Online Program

285881
Public display boards as a method to promote workers' whistleblower rights in occupational health and safety


Sunday, November 3, 2013

Mark D. Catlin, BS BA, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Washington, DC
Steve Schrag, BA, Health and Safety Program, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, Waterbury, CT
This poster describes the design and use of Public Display Boards as a method to promote workers' whistleblower rights in occupational health and safety. These boards can be cost effective and can reach large numbers of people in public spaces or at meetings and conferences. Public Display Boards are rigid surfaces which serve as a background for text, photographs and other information on a specific topic. These boards are typically two by three feet in size or larger, with several boards combined in a single public display. Public Display Boards offer good opportunities to make an issue visible to a target audience and provides visibility for the organization that created them. Although they are a passive method of conveying information they do help to make the issue visible in the same way that billboards do along the highway. Developing the content for Public Display Boards consists of determining the message to be conveyed, what pictures can aid in this goal and creating a layout that is effective for an audience that may glance but not necessary linger over the boards. This whistleblower board's focus on the moral and legal right to raise health and safety concerns at work, identifies employers who have violated worker rights and their history on workplace safety, the complaint process if a violation occurs and some success stories of workers who raised concerns.

Learning Areas:

Communication and informatics
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Occupational health and safety
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Describe the use of Public Display Boards as a cost effective promotion method.

Keyword(s): Education, Occupational Health Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have 25 years experience in occupational health and safety training and education.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.