Youth job safety: an employer's role.

Thousands of teenagers show up for work each day. Hundreds are hurt each year. Some die.

But employers and parents can help them reach adulthood alive and well.

"I can't imagine as a parent getting a phone call saying my kid's been hurt," says Michal Vezina, executive director of St. John Ambulance in Sudbury.

Vezina has been visiting Greater Sudbury high schools for the past five years talking to Grade 12 and OAC students about safety awareness offered through the Young Workers Awareness Program (YWAP).

"It's surprising in most of the classes I've done, I've asked who has been hurt and typically one-third to a half have already had some sort of workplace injury," by way of burns, cuts or slips and falls, says Vezina.

According to the Ministry of Labour, eight young people died at work in Ontario in 2002, most during summer months.

Though the figures on fatalities over the years are improving, it is still too many, says Vezina, who previously worked for 15 years as a risk manager in the insurance industry.

Many schools utilize her free sessions through the Ministry of Labour before their students step out on co-op placements.

Today's students already receive some level of safety instruction ranging from WHMIS training in science classes to machine guarding in technical courses as part of the province s revamped educational curriculum.

But it is not only on the construction site or the factory floor where injuries can occur. The more mundane summer jobs such as fast-food outlets with environments of hot grease, slippery floors and sharp knives pose their own dangers.

"Every kind of work environment has its own set of hazards whether it's trips and falls in the office setting or ergonomic concerns," says Don Hall, the provincial co-ordinator of prevention with the Ministry of Labour in Toronto.

Students and parents should know their rights--which are guaranteed by law--before starting work with an employer.

* They have the right to know what hazards exist

* They have the right to refuse unsafe work

* They have the right to participate in joint health and safety committee meetings about workplace issues.

* Parents need to play an active role in the wellbeing of their child before the child goes off to that first job. If you are not satisfied with what you hear, pick up the phone and call the employer.

Parents like Burlington's Rob Ellis experienced the worst kind of nightmare when his 18-year-old son David lost his life in 1999 in a workplace accident shortly after starting a temporary job. David died when he became entangled in a dough mixer at a local bakery on the second day on the job.

According to the Industrial Accident Prevention Association there is a direct relationship between the number of years of work experience and the number of injuries that happen on the job site. The more training and experience young workers have, the less likely they are to get hurt at work.

Most often, the leading cause of injury is a general lack of awareness and experience on the job site, as well as an over enthusiasm to please the employer.

"People are overly focussed on that first paycheque and they may not be cognizant of the workplace surroundings," says Hall.

"We talk to our kids about drinking and driving, safe sex and drugs, but one of things we don't talk about is what health and safety training they are getting on the job," says Vezina.

"Most of us are getting health and safety training as adults, so ask your kids about it. And if you think there's a danger, go down and see the employer and get your kid out of there. Don't put your kid's life at risk."

What is particularly troubling is many accidents occur at small businesses. Of the 16 young workers between ages of 15 and 24 who were killed in Ontario in 1999, 12 were with small employers of less than 20 employees, says Vezina.

"Most of these business are busy just staying alive and typically aren't investing much time in health and safety for their own employees; much less young workers.

"But that old saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure really holds true."

Remember, she warns, if the Ministry of Labour conducts a thorough workplace investigation as the result of an injury as simple as heat stroke, all aspects of an employer's health and safety program will be reviewed.

The Ministry of Labour can levy fines up to $500,000 to businesses. In one recent instance, Inco Ltd. was fined $650,000 by an Ontario Court-Justice on multiple charges stemming from the 1999 death of an employee at its Copper Cliff mine.

Supervisors as individuals can be fined up to $25,000 and/or spend a year in jail. Young workers can also be personally fined up to $25,000 and do jail time if they choose to ignore safety training and precautions and are injured as a result.

Ontario Labour Minister Brad Clark has been championing young worker's health and safety by launching a Web site this past spring aimed at providing students and employers with critical information on workplace safety and employment rights.

All employers have an overall general responsibllity to take all precautions necessary to protect workers, says Hall.

Workplace safety stories and Web links continue online at www.northernontariobusiness.com

RELATED ARTICLE: Workplace injury statistics 1999 Lost Time Injuries

15-19 year olds 4,478 lost time injuries

20-24 year olds 10,888

All ages 98,942

Top causes of injury to young workers (1996-1999)

1. struck against or struck by object

2. overexertion 

3. falls

4. bodily reaction, excluding over-exertions and repetitive motion

5. caught in or compressed by equipment or objects

Top injury-related jobs for young workers, 1999

1. Labourers in processing, manufacturing and utilities

2. Retail salesperson and sales clerks 

3. Material handlers 

4. Grocery clerks and shelf stockers

5. Cooks

Source: WSIB