Canadian Safety Reporter

4 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2015 CSR | March 2015 | News Young workers < pg. 1 Gamifi cation, YouTube appeal to young workers " e best way to engage the young worker is to have video for them. Really, you want to give them the YouTube experience. A lot of companies don't quite grasp that." young workers are our most vulnerable workers… most acci- dents happen in the fi rst 30 days of work, when a worker has less experience (on) the job. "And so young workers are the most vulnerable for this because a lot of the time, they've had very limited experience and they're unaware of the dangers on the jobsite," said Jessica DiSabatino, vice-president at MySafeWork in Toronto. "Statistically, young workers get hurt more than anybody else in the workplace. In fact, this year in Canada, there will be 125,000 young people injured — and those are lost-time injuries, so it's not paper cuts we're talking about." Part of the problem lies in the way workers have been tradi- tionally trained and mentored around workplace safety prac- tices, as well as rights and re- sponsibilities, said Jeff orne, manager of training and con- sulting at Occupational Safety Group in London, Ont. "Orientation needs to include those things, rather than just handing them a book or a manu- al and saying, 'Read this and sign here.'" Safety orientation A good safety orientation pro- gram really orients the young worker as to what the dangers or hazards are on the job, said DiSabatino. "That could be everything from dealing with heavy equip- ment, but it could also be inci- dental things that students just wouldn't think about, like back- ing into a parking lot," she said. "An orientation has got to think about the worst-case scenario, and then relay that information to the students. It can't just be a glossing over of 'You'll be safe because I've been safe.'" However, in many cases, the orientation is not as in-depth as it should be when it comes to health and safety, and teaching new workers their rights and responsibilities — the right com- ponents often aren't there, said orne. "Also, what we see is you need to be able to cater the orientation to kids in today's day and age... It can't be done the way it used to, where you just kind of throw it out there and see what sticks — the student or the learner has to be involved. So it's got to cater to the newer age of learning where it's interactive and there's open discussion," he said. at could mean involving el- ements of gamifi cation, technol- ogy or video content, to keep the worker engaged in the learning, said Leo Vroegindewey, founder of White Knight Safety Solutions in Calgary. "They're all into YouTube, Snapchat and all that stuff . So the best way to engage the young worker is to have video for them, and go through lots of video clips," he said. "Really, you want to give them the YouTube expe- rience. Unfortunately, a lot of companies don't quite grasp that concept yet." Orientations also need to com- pensate for the fact that young people can be intimidated and very hesitant to speak up, said Paul Kells, a Halifax-based expert on young worker safety. "Any orientation has to com- pensate for power imbalance." Rights and responsibilities It's particularly important to ad- dress that power imbalance when it comes to rights and responsi- bilities, such as the right to refuse unsafe work, said Kells. "Every time a young worker goes into a workplace, you have to put yourself in their head. You have to wear their shoes," he said. "You have to say, 'What's this kid feeling? What are they thinking?'" ey may be inexperienced, they want to prove they can do the job, they may think they're invulnerable, they might be afraid to speak up — and they don't want to show that they don't know something, he said. Speaking up and saying no is diffi cult for anyone, but especial- ly for a young worker new to the job, said DiSabatino. "Truthfully, it takes a lot of courage to say, 'I'm not going to do this, it's unsafe.' And you'll rarely get a young person doing it," she said. "You actually need to create a culture where saying no is com- monplace, or where it's easy. Just telling workers that they have the right to say no to unsafe work is like telling someone that they could fl y, in some ways. It's a nice sentiment, but probably not go- ing to be used." You also need to be able to ex- plain their responsibilities in a way they can connect with, said Vroegindewey. "You just have to explain it to them because often the older individuals will talk down to them… you have to mentor them, you have to show them a little bit of respect and you have to un- derstand where they're coming from… they're taught to question things," he said. " ey want you to engage with them, and explain to them why instead of just 'Do this.' at's the big difference I've noticed between generations on the worksite." Equipment safety, PPE When it comes to instructing young workers around equip- ment safety and proper personal protective equipment (PPE), it has to begin on day one with the safety orientation, said DiSaba- tino. Whether it's safety goggles, coveralls, steel-toed boots or a facemask, young workers need to know when PPE is needed — and why. " at equipment is not option- al. We say to kids, 'I know it's not always cool to wear safety goggles but you must wear them, because that's part of the shared responsi- bility,'" she said. " is is especially important when young people are work- ing in environments where more experienced workers work, who may or may not follow the rules. So we say to young people, 'You need to not worry about what the person who's been working on the job for 25 years (is doing) because maybe they're starting to cut corners. You need to fol- low what the employer told you in orientation and safety training, and not veer from that.'" Another key practice in en- suring young workers are fol- lowing proper equipment safety and wearing the correct PPE is around mentoring and supervi- sion, said orne. "For me, it's the monitoring aspect that's a big piece of the puzzle there, that the supervisors and co-workers that the person works around — especially those that have worked there for years — that they're able to look at that worker and see that they're working safely and have a good monitoring process, and provide positive reinforcement as well." Psychological safety also a factor Another key issue when it comes to young worker safety is around psychological safety, said Glen McIntosh, Vancouver-based manager of WorkSafeBC's young and new workers programs. "Employers have to have proper policies and procedures in place to deal with and com- municate to their staff their pro- cess for dealing with bullying and harassment," he said, adding that WorkSafeBC is trying to raise awareness of the issue through this year's student safety video contest, which has a theme of "No Bullies at Work." How much attention employ- ers pay to psychological safety is- sues still very much depends on the industry, said Vroegindewey. "(In some industries), the problem lies also in the fact that we don't actually have very strong work safety practices around psy- chological interactions. We're very focused on how to get the job done, but we rarely think about the mental well-being of a worker." But psychological safety needs to be addressed right from day one, during orientation, said MENTORING < pg. 7

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