Employment lawyers provide advice on safety, DEI considerations for young apprentices
As part of its Working for Workers Act Five, the Ontario government is introducing new legislation that will see more young workers entering the trades.
The initiative, the Focused Apprenticeship Skills Training (FAST) program, will allow students in Grades 11 and 12 to take up to 80 percent of their senior courses in co-op education, with the aim to accelerate their entry into the skilled trades.
With increasing numbers of young workers entering the trades, some directly or still in high school, Canadian HR Reporter spoke with two Ontario employment and OHS lawyers about legal considerations for employers.
Younger workers vulnerable in several ways
Many of these co-op students will be entering the workforce for the first time, and that means they are vulnerable in a number of ways, says Shannon Sproule, employment lawyer and investigator with Turnpenny Milne in Toronto.
“As we see from some of the cases, there are times when employees and workplaces have not considered students, or interns or co-op students to be entitled to the essential workplace rights that are at play,” says Sproule.
“So we do see sometimes unfortunately, that your regular employees in a workplace might take advantage of the vulnerability of interns or co-op students, or students going through school programs. They might take advantage of that vulnerability in the way that they treat those workers.”
For this reason, it’s important for HR professionals who have young apprentices or co-op students coming into the workplace to be aware that they are under the same safety and human rights obligations as with other employees, she says.
“One of the main things that employers should make note of is that these are workers, these are people coming in to perform work for the employer still,” she says. “So you have to ensure that you are enabling the workers who come in to be in a safe environment, and that would include acknowledging where they're coming from.”
This acknowledgement means detailed orientation programs and even dedicated individuals to oversee incoming workers under the FAST program.
Supervisory framework essential for safety with young workers in trades
In addition to the grades 11 and 12 participation in the FAST program, starting with students entering grade 9 in 2024, all students in Ontario will be required to earn a Grade 9 or 10 Technological Education credit.
"We’re helping to tackle the labour shortage by allowing motivated, entrepreneurial students to get on a fast-track to a career in the skilled trades," said David Piccini, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development in a statement.
Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) does not stipulate exactly how or by whom supervision of apprentice and co-op students should be done – which Jeremy Warning, lawyer at Mathews, Tinsdale & Clark says should be an area of focus for employers.
“Apprenticeship, by nature, includes a significant amount of on-the-job training and instruction; employers should be ensuring the instruction being provided to apprentices is consistent with company safety practices, industry standards, and existing legal requirements,” says Warning.
“The expectation is that heightened supervision is appropriate with workers who may be generally inexperienced, inexperienced with a specific task, and/or, if particularly hazardous work will be undertaken.”
This means keeping a detailed record of each apprentice’s training, and wherever possible documenting how policies and procedures are communicated, “in case they were ever required to establish the details of information and instruction provided to the apprentice,” says Warning.
“Further, supervisory monitoring can confirm that the apprentice is carrying out their duties properly and in accordance with expected safety practices.”
Job-matching to support apprentices’ entry into skilled trades in Ontario
Ontario is also creating a job-matching program that will help apprentices and journeypersons connect with potential employers – the first government-sanctioned platform in the province.
"These changes allow for additional exposure to opportunities and are another step towards breaking down the barriers and stigmas around the skilled trades,” says Susan Crowley, executive director of CWB Welding Foundation.
“These initiatives – ensuring hands-on learning, as well as reducing obstacles to enter the workforce – demonstrate a strong effort from the Government of Ontario to better support both our future workforce and the Canadian economy."
Under the program, Ontario is starting 68 new pre-apprenticeship programs this year, that will see 1,700 participants in the 2024 – 2025 school year.
Be proactive with DEI to welcome younger generation to trades
It’s also a good time for DEI policies to be updated in preparation of generations who may be vulnerable but who are also less afraid to speak up, says Sproule.
“This is a generation that records conversations, this is a generation that might connect over WhatsApp groups to discuss what just happened,” she says.
“Employers using this program should assume that these are workers who are well advised and well informed of ways to document issues as they occur. … That’s not to scare anybody or say they shouldn't still participate in this program, because it seems like a great program. But it's a different time now, and there are different ways of documenting issues nowadays, and that's just something for employers to be mindful of.”
An example of demonstrating an inclusive environment for co-op workers who may have different gender identities or expressions, is to lead by example, says Sproule. It’s important to respect privacy and to not single anyone out, which is why beginning this practice in advance of the program is essential.
“In a lot of workplaces now, you have people putting their pronouns in signatures. So, you could also just make it a practice that people may introduce themselves with their pronouns, just to sort of normalize it, and make the incoming apprentices feel that that's a safe place to do it,” says Sproule.
“For example, if a supervisor starts doing it, then you know the incoming youth or apprentice or students might feel that they are more empowered to then do it, and then the employees also might feel like it's more normalized.”
Onboarding, exit interviews valuable to collect data from young apprentices
HR should also give clear opportunities for incoming students and apprentices to disclose any accommodations they may need, and to establish “check-ins” with any worker who may be especially vulnerable.
Exit interviews are also a useful tool for gaining insight into how receptive a workforce is to the newer workers, how successful the program has been, and where to make adjustments.
“Perhaps when they're leaving, if they aren't coming back, to just make sure things are going well, and see if there's anything that wasn't disclosed and wasn't observed that they should be aware of,” says Sproule.
“Exit interviews are a really great way to get disclosure. And just because the person's gone doesn't mean the obligation to remedy the situation and create a respectful and safe workplace is not there still.”
