Saskatchewan safety alliance creates unique youth training program
When it comes to learning workplace safety, people in Saskatchewan have the option to start young.
Earlier this year, a strategic alliance of organizations unveiled the Career Safety Education initiative, a career-focused safety education program for Saskatchewan youth between the ages of 14 and 21. The organizations were brought together by the Saskatchewan Safety Council.
“Youth, especially those under 24 years of age, are approximately three times more likely to be injured on a job site within their first three years of employment,” said Ryan Jacobson, CEO of the Saskatchewan Safety Council. “This is based on a number of circumstances, including lack of experience and training and other factors such psycho social or social economic that’ll make it more likely for them not to bring up safety concerns or may ask the same questions as a more experienced worker.
“This is believed to be the first time in North America that this level of safety training has been made universally available to all young workers. It’s a huge step forward in being able to address risks.”
Recognizing the high rate of youth injuries and fatalities in the workplace, the Saskatchewan Safety Council teamed up with WorkSafe Saskatchewan in 2013 and established a provincial steering committee made up of all the province’s industry safety associations, Safe Saskatchewan, private industry and education institutions.
The committee then led a fiveyear pilot project that involved more than 20 school divisions and six First Nations. It resulted in the delivery of over 63,000 hours of safety training.
“When you look at large scoping issues that are really societal issues affecting an entire demographic of our population, we have to recognize that our population is pretty diverse,” Jacobson said. “One training method that may work in Regina or Saskatoon might not work in La Ronge, Estevan or other small communities. We had to find something that was going to be capable of being delivered in urban and rural Saskatchewan, First Nations communities and colonies.”
Teenagers and young adults who take part in the Career Safety Education training will start with basic courses in worker rights and responsibilities through the Young Worker Readiness Course (WorkSafe), basic chemical safety through WHMIS 2015 (Saskatchewan Safety Council) and mental health training.
Then, participants can take a standardized course based on the industry they’re interested in. So far, safety training is available for numerous industries: agriculture (Saskatchewan Safety Council); heavy construction, earthmoving and roadbuilding (Heavy Construction Safety Association of Saskatchewan); construction and trades (Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association); healthcare, workplace assessment and violence education (Saskatchewan Association of Safe Workplaces in Health); energy, oil and gas (Energy Safety Canada). All of the courses are industry recognized.
“There are a number of benefits to the young workers taking this. Primarily, they’re going to have a lot more knowledge when they start with a new employer,” Jacobson said. “It’s expensive for employers to put staff through this amount of training, especially if they’re not sure how long they’re going to stay. This way, these new employees have already gotten information on their own rights and responsibilities, expectations of that industry and the major hazards and risks.
“By the time they’ve completed this training, they’ll have a number of certificates they’ll be able to apply to their resume to really show they’ve taken a vested interest in their safety. For a lot of employers, that’s going to put them to the top of the pile.”
Through the pilot project, Jacobson said the partners realized that accessibility had to be one of the priorities for the training. Instead of having hundreds of staff members delivering the programming, the training module was created online for easier access. The programming can be delivered in a school setting and has several connections within Saskatchewan curriculum outcomes.
“This programming can be delivered through schools directly as optional or mandatory programming,” Jacobson said. “We did a lot of exploration with school divisions in charting out how these programs link into existing curriculum. By making this training available to schools, it enables them to free up resources for other areas.”
The Government of Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Education has officially designated Monday, Sept. 10 as Youth Safety Education Day in Saskatchewan for the seventh year in a row. As Jacobson noted, it’s an important day to raise awareness about the dangers youth face in the workplace and also celebrate all that has been accomplished through initiatives like Career Safety Education.
“In Saskatchewan, I don’t think we always take time to recognize our capability of working together on innovative projects,” Jacobson said.