSs in other municipalities in Greece and in other countries.
In this report, we described a PC that was held in the participating schools as an extracurricular cultural activity. The participation rate was low. It would have been higher if OHS was included in the curricula of the GSSs and the teachers had received relevant formal training. Notably, a program adapting school curricula to promote OHS awareness for working teenagers was successful in the USA11).
It should be emphasized that if more parents valued OHS as a higher priority, they would have assisted their children and participation would have been higher. In connection with this, it is noted that Greek families have had to cope with an increasing economic crisis since 2009. In the 1st Quarter of 2012, the unemployment rate in Greece was 22.6%, and that in the 15–24 age group was 52.7%12).
Photo competitions for pupils in general secondary schools concerning health protection at work and involving municipal authorities, occupational physicians and teachers are a feasible low-cost occupational health education tool.
Further evaluation studies of photo competitions and other creative activities concerning occupational health and safety with the aim of developing preventive cultures among pupils in general secondary schools in developed and developing countries may be warranted.
As a form of relevant and practical peer education, a book with photos of occupational health and safety hazards and related protective measures taken by general secondary school pupils, suitably complemented by pertinent explanatory notes written by occupational health experts on appropriate protective measures, might be useful for educating other pupils.
Acknowledgments: The authors wish to acknowledge Mr Pantelis Xyridakis, Mayor of Philothei-Psychiko Municipality for his moral, procedural and logistical support of the health educational activity studied, in all its stages, the principals and teachers of the 17 schools for their cooperation with this study, the 11 sponsors who provided the prizes for the photo competition and the students for taking the photos.
