WSIB stressing safety for students while working summer jobs

WSIB launches comedic ads reminding students entering the summer job market to know safe work. Last year, 30,000 young Ontarians were hurt on the job.

Students have put their books away and, for the next several weeks, they are on vacation. That means many young people will be starting their summer jobs.

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is using an online ad campaign to remind young people of the importance of knowing what safe work is.

WSIB released a handful of comical ads targeted at young workers about safety while on the job.

“You’re certainly excited about the paycheck. But it’s also good to make sure that you know what safe work is,” said Aaron Lazarus, WSIB’s vice-president of communications.

Digital campaign

The WSIB’s #PracticeSafeWork online digital campaign is aimed at students aged 15-24 who are starting summer jobs or are entering the workforce for the first time.

It runs June 15-Aug. 30 on social media, YouTube, on connected TV sites like Amazon’s Prime Video, digital audio channels like Sirius XM and in movie theatres across the province.

“Sometimes you can feel invincible or you’re starting a new job, and you don’t think that this is going to happen to you,” Lazarus said.

The WSIB stresses that if students are hurt or sick because of work, the organization is there to provide wage replacement, pay medical bills and help them get back to work when the time is right.

“The reality is that just last year, 30,000 young people were hurt on the job,” Lazarus said.

In Ontario in the past 10 years, the WSIB said 97 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 died because of work.

North Bay a major student employer

The City of North Bay is a major employer for students during the summer. Every summer, it hires about 50 young workers.

“We hire labourers for sewer, water parks and roads. We have lifeguards. We have marina attendants,” said Wanda Trottier, North Bay’s director of human resources.

She said the city’s job is to ensure all students are safe when on the job.

“We do an orientation session which includes a comprehensive health and safety education component,” Trottier added.

“So, a health and safety adviser would run them through the same training that we put our other full-time employees through.”

Retail jobs, sales clerks

Jobs with the highest number of injury claims among young people include retail salespeople and salesclerks, material handlers, food counter attendants, kitchen helpers, nurse aides, patient service associates, construction trades helpers and labourers.

“There are three basic rights that everybody has in the workplace, including a student,” Lazurus said.

“One is to the right to know what the hazards are of your job. No. 2, you have the right to participate in keeping your workplace safe and you have the right to refuse unsafe work.”

Sprains and strains continue to be the leading injury among young people, making up more than 30 per cent of all claims. Other commonly reported injuries include lacerations, contusions and concussions.

Along with the videos, the campaign website is a resource for young people and their parents to help answer questions they might have about workplace safety.

The website also navigates to Safety Check, a WSIB tool that anyone can use to check out the safety record of an employer. It shows the number of injuries a business has in a year, the leading types of injuries for that workplace and much more.