Enform, the petroleum safety association, has been talking for years now about the need to address new, young worker safety. As it turns out, they鈥檙e not the only ones.
At Enform鈥檚 health and safety information group meeting in Weyburn on Sept. 7, they had someone from a sister organization speak about the very same thing, except from the perspective of the service industry.
George Marshall, CEO of the Service and Hospitality Safety Association, was one of the keynotes speakers. Marshall focused on young people entering the workforce, and he noted that they realized this focus has not been soon enough. As a result, there鈥檚 a need to get the safety message out in schools, long before young people enter the workforce.
He related his own experience of 小蓝视频 a young soldier in the army reserves at the age of 17. Told to go work on an army truck, with no training on trucks and only three months in, he promptly got battery acid in his eyes. Thankfully, he recovered.
鈥淚t took me less than two minutes working on the vehicle and I was 小蓝视频 rushed into the barracks,鈥� Marshall said.
His sister, in starting a new job with a fast food restaurant, got her hand sliced up on her first day, effectively because of her own stupidity. Immediately after 小蓝视频 told not to touch a sharp slicer, she did exactly that, because she just had to know.
Marshall pointed out that 70 per cent of Canadian鈥檚 first job is in the service industry, which includes restaurants, bars, taxis, hotels and the like. His organization also represents a number of community services, too.
鈥淲e spend a fair amount of time on future workers,鈥� he said. Among those are immigrants and First Nations people.
He pointed out that over a five year period, from 2006 to 2010, injuries among service workers dropped from 2,524 to 2,088 per year, a substantial drop, but then the numbers stalled at that level. The question was, why?
Turnover, it turns out, was the culprit. In many businesses in the service industry, they can see turnover rates from 50 to 150 per cent, per year. There was especially a revolving door of employment in 2011-2012.
Those young workers also have the highest probability of getting injured on the job. 鈥淣early half of all youth will get injured 鈥� half of those within six months. You don鈥檛 have a lot of time to wait. We need to get people before they enter, and we need to get youth before they enter the workplace,鈥� Marshall said.
He pointed out roughly 35 organizations in Saskatchewan are working with youth on the issue of safety, in one manner or another. They started working with high school students, as they often get jobs in the service industry.
Saskatchewan has sufficient curriculum for health and safety, but not sufficient tools, he noted.
鈥淵ou have nothing to teach with,鈥� he said.
There are safety programs in Grades 6-9 in practical and applied arts classes. Grade 6 also has home safety instruction. Grade 3 students are exposed to safety at play programs from St. John Ambulance.
In Grades 8-9, mental health is looked at. 鈥淚n our industry, mental health is one of the biggest upcoming issues,鈥� Marshall said.
One focus has become Youth Safety Education Day, which is a general awareness day held Sept. 10 each year since 2011. It creates a platform to raise awareness of youth safety in the workplace. This year, 20,000 students were expected to participate.
They have 103 partners with activities all over. One of those partners hires a lot of young people 鈥� McDonald鈥檚.
鈥淚t鈥檚 growing at a rate we can鈥檛 keep up with anymore,鈥� he said thankfully.
听
The impact of all this has seen a reduction of those injury numbers down to 1,771 in 2016, and even lower numbers trending for 2017. Since 2012, there鈥檚 been a 39 per cent reduction in injuries.
Marshall noted the safety culture in Saskatchewan is different than it was 30 years ago, or even 10 years ago.
