New and Young Workers – Mitigating the Risk

According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), new and young workers aged 15-24 make up for 10% of the hours worked in Canada. New and young workers are injured at a rate of 16%, which equates to over 48,000 worker injuries that are severe enough to result in time off work. Being new to a job and working in settings, or jobs with hazards put them at a higher risk for injury. Often new or young workers are unaware of the hazards associated with their job. They often do not know the right questions to ask or may even lack the courage to ask the questions that they do have. Irwin’s Safety is making significant strides in worker education and actively working to reduce those statistics.

 Injury claims, occupational fatalities and employment by age group, Alberta 2012

We understand the preparation and training required to put competent staff in the field – particularly when they are just entering the workforce. We operate in high risk environments and pride ourselves on making sure everyone gets home safe. Our attention to detail and unwavering commitment to safety, is underlined by having zero loss time incidents in our history.

We ease young and inexperienced workers into the workforce by creating a simulated industrial work scenario in our fully customizable Emergency Response Simulator. In this controlled environment we prepare young workers for potential work situations. Therefore when a situation arises they are able to effectively initiate the appropriate response.

By blending a diversified team of safety professionals, educational backgrounds, and industry experts we develop our instructional approach to achieve maximum retention. Also by incorporating new technology, we are better able to engage and captivate the younger generation.

Our dynamic leadership team conducts ongoing industrial safety competency checks to ensure adherence to policies and legislation. The findings of our competency checks are then used to revise training and increase the effectiveness of future programs. Our constant commitment to continuous improvement, educational development and site follow up, minimize the margin of error. Safety management is crucial at any stage in the workforce, especially in a junior role. We at Irwin’s Safety know, when it comes to safety there are no excuses.