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Hi, I'm Renee Malette, Social Media reporter here
at Central Tech High School in Toronto tweeting live
for a very important announcement.
Dr. Kellie Leitch, Federal Labour Minister has launched
a nation-wide video contest for workplace health and safety
for high school students.
So when you jack this car up, what things do you have to do
to make sure that it's not gonna fall on top of you?
Put safety signs.
We're launching a program today.
It's called It's Your Job.
It's a video contest to ask students to produce a video in
their workplace, so here in your classroom or when you go out
on the job, of how to make people safe on a work site.
Young workers have a higher risk of being injured on the job.
Approximately 1/4 of all occupational injuries happen
to workers between the age of 15 to 29.
We know that there are thousands of workplace injuries amongst
individuals under the age of 25 every year across the country.
And in 2011, 68 young Canadians died in the workplace.
One person is too many.
Being safe and productive in the workplace
is extremely important.
It's important for the Canadian economy
and these students understand that.
As one young man said to me this morning,
I need to get home with all my fingers and toes.
Well, that's what I've been saying across the country.
We're trying to make sure that young guys like you are safe
in the workplace, like what safety precautions are,
you know that you have to wear glasses or work boots.
I think safety is the most important thing
when you are working as a mechanic.
If you get an injury, I think it would be really bad
because it can stay with you your whole life.
Health and safety is extremely important.
What's the point of going to your work if you're not going
home in one piece, right?
My little brother was on a second day at the job
and he was killed in a workplace accident.
This event is really important I think because anytime
we give students a chance to have their voices be heard,
it's a really important issue, especially when it comes
to workplace health and safety.
Making this a priority tells us that the Government of Canada
cares about young people and cares about their future.
How long have you been in the program?
Did you start here in grade 10?
Since September.
Oh, yeah? Liking it?
It's a priority for me to make sure they're safe
in the workplace because a safe workplace means
they are productive.
But in addition to that for the Government of Canada,
making sure you have the skills in the right place for what an
employer needs are essential for growing the economy
and that's exactly what Central Tech is doing.
I really admire everything she's doing with Health and Safety.
I truly believe in what she's doing and it was just a great
opportunity to be beside her and even get to ask questions
and take a picture with her.
It was just amazing like, no words.
We're asking young Canadians from across the country,
for secondary students to submit videos so that we can put them
on Youtube, use them through our entire Labour program
and also enter them into an international competition.
And so I encourage all of you to put your thinking caps on,
think of what that video is so that you can communicate with
Canadians across the country and make our workplaces safer.
For more information on the It's Your Job video contest,
visit labour.gc.ca.
It's your job!