Young people immersed in workplace safety

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

The Yukon Federation of Labour is working toward ensuring the safety of youth in the workplace.

Running from Sunday through Tuesday, the Making it work for ME! conference was held at the High Country Inn, and was free for students in Grades 8 through 12.

Participants attended seminars and lectures about workplace safety. They were taught about a wide range of topics, from identifying workplace hazards to knowing their rights.

They also took part in group presentations, a movie night, and a trip to the Canada Games Centre, where they took a break-dancing class and went ice skating.

“You have the right to say ‘no’ to unsafe work. Saying ‘no’ might save your life,” said one participant, while presenting her poster project.

The projects were light-hearted, and included one boy asking, “Hey, dude, why is there a finger in my French fries?”

Each poster will be entered in a prize competition, with the winner being announced on the federation’s website on Thursday.

Participants also played a game of mock Jeopardy!, identifying the federation’s president as “that cool guy Alex.”

Alex Furlong shrugged at the compliment, demonstrating the break-dancing moves he learned at the Games Centre event. “We had lots of fun,” he said.

The average age of the 62 registered participants was 15, and organizers noted they are already joining the work force.

“Many of these kids hire themselves out for the summer, or pick up jobs while they’re in school,” said Debra Turner-Davis, who works as a communications employee at the federation. She organized the event, and her teenaged daughter, Emily, attended.

Turner-Davis cited statistics showing that young people are six or seven times more likely to be injured on the worksite, and expressed concerns that Yukon does not have legislation with age restrictions.

“If it’s a family business, you could have someone behind the till at age nine,” she said.

“Our only law is for mining. You can’t go underground until you’re 18.”

The participants seemed to enjoy the conference, particularly getting to stay in a hotel.

“I made some new friends, it was cool,” said Chyanna Sheldon, 14. She is from Teslin, and said she has already gotten jobs baby-sitting and at a daycare.

“The conference brought a lot of stuff to my attention I never knew about,” said John Zenovitch, 18.

A Grade 12 student, Zenovitch works at The Source.

“Work seemed like just another place, like school. I didn’t know a lot of deaths and injuries happened. It’s crazy,” he said, adding he now knows the right steps to take if an accident happens.

Jacob Huebschwerlen, 17, was working on building mountain bike trails last summer when a friend of his was injured.

“Buddy just cut his leg open with an axe, it was sick,” he said.

His friend got the proper help and compensation, but Huebschwerlen acknowledged that many young people don’t know how to get help.

“I know a lot more about my rights now,” he said.

Dana Sykes and Amy Steffen, the event’s facilitators, are both from British Columbia and were flown to the Yukon to put on this event.

With funding from the territorial workers’ compensation board, Sykes has trained 20 young workers from across B.C. to speak to high school students about their rights. So far, the program has reached more than 30,000 students.

“Over 1,500 people a year get hurt on the job,” Sykes told participants.

“How are we going to change that?”