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Issue link: https://digital.thesafetymag.com/i/358607
June/July 2013 7 Social media aids young worker safety efforts By Mari-Len De Guzman O rganizations are increasingly recognizing the need to adopt new and innovative ways to communicate safety messages eff ectively with young workers, according to health and safety experts. "We have to realize that if we want to reach young workers with our safety mes- sage, we have to go to places where young people live — Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram — this is where they get their information," said Robin Schooley, industrial specialist for the Young and New Worker program of WorkSafeBC. Schooley led a panel of other health and safety experts from various organizations in a discussion on using new technologies to reach young workers at the Western Conference on Safety in Vancouver. Schooley said WorkSafeBC has recognized the need to adapt new technologies and social media tools to help the workers' compensation boards campaign to increase safety awareness among young workers. "One million Canadian youth between 13 and 17 (years old) are on Facebook. If they're not already working, they are the next generation of workers," Schooley pointed out. Over the last few years, WorkSafeBC has been launching social networking and other web pages to capture the younger audience. To date, the agency has Facebook and Twitter accounts that get updated constantly with health and safety bulletins and updates. Schooley said her organization is also moving towards blogging and developing smartphone applica- tions to deliver its messages to the younger demographic. Across Canada, organizations are increasingly recognizing the need to start creating a more safety aware workforce through the school system. e WorkSafeBC Speakers Network is doing just that. " rough the Speakers Network, we are going to schools and talking to kids to create (safety) atti- tudes among young workers — as opposed to changing the attitudes of veteran workers," said Laurie Lowes, manager for health and safety at London Drugs, based in Richmond, B.C., and among those involved with WorkSafeBC's Speakers Network. Also speaking at the conference panel, Lowes said his company recognizes the importance of a young workers' safety program in any organization that employs young workers. He said London Drugs implements a youth mentorship program for its young workers. e safety of young workers is impressed upon the workers and their families from the day they start on the job. Newly hired young workers are sent home with a letter from the company addressed to their parents letting them know about the work that their child will be involved with, as well as the company's safety programs and training. "We encourage parents to talk to their child about work," said Lowes. Workplace fatalities up, injuries down in Nova Scotia: WCB By Zachary Pedersen F ewer Nova Scotians were injured at work in 2012 — marking the eighth consecutive year of decline in the number of people seriously hurt on the job — but the number of workplace fatali- ties increased, according to the annual report from the Workers' Compensation Board of Nova Scotia. e province's workplace injury rate is mea- sured by the number of people per 100 covered workers who are injured on the job seriously enough to lose three or more days of work. In 2012, the workplace injury rate was 1.96, down from 2.02 in 2011. It is the fi rst time the number has been below two since 1995, when time-loss claims started being measured this way. Since 2005, there has been a 30 per cent decline in time-loss injuries, according to the WCB. Some 19,000 fewer working days were lost to injury in 2012, the equivalent of 52 working years. ere were a total of 32 workplace fatalities in 2012, which is up from the fi ve fatalities reported in 2011. Of the 32 fatalities in 2012, 10 were the result of an acute traumatic event in the workplace, up from four acute fatalities in 2011. One-third of the acute fatalities occurred in fi shing. ere were 22 deaths resulting from chronic or health-related conditions. Of these 22 chronic workplace fatalities, nine died from occupational diseases due to workplace exposures in the past, and 13 died due to other health conditions, primar- ily cardiac-related — which may or may not have been directly related to the work, the WCB said. " is scale of tragedy is not only troubling, it is fundamentally unacceptable," said WCB of Nova Scotia CEO Stuart MacLean. "We are also struggling with the fact that, so far in 2013, we've already experienced vast, deep and tragic loss in our workplaces." Already in 2013, there have been seven work- place fatalities in the fi shing sector, the WCB said. According to the agency, understanding the nature of chronic fatalities — and the connection to Nova Scotia's aging population and population health — is important for making future improve- ments to workplace safety in the province. Financially, the WCB reported a comprehen- sive fi nancial income of $62 million in 2012, primarily due to better investment returns fol- lowing several tumultuous years in investment market performance. " e fi nancial results achieved in 2012 position us well for our goal to retire the unfunded liability in about 10 years," said MacLean. "Our rate of return for 2012 was above our benchmark return, and the comprehensive fi nancial gain means we can take a step toward fi nancial sustainability. However, there is much to do to achieve this goal." By Zachary Pedersen R eporting asbestos in public buildings is now mandatory in Saskatchewan. It is the fi rst province in Canada to pass such legislation. Information regarding asbestos will have to be disclosed in a public registry under the new law. ere will be a six-month grace period to comply, according to the province. Buildings owned by the province — such as hospitals, schools or those used by Crown corporations — must be listed in the registry if there is asbestos present. Buildings will be added to the registry as regulations become better defi ned. "People want and deserve to have easier access to information about the presence of asbestos in public buildings," said Minister of Health Dustin Duncan. In November 2012, Saskatchewan launched a voluntary registry of public buildings that are known to contain asbestos and posted a new online asbestos information guide. e move was in response to the eff orts of Howard Willems, an advocate for public reporting of asbestos, who died from a rare form of cancer caused by inhal- ing asbestos fi bres. e new law is part of e Public Health Amendment Act, but o en referred to as "Howard's Law," named a er Willems. Asbestos is typically found in building materials such as insula- tion and has health risks only when fi bres are present in the air, according to Health Canada. It is not considered harmful if undis- turbed, but renovations or construction work stirs up hazardous fi bres that can be inhaled. Saskatchewan requires mandatory asbestos reporting in public buildings ew y with ur safety mes- uTube, Twitter, Instagram — this What law firm does more than defend OHS/WSIB Charges? We Do. 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