I have a job replacing light bulbs at my school that involves working with three other students. They have each been working the position significantly longer than I have (I am two weeks in) and have been training me thus far.
The position involves a good amount of ladder work and the individual attitudes of each of my coworkers are such that they would rather work the with the ladder nearest at hand than the ladder fit for the task at hand. During the past week, this took the form of an individual standing on the top cap of a six foot ladder with fluorescent light bulbs in each hand. It seems like a generally excepted principle that working unsafely is not justified by a resultant increase in productivity, but my co-workers are not even trying to achieve this; they usually rush through their ladder work in order to loaf around on campus while on the clock at the end of the day.
Needless to say, I do not feel comfortable in the position. I have mentioned some of the particularly unsafe ladder practices to my supervisor, who said that he would reintroduce ladder safety training to me and my coworkers next week. I do not see this changing the attitude shared by my coworkers, that it is better to work unsafely for one hour than safely for two. I feel I would succeed at the position if I was surrounded by coworkers that were more interested in working it properly, but at this point am unsure of how to proceed.
Some more details: I am a student at a public university in the united states. I do not believe I have signed a formal contract, but here is a link to our school's student worker policies.