Theme: Career Guidance and Transitions

Ready for Work

Teaching Notes

The following 4 lessons are adapted from Ready for Work (from Saskatchewan Labour).

Please note the lessons herein highlight key aspects of the resource. You can explore and download the whole resource at the address below.

(Click on Teachers, then click on Ready for Work Resource Binder to access materials)

Nearly 8,000 young workers (15-24 years old) are injured each year in Saskatchewan. One in four workplace injuries reported to the Workers Compensation Board involves a worker under 25 years of age. Young workers are also more likely to experience unfair working conditions than older workers.

On average, 5 young people die on the job each year. The main causes for young worker injuries are:

  • Lack of supervision.
  • Minimal knowledge of rights and responsibilities
  • Lack of experience in recognizing hazardous situations

Ready for Work Lessons

  • Ready for Work 1: What Safety Means to Me
  • Ready for Work 2: Worker Rights & Responsibilities
  • Ready for Work 3: Tools for Promoting Fairness in the Workplace
  • Ready for Work 4: Promoting Fairness in the Workplace

Theme: Career Guidance and Transitions

Ready for Work 1: What Safety Means to Me

Learning Outcomes

  • To describe the impact of unsafe work practices and the effect on people’s lives.

Essential Questions

What does workplace safety mean to you?

Level: Grade 12

  • 5 X15 minutes

Materials

  • Video: Don’t Risk Your Life
  • 15 minutes—available from Media Lending Services, VIDEO 344.047 DON; Career and Work Exploration teachers in high schools have this video and it is also available for duplication from Media Group)
  • Student handouts:
  • What Safety Means to Me
  • Course Outline
  • Fast Facts about Young Workers
  • Additional information from Saskatchewan Labour:
  • Are Youth Safe on the Job: A Focus on the Health and Safety of Young Workers at
  • Fast Facts at

Procedure

Lesson 1

  1. Discuss the purpose of the activity. Explain that the students will complete a question

sheet, discuss their answers and watch a video. Remind students that the question sheet

will be handed in.

  1. Give students the handout What Safety Means to Me. Ask them to respond to the questions and complete Part 1.

Lesson 2

  1. Ask students to share their responses with a partner or the whole group and discuss:
  2. What activities do you seem to have in common?
  3. What surprised you about your own or others’ responses? Frustrated you? Interested you?
  4. How do you think your ability to do these kinds of activities would be affected by a workplace accident?
  5. Give students about 10 minutes to complete Part 2 or perhaps take it home and return with it next day.

Lesson 3

  • Show the video, Don’t Risk Your Life (15 minutes in length).

Lesson 4

  1. Discuss students’ answers to Part II using some or all of the following questions:
  2. How was the family of the young people in the video affected?
  3. How do you think your family and friends, the people in the first circle of influence, might be affected?
  4. How do you think the rest of society, your acquaintances and the people on the fringe of your life might be affected by your injury?

Lesson 5 Wrap-up

  1. Discuss the following talking points with the students:
  2. The financial and humanitarian cost to society and loved ones of injuries and deaths on the job;
  3. Reasons young workers experience higher rates of injury than do other workers; and
  4. How learning about safety can prevent injuries and fatalities.
  5. Provide students with copies of Fast Facts about Young Workers and the Course Outline.
  6. Ask students to complete and hand in Part 3 of the question sheet What Safety Means to Me.

Closing

  • No job is worth compromising safety. Every accident is avoidable and every job can be done safely if safety is always the number one priority.

Extending Activities

1. As an alternative to the question sheet What Safety Means to Me, use the Safety Works Flashcards to introduce students to the concept of safety, the reasons for learning more about it and the course outline.

2. As an alternative to writing about “What Safety Means to Me”, students could create

collages, concept maps, or message plays.

3. Sections of the CD-ROM Rights and Responsibilities: Your Path to a Safe Workplace can also be used to establish a rationale for health and safety practices. An outline of all the topics in Rights and Responsibilities: Your Path to a Safe Workplace is provided in the Teacher Resourcessection for Activity 1. The following sections relate to Activity 1objectives:

  • Module 1 Introduction to Safety
  • Study sections for Working Safely, Creating a Safe Workplace, and Why Safety Programs.
  • Module 3 Benefits and Attitudes
  • Study sections for Benefits and Importance of Attitudes.

