Although summer is moving along quickly as usual, officials in Nova Scotia (Canada) are reminding employers to not take their eyes of summer workplace injuries for youths.
With more than 40 percent of all workplace injuries for young workers occurring during the summer months, the Workers Compensation Board of Nova Scotia (WCB) reminds young workers and their employers to focus on workplace safety during this peak time.
Young workers are five times more likely to be injured on the job in the first month of work and, in 2013, accounted for about 13 percent of all WCB’s registered claims.
According to the WCB, of the 3,150 young worker injuries reported last year, more than 1,300 or 40 percent occurred from June to September. Most of these injuries happened in the accommodation, food and beverage, retail, manufacturing, and construction industries.
“Injury or death should not be part of any young person’s summer job,” said Kelly Regan, Minister of Labor and Advanced Education. “We want young workers to remain safe and healthy so they can enjoy their friends and family, have fun and gain valuable experience over the summer. The key to that is safety training and for employers and workers to keep safety a top priority at work.”
Throughout the summer the WCB is reaching out to young workers with injury prevention information through social media and at community events to help them come home safe.
The WCB will also provide employers with new resources to help make safety an ongoing part of the way they do business.
QUICK FACTS
• Injuries to backs, shoulders and hands are most common in young workers. The majority of these are related to overexertion caused by repetitive motion, lifting heavy objects or working in an awkward position.
• In 2013 there were 3,150 registered claims for workers under the age of 25 years, comprising 13% of all registered claims.
• Of that number, 624 young workers were injured seriously enough to require time off work, comprising 10% of all time-loss claims.
• 1,337 injuries occurred between June and September and more than half of those (781) were reported in July and August last year.
*Based on WCB stats from 2013.
Author Kori Shafer-Stack, Editor, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in post-injury response procedures and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: kstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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