New workers have 5 to 7 times the risk of injury in the first 4 weeks of a new job
Employers know it is their responsibility to keep workers safe, but new and young workers present particular challenges. Unfamiliar with workplace practices and eager to please, the risk of injury is higher.
“It’s spring,” said Warren Preece, spokesman for the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba. “We know that many students will be entering he workforce.”
With an influx of students and new graduates entering the workforce, employers should be focusing on training with the needs of youth in mind.
“Training should happen up front, before people take on tasks,” said Curtis Breslin, a scientist with the Institute for Work and Health (IWH).
Supervision and monitoring are of utmost importance with new workers. The process of training should be treated like graduated licensing, workers should practice with lower-risk task and work their way up to higher risk activities, Breslin said.
Despite statistics showing the particular dangers to new and young workers, only one in five Canadians reports receiving safety training in their first year of a new job, according to a study from the IWH.
“Young workers need to be trained,” said Preece. “They have less life experience, less work experience.”
The onus is on the employer to ensure all workers have proper job training, even temporary labourers.
Males particularly at risk
Young men in particular tend to take more risks and are more likely to be working jobs with more risks associated with them, said Preece.
The jobs they are doing are often labour intense and require a lot of strength, he said.
“Young males end up in more hazardous jobs,” said Preece.
Statistics show male youth to be at particular risk for injury on the job. In Manitoba, young male workers, particularly those between the ages of 20 to 24, have the highest time loss and all injury rates of any other age and gender group and are at a greater risk of work-related injury.
In B.C. young male workers had the highest injury rate of any other group every year from 2005 to 2009, while young females were lower than overall injury rate.
Youth not in school also high risk group
Although it may be the time of year to focus on student workers, employers need to be mindful when they are hiring youth throughout the year.
A recent study by IWH indicates youth who are not in school are at higher risk for injury when they join the workforce.
Youth ages 15 to 24 that are out of school, especially those without a high school diploma, have higher injury rates than those who are still in school.
These youth may not have gotten the workplace safety information that is integrated into the school system before leaving the education system. They are more likely to be working more physically demanding jobs, Breslin said.
The study indicated 12 per cent of these workers reported an injury that limited their activities over the period of a year.
Slightly more than six per cent reported a repetitive strain injury (RSI), which is the first time IWH had heard about RSIs in this age group.
Students may be too timid to talk safety
Even when students are getting workplace injury information in school, it’s still important for them to get the feeling it is the focus of their new employer.
“We encourage teachers to encourage students to ask questions,” said Micheal Alpern, executive director of the Job Safety Skills Society in Edmonton.
“The right to say no sounds so simple,” Alpern said, adding students are eager to impress employers and may not say no even if they feel the task is unsafe or don’t feel they are trained well enough to take it on.”
New workers don’t want to appear stupid for asking questions and they don’t want to lose hours for making a fuss, said Preece.
“Young people struggle to find a voice.”
But training young workers properly has benefits in the long run, for employers and employees.
“If you can create a safe worker today, you create a safe worker for life,” said Preece.
