A group of young people in Philadelphia working to turn both their lives and their neighborhoods around got safety training with their construction training recently, through a partnership between YouthBuild Philadelphia and OSHA.

YouthBuild gives high school dropouts the chance to earn their diplomas while learning vital job skills and providing valuable community services, which include rehabbing buildings in blight-ridden areas.

“The community service component is a way to reconnect youth to their communities through "doing," according to the YouthBuild website. “In the process of changing their own lives, students knock down barriers to their development and remove negative stereotypes about out-of-school youth.”

During a recent project, students in the Building Trades program received on-site safety training from local OSHA compliance officers, who discussed common workplace safety violations and encouraged the young people to be their own advocates.

OSHA reports in its QuickTakes enewsletter: “Despite chilling temperatures, the students were engaged and eager to demonstrate the hard work they had put into renovating rundown homes in northern Philadelphia.”