Ontario Taking Action to Protect Young Workers Province Launches Initiatives Focusing on Enforcement and Prevention

As young people across Ontario start looking for summer jobs, Ontario is launching several initiatives to protect young workers in seasonal, part-time or temporary employment.

Workers that are new to their job, including young workers, are three times more likely to be injured in the first month than at any time. They are also at greater risk of having their employment standards rights violated, such as those involving unpaid wages or hours of work.

The Ministry of Labour’s initiatives include:

Launching two province-wide inspection blitzes on health and safety and employment standards, focusing on protecting young workers throughout the summer

Promoting “It’s Your Job,” a province-wide online video contest encouraging young workers to speak out about their workplace rights

Supporting “Bring Safety Home,” a Workplace Safety & Prevention Services campaign targeting parents and other networks of young people

Supporting the creation of #safeforlife, a youth-driven digital media campaign by Parachute Canada

Protecting young workers is part of the government’s continued commitment to prevent workplace injuries and illness through its Safe At Work Ontario enforcement initiative.

QUOTES

“Our youth are our future, and as such, we must ensure that we do our utmost to protect them. We need to do what we can to make sure that young workers are treated fairly at work, and are able to come home safe and sound to their families after their shifts.”

— Kevin Flynn, Ontario Minister of Labour

“All injuries at the workplace are preventable. Everyone – employers, supervisors, parents, workers – has a role to play to ensure that our youth are healthy and safe, and that they know their rights and responsibilities at work.”

— George Gritziotis, Ontario’s Chief Prevention Officer

QUICK FACTS

Every year, more than 6,000 young workers across Ontario are injured seriously enough to need time off work; that’s equivalent to nearly 17 Ontario youth a day.

There were 17 young worker fatalities (15 to 24 years old) from 2010 to 2015.

Ontario is one of only a few places in the world to require occupational health and safety education in schools. It is part of the curriculum from kindergarten to Grade 12.

The Ministry of Labour has conducted a new and young worker health and safety blitz annually for the past eight years. This year’s blitz will be the ninth.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 How Ontario is protecting young workers.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

How to protect young workers on the job and ensure they are treated fairly

Helping to Protect Young Workers

May 27, 2016

Young Worker Employment Standards Inspection Blitz

Young workers, and other vulnerable workers, are more likely to be in precarious employment. Precarious employment refers to work that is seasonal, part-time or temporary. Such work is unlike a traditional employment relationship that involves a full-time, permanent arrangement with one employer. This puts young workers at greater risk of not receiving their employment standards entitlements. They may also lack the ability or the resources to understand their rights at work.

From May 2 to June 30, 2016, the Ministry of Labour is conducting employment standards inspections of workplaces in sectors known to employ young workers. The ministry will check whether employers are complying with the Employment Standards Act, 2000.

Employment standards officers will visit sectors such as food services, retail trade and construction. They will focus on employment standards such as hours of work, overtime pay, vacation with pay, minimum wage and public holidays.

New and Young Worker Health and Safety Inspection Blitz

Ontario will launch a seven-week blitz to ensure students are safe and don’t get injured while working at their summer jobs.

From July 18 to September 2, 2016, an enforcement blitz will target workplaces in the industrial sector where new and young workers are employed. Health and safety inspectors from the Ministry of Labour will check that employers comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Young workers are defined as those aged 14 to 24 years. New workers include “young workers” and those aged 25 and older who are on the job for less than six months or who are assigned to a new job in the same workplace.

New workers include:

Any new hire, either permanent or temporary, with or without experience in the industry where they are working

Current workers who are assigned new jobs

Student workers, co-op placements or apprentices

Seasonal workers

The blitz will ensure young workers are protected by required safety measures, equipment and procedures to prevent injuries. Inspectors will also check that they are properly instructed, trained and supervised on jobs, and meet minimum age requirements.

“It’s Your Job” Video Contest

Every year – for the past four years –  Ontario has held an online video contest encouraging secondary school students to speak out about their workplace health and safety rights.

The Ministry of Labour, along with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, announced the top three winners of the provincial contest on April 25, 2016. Students from Markham, Ottawa and Kingston have placed first, second and third, respectively, beating out dozens of entries from across the province.

The winning videos depict:

Astudent spiraling out of control as accumulated stress takes a toll on her mental health

A young worker exercising his workplace rights amid potentially unsafe conditions

A young apprentice electrician learning an important lesson about safety on the job.

The winners and respective schools receive cash prizes of up to $2,000. The first-place video also placed second in the national “It’s Your Job” contest, where it competed with the top videos from other provinces and territories.

The campaign is supported by a financial grant from the Ministry of Labour.

Bring Safety Home Campaign

Workplace Safety & Prevention Services has announced a new awareness campaign targeting the parents, friends, relatives, coaches, teachers and other support networks of young people as a way to make work safer for Ontario’s youth.

Bring Safety Home, a web-based and social media driven initiative, will feature highly visual digital content such as blogs, videos and other social media posts. Bring Safety Home will officially launch in June 2016, at which time campaign resources will be available atbringsafetyhome.com and on Twitter @BringSafetyHome.

Workplace Safety & Prevention Services is a key member of Ontario’s health and safety system, and is partly funded by the Ontario Ministry of Labour.