Evaluation

  • Informally assess students as they participate in the group discussion.
  • Are their contributions thoughtful, contextual and well reasoned?
  • Were the students willing to participate and share answers?
  • Responses on the question sheet What Safety Means to Me should illustrate a clear understanding of the physical, mental, emotional and financial cost of unsafe work practices for themselves, their family, their friends and society as whole.

What Safety Means to Me

Part 1

1. In the spaces below, list 6–8 things you like to do. For example, you might like to play

basketball, watch videos, hang out at the mall, swim, read ….

2. Rank order the activities listed above with #1 being your most favorite activity.

3. Then put an “A” beside those you like to do alone and an “O” beside those that involve other people.

4. Put a check mark () beside those you have done in the last 2 days, an X (x) beside those you have done in the past week, and a star (*) beside those you haven’t done in the past month.

5. Think about the worst workplace accident that you can imagine happening to you. This

would be an accident in which your injury would be severe enough to hospitalize you for a period of time. In the space below, jot down what your injuries might be (a broken leg, burns, disfigurement, or loss of fingers or arms).

6. Think about how your life would be affected. Draw a line through those activities in number 1 that you would not be able to do. Put an “L” beside those you could do in a limited way.

7. In the space below, write down:

a) How you think you would feel?

b) What you might be thinking?

c) How you think others might feel or think about you?

What Safety Means to Me

Part 2

Use the “Circle of Influence” diagram provided on the next page to complete the following:

1. On the dot in the centre of the circle, write “Me”.

2. In the first circle, name the people who are closest to you—family, friends … pets?

3. In the second circle, list those people you consider acquaintances. It might be the guy in your English class whom you don’t know very well, but you recognize or say hello to on a regular basis, or an uncle or aunt you only see once in awhile.

4. In the third circle, jot down those people who are just on the fringe of your life. It might be the person who delivers your mail every day or the clerk at the drug store.

5. In the fourth circle, write Society In General.

6. In the space below, tell how you think the people in the first circle, those who are closest to you, might be affected by your injury.

7. In the spaces below, tell how you think the people in the second, third and fourth circles might be affected by your injury:

a) Acquaintances

b) Fringe

c) Society in general

Part 3

Complete the following sentence stem:

“It’s important to think about and practice being safe at work because . . .


Are You Ready for Work:

Fast Facts About Young Workers

This document is downloadable at:

Did you know that in 2005…

more than 7,000 young workers (15 to 24 years old) were injured inSaskatchewan.

younger workers are more likely to be injured than older or moreexperienced workers.

20 per cent of injured workers are between the ages of 15 and 24.

75 per cent of young workers who are injured were male.

injuries occur in all industries, particularly in commodity-wholesale-retail manufacturing and processing, and the service industry sectors.

in the last 5 years, on average, 3 young people have died on the jobeach year.

most young workers who died on the job were labourers.

the most frequent injuries occurred to the lower back, fingers, hands and shoulders.

15 per cent of injuries were caused by “overexertion in lifting.”

7 per cent of injuries were from being “struck by falling object(s).”

275 injuries are the result of “assaults and violent acts and harassment,by persons.”

What can you do to make work safe?

Young Workers

Know your rights and responsibilities in the workplace.

Be aware that all workers, including part-time workers, must receive training about

potential hazards and safe work practices.

Use safety equipment.

Learn and follow safe work practices.

Know where to get information and help with your questions.

Co-operate with your employer, supervisor, occupational health committee or occupational health and safety representative.

Employers/Supervisors

Be aware that young workers may not be comfortable asking questions about workplace

health and safety.

Provide training so young workers recognize hazards and are competent in safe work

practices and the use of personal protective equipment.

Encourage young workers to report any suspected hazards.

Ensure young workers are properly supervised.

Know and comply with regulations that apply to your workplace.

Educators

Set a good example. Demonstrate safe practices in school shops and labs, and during

activities.

Discuss students’ rights and responsibilities as workers.

Ensure employers who sponsor student work placements have a system to identify,

assess and control hazards.

Include information about health and safety in relevant curricula.

Help students learn to identify hazards and ask questions in the workplace.

Parents

Take an active role in your children’s employment decisions.

Learn about health and safety laws.

Discuss work tasks and the training and supervision provided by the employer.

Encourage your children to ask for help and to ask questions when they feel uncertain

about work practices.

Set a good example.

Statistics are based on Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board 2001 to 2005 claims data

Course Outline

Safety Works: Occupational Health and Safety for Young Workers

Time Frame: 6 hours

What you will learn . . .

