Teaching resource brings worker safety into classrooms

The Canadian Centres for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has launched a new resource for high school teachers to teach safety to students.

Every year, young workers are critically injured or killed on the job. Statistics show they are more likely to get injured in the first four weeks of a new job than their more senior counterparts.

To help educate young people about workplace health and safety and prevent injuries, the new resource, called Health and Safety Teaching Tools, has been developed by the CCOHS specifically for secondary school teachers. It contains more than 200 pages of safety information, tips, classroom activities, handouts and quizzes, as well as a companion CD of accompanying slides in PowerPoint and PDF formats, for use as student handouts. Teaching Tools is divided into five chapters covering the major topic areas of workplace health and safety that are likely to impact young workers, including chemical hazards, ergonomics, physical hazards, biological hazards and sociability issues.

The information provided within the toolkit is based on best practice principles and techniques. Its purpose is to provide guidance on young worker safety, rather than prescribe specific requirements, the CCOHS said.

Health and Safety Teaching Tools may be purchased from the CCOHS. More information can be found at www.ccohs.ca/products/publications/teaching_tools/.