Serving western Canada's sheet metal industry
New Safety Regulations
BC's 310,000 young workers make up almost 15 percent of the provincial labour force. While BC's labour force increases at 3.4 percent annually, the young worker component grows by 8.3 percent. WorkSafeBC recently announced new requirements for the orientation and training of young or new workers aimed at reducing injury rates for this group.
Young and new workers are an asset to any business, as most bring with them unbridled enthusiasm, current knowledge if they've received formal education and an unparallelled eagerness to please their employers. These qualities amount to high productivity and an overall good attitude, but at the same time, consider this: young and new workers are more than twice as likely than the general population to be injured at work, and almost 50 percent of those accidents happen within the first month on the job. Regardless of age, workers have five to seven times the average risk of injury within the first month of employment.
The good news is this is not a hopeless or even a daunting task to rectify. Young workers - particularly males under 25 - are most likely to be hurt because they might not ask questions for fear of seeming incompetent, they lack proper safety training and don't know to ask for it, or they are hindered by an invincibility complex that most people grow out of, say, around 40. Essentially, protecting employers, supervisors and workers of all ages really comes down to knowing everyone's rights and responsibilities, creating an effective, well-administered occupational health and safety policy and implementing a diligent plan to ensure policy enforcement is top priority. In the workplace, modelling top-quality health and safety practices, creating an environment where health and safety is recognized and rewarded, staying on top of safety equipment maintenance and thorough training of staff at all levels of supervision all amount to a great start in ensuring worker safety.
WorkSafeBC recently announced new requirements for the orientation and training of young or new workers aimed at reducing injury rates for this group. Effective July 26, 2007, every employer will have to ensure a young or new worker has health and safety orientation and training specific to his or her workplace before beginning work.
A young worker is defined as "any worker who is under 25 years of age," and a new worker refers to "any worker who is new to the workplace, returning to a workplace where the hazards in that workplace have changed during the worker's absence, affected by a change in the hazards of a workplace, or relocated to a new workplace if the hazards in that workplace are different from the hazards in the worker's previous workplace."
An employer must document all their orientation and training. Details and definitions of the new requirements are outlined in the new sections (3.22 to 3.25) of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation, and section 3.23 details 13 topics that must be covered in a new worker's orientation and training. Additional training must be provided if the employer sees a young or new worker is not able to perform work tasks or processes safely, or if a young or new worker requests additional training.
If anyone knows the importance of jobsite safety it's Mel Camilli. At 21-years-old, Camilli had both his legs crushed beyond repair by a 20-tonne piece of logging equipment. According to his WorkSafeBC speaker profile, for two days after his accident Camilli wasn't expected to live, and when he woke from a morphine-induced coma seven weeks later to find one leg had been amputated, Camilli didn't know if he wanted to live. He decided to try to accept his physical limitations, says the profile, but also decided not to look too far into the future.
"I knew there were things I would never do," says Camilli, "things I would have to learn to do all over again. I resigned myself to never having a girlfriend or a wife. Who'd want to be with a guy like me?"
Unable to bend his leg at the hip, Camilli got around using a "wheelchair-stretcher," that allowed him to move around, but forced him to lay flat. When the device became too awkward to use to carry out everyday activities, Camilli made another tough choice: to have his remaining leg amputated so he could use a regular wheelchair.
For the next year, Camilli stayed in a rehabilitation centre learning basic life skills like "getting dressed, moving in and out of his wheelchair, even brushing his teeth in a wheelchair. While the days of rehabilitation activities were tough, the lonely evenings and weekends were almost as difficult."
Camilli began adapting back into society with independent living, a custom-designed van and by involving himself in physical activities like playing and coaching wheelchair hockey and basketball. He later took computer training and now works for WorkSafeBC. Camilli speaks to employers, associations and youth about his challenges and encourages young workers to "be aware of workplace hazards, to know their rights and responsibilities and to stay safe and healthy on the job."
Every employer who will be hiring young or new workers must be aware of the new requirements by July 26, 2007. To assist employers in achieving compliance with these new safety requirements, the Employers' Advisers Office, a branch of the Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services, will be holding free information sessions province-wide on the new Young or New Worker Orientation and Training Regulations, beginning June 4, 2007. For seminar dates and locations and to register online, check out the Employers' Advisers website at . Employers can also call their nearest Employers' Advisers office for information about the seminars:
- Richmond 1.800.925.2233
- Abbotsford 1.866.870.5492
- Kamloops 1.866.855.7575
- Kelowna 1.866.855.7575
- Nanaimo 1.866.827.2277
- Nelson 1.866.855.7575
- Prince George 1.888.608.8882
- Victoria 1.800.663.8783
- Need assistance 1.800.925.2233
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