• why it is important to work safely on the job;

• who is responsible for health and safety in your workplace;

• what health and safety rights and responsibilities workers have in the workplace;

• how to recognize hazards and take steps to protect yourself and others in the workplace;

• what to do if you are asked to do work that you believe is unusually dangerous; and

• where to get help if you have health and safety concerns.

Evaluation

1. You will have a final test, project or essay (to be discussed with the class).

2. You will receive question sheets that you will complete and handed in to be marked.

3. Your participation, cooperation and attitude during class will also count.


Safety Works Flashcards

(Additional/Alternative Activity)

Activity

1. Discuss the purpose of the activity. Explain that it will involve playing a ‘safety trivial

pursuit game’ and discussing the significance of being safe at work.

2. Create file cards using the questions and answers from the Safety Works Flashcards

Question Sheet or download the flashcards from the Teachers Activity Centre on the

Saskatchewan Labour website

3. Ask students to randomly pick a card from those that are available.

4. Ask each student to read their question aloud to the group. With the class, discuss

possible answers and the reasons for the answers. Ask for the answer on the back of

the card to be read aloud. Allow about 15–20 minutes for the questions.

or

Divide students into teams with 2-4 members. Pair teams. Provide each group with

5-10 question cards. Have each team take turns asking each other the questions on their

cards and, then, providing the answers. For each correct answer, a team scores 2 points.

Provide about 15-20 minutes to play the game.

5. Debrief the activity by asking each group to:

  • Share one question the group did not know the answer to.
  • Share one question on which the group disagreed about the answer.
  • Share one question whose answer surprised them.
  • Identify at least one thing they learned about safety that they didn’t know before.

Notes on harassment and smoking:

Questions on ‘harassment’: Make sure the students understand the limits of the

definition of harassment under The Occupational Health and Safety Act. Under the Act

‘harassment’ means any objectionable conduct, comment or display by a person that:

  • is directed at a worker;
  • is made on the basis of race, creed, religion, colour, sex, sexual orientation,
  • marital status, family status, disability, physical size or weight, age, nationality, ancestry or place of origin; and
  • constitutes a threat to the health or safety of the worker.

This definition doesn’t cover ‘personal harassment’ where, for example, a supervisor

who doesn’t like a worker and seems to treat that worker less favourably than those

s/he seems to like (say by assigning that worker the less pleasant jobs or shifts).

Question on ‘smoking’: The employer must make a workplace non-smoking or allow

smoking only in designated areas. Make sure the students understand that although

employers have a responsibility to protect non-smokers from second hand cigarette

smoke, there are some workplaces, bars and restaurants for example, where it may not

be possible to eliminate second hand smoke. If the employer has done what s/he can to

eliminate and reduce second hand smoke, say with ventilation and having a separate

smoking section, there may not be much more that the worker can expect the employer

to do.

The question for the worker then is whether s/he still wants to work in that

environment.

6. Form small groups. Ask students to discuss the following questions, record their ideas

and appoint a member of their group to report back to the larger group. Allow about

5-7 minutes for discussion. Ask each group to share their answers with the large group.

  • Why do you think it is important to work safely and to know your rights and responsibilities regarding safe workplace practices?
  • If you were injured on the job, who might be affected and how would they be affected?
  • Do you know anyone who has had a workplace injury?

7. Using information from the Saskatchewan Labour Fact Sheets and the introduction

to this module, discuss with students:

  • the financial and humanitarian cost to society and loved ones of injuries and deaths on the job;
  • the reasons why young workers experience higher rates of injury than other workers;
  • how learning about safety can prevent injuries and fatalities; and
  • the purpose, content and format of this module.

8. Provide students with copies of the Fast Facts About Young Workers information sheet and the Course Outline.

Safety Works Flashcard Questions

As a worker, which of these rights for safety do you have in the workplace?

a) The right to know the hazards at work and how to control them

b) The right to participate in finding and controlling hazards in the workplace

c) The right to refuse work you consider unusually dangerous to yourself and others

d) All of the above

Answer: (d) All of the above. You have the right to know what hazards exist in the workplace and how to control them, the right to participate in finding and controlling the hazards and the right to refuse work s/he considers unusually dangerous.

As a worker you have the right to refuse work that you consider to be unusually

dangerous.

a) true b) false

Answer: (b) true. You have the right to refuse work you consider unusually dangerous to yourself and to others in the workplace.

You are only responsible for your own safety in the workplace.

a) true b) false

Answer: b) false. You are responsible for ensuring your own safety and the safety of your coworkers.

You are responsible for not starting and/or becoming involved in harassment in the