Safety is no accident, and neither is the success of the project that won the $15,000 grand prize in OSHA’s Worker Safety and Health App Challenge – a Web site developed to help young workers, ages 13-24, access information on common workplace hazards and their rights to a safe workplace.
OSHA’s app challenge awarded those who created tools that best demonstrate the importance of recognizing and preventing workplace safety and health hazards and help young people understand their rights in the workplace. The winning Working Safely Is No Accident site was developed by the University of Tennessee Construction Industry Research and Policy Center and the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
Submissions were designed for Internet browsers, smartphones, feature phones and social media platforms, or as native Windows or Macintosh applications. In all, OSHA awarded prizes totaling $30,000 to four entrants. The panel of judges, including co-hosts of the popular Discovery Channel show "Myth Busters," Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, selected the Working Safely Is No Accident site for the grand-prize Safety in the Workplace Innovator Award. They also awarded three additional prizes:
- Safety and Health Data Award: The United Steelworkers union won this $6,000 prize for its USW Chemical Safety application that allows users to search a Material Safety Data Sheets database for information on workplace exposure limits, health hazards, workplace controls, personal protective equipment, handling and storage and emergency procedures related to hazardous substances in the workplace.
- Workers' Rights Award: This $6,000 prize went to the No Jack – Young Workers' Safety Campaign website developed by the Montana State Fund (the state's largest workers' compensation insurer). This edgy, youth-focused site expands the reach of MSF's safety and health message to a target audience of workers ages 16-24 by educating them and their employers about workers' rights to a safe and healthful workplace. http://www.nojack.net/
- People's Choice Award: This $3,000 prize went to the entrant that received the most public votes – Sidharth Garg for his Ergonomics iOS Application. This complete mobile workplace health solution offers ergonomic equipment setup advice, a variety of workplace-specific stretching exercises and programmable reminders to help time breaks and prevent musculoskeletal injuries.
"With so many outstanding submissions, it was difficult to choose the winners," said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. "The winning entries place new technologies in the hands of young workers and their employers, making safety and health resources even more accessible."
Learn more abou the winning submissions and finalists.