Young people with jobs in agriculture and horticulture are exposed to physically demanding working conditions causing risks to their health and safety. This project took the form of a training programme, and targeted agricultural students aged 16-20 years who were employed and attending college at the same time. The programme had two main goals:
to educate students on physical strain and how to cope with it and to challenge students to assess their own work environments and to think up ways of improving it.

A folder of course material was compiled and used by consultants from Stigas and Sollt to provide two half-day training sessions at 22 agricultural colleges. Sollt had experience of transferring knowledge; Stigas had experience of advising on physical strain in agricultural work environment.
Suggestions for improvements were worked out by small groups. They made a rich harvest of proposals and could enter their suggestions in a competition on preventing physical strain at work.

The competition attracted 42 entries, some consisting of extensive photo coverage of the workplace and others just a few lines. Most of the ideas were for technical improvements to tools and equipment; some focused on improvements to the way the work was organised. Suggestions showed that the students understood clearly the meaning of prevention, and some were adopted subsequently by the employers.
Nineteen suggestions stood out as excellent practical ideas.
Making students look at real situations and come up with real solutions for workplace safety is gaining importance as a training method. Incorporating a competition element, provided extra motivation for the students to get actively involved in solving problems. It also provided the possibility for sharing the results. The approach can easily be applied to other types of workplaces or hazards.

This project took the form of a training programme, and targeted over 300 male and female agricultural students (aged 16-20 years)
The competition motivated the students to engage in the prevention exercise. The standard of the entries indicates that the training was successful and that the students gained a clear understanding of how to deal with physically strenuous labour. Some businesses and employers also participated and some of the solutions were implemented. Many colleges asked if there are plans to repeat the project the following year as it met with considerable enthusiasm.