We have recently started a new unit in our career life education course focused on work safety, especially involving young workers. This is especially important to us, because as young workers, we are the most prone to workplace accidents. We started by watching a (very graphic and disturbing) video called Lost Youth, showcasing real stories of workplace accidents in youth. This was very eye opening to me and many of my classmates, as we have not learned anything about incidents such as these. I was unaware of how easily these accidents could occur and permanently harm someone.
Then, I watched a video about specific training examples aimed at young workers at Grouse Mountain.
I took notes of the specific practices aimed towards young workers, such as adapting language so young people will understand, and making sure they understand a concept before moving on. I think that it is very important that companies are training young workers differently that people who have been in the workforce for many years, because doing something for the first time is never as easy as doing something you’re good at.
Next, we were shown the WorkSafeBC site, a website to show every right and law in order to protect both employees and employers of any age. I was unaware how specific these rules were, such as rules about who would provide proper safety gear. We started to become familiar with this site by filling out a sheet of questions with their specific answers and regulation numbers. Then, it was time to start studying for our WorkSafeBC certification test.
The WorkSafeBC certification test is a mandatory test for our course, and can show employers that we know our rights and how to be safe on the workforce. In order to pass, we needed to get 75% of our answers correct. Since it was a 20 question test, we could only miss 5. Some of the questions on this test were a lot harder than others. It was hard to study for because none of us were quite sure what in the thousands of regulations we would need to learn. However, my hard work paid off and I got 15/20 correct and passed!
Here is a Photo Mosaic I made out of work safe regulations!
Overall, I believe that workplace safety is a very important topic to learn about and be educated on. I feel like I will be a safer worker after learning this unit. For example, I know my rights as a worker, such as refusing unsafe work. I also can easily check whether something in the workplace is up to code using this website. This will allow me to be a more thoughtful employee, and if I ever were to become an employer, it would help me keep my employees safe as well.