Lester Claravall has been employed by the Oklahoma Department of Labor during the past 29 years. As Oklahoma’s only full-time child labor officer, he is responsible for child labor law enforcement and young worker safety education throughout all 77 counties of the state. He created the national, award-winning youth employment game called Paying Attention Pays and the nationally-recognized video contest for teens called Speak Out for Workplace Safety. Lester’s work with NIOSH and Latta Public Schools led to Oklahoma becoming the first state in the nation to pass a “mainstreaming OSH into education” law that now requires the state labor department and state education department to collaborate and provide workplace safety training to students in grades 7 thru 12. In addition, Lester served two terms as national president of the Interstate Labor Standards Association, where he worked with the USDOL and high-ranking labor officials at state labor departments in each of the 50 states to promote youth worker rights and safety. In 2023, Lester was honored by the National Safety Council with the nation’s highest safety honor, the Distinguished Service to Safety Award.