Evaluation of changes in knowledge and attitude among youth after a one-hour introduction to workplace safety and health: Safety Matters

•The Safety Matters educational module offers a promising, community-based model for a one-hour introduction to workplace safety and health on which future, job-specific safety training can be built.•After receiving Safety Matters, youth participants had significantly increased scores for both workplace safety and health knowledge and importance of workplace safety and health.•Safety and health professionals can play a critical role in promoting the health and safety of young workers by providing the Safety Matters program to youth. Introduction: Young workers in the United States are injured at higher rates than adults, a trend that has persisted for more than two decades. Despite known risks, young people enter the workforce with little-or-no preparation for the hazards they may face. In 2016, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and American Industrial Hygiene Association developed Safety Matters, a one-hour educational module to raise awareness of workplace safety and health among young people. Method: A pilot project was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of Safety Matters to positively change workplace safety and health knowledge and attitude scores among a sample of 283 youth in Colorado. Train-the-trainer sessions prepared volunteer safety and health professionals to deliver Safety Matters with fidelity and to conduct the assessment immediately prior to and following the program. Results: After receiving Safety Matters, participants had statistically significant (p