Jim Demeray, left, with Brad Compton of the Saskatchewan Workers Compensation Board, the MC of the event after the talk. (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Youth Safety Education Day 2019

Carlton students learn about workplace safety

Sep 13, 2019 | 3:27 PM

Today has been proclaimed Youth Safety Education Day by the City of Prince Albert.

As part of the occasion students at Carlton Comprehensive High School got to hear from a number of speakers who talked about being safe in the workplace.

A variety groups were on hand for the event, which was put on by Service Hospitality, a non- profit group which provides support to businesses in the hospitality and service sector.

Laura Bence, a safety advisor with Service Hospitality, said educating young people about safety in the workplace is important given that 70 per cent of young people will be getting their first job in that area.

“We want to make sure they’re really understanding how to stay safe at work,” she said.

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Bence added it is important to get youth thinking about safety before they even set foot in the workplace. Education is made all the more important given that 50 per cent of youth will experience an injury within their first six months on the job. Also, on average three young people die every year in a workplace accident.

“We’re just doing what we can to bring those numbers down,” she said.

Presenters touched on a few issues, including rights in the workplace which are the right to know about dangers, the right to participate in safety education and the right to refuse unsafe work. Responsibilities in the workplace were talked about as well.

One of the speakers the kids got the chance to hear from was Jim Demeray, who spoke about the importance of taking care of yourself mentally. During his talk, Demeray talked about his own struggles with depression and anxiety and how it affected him.

Demeray said when he talks about mental health he does it in general terms.

“It can be applied to any part of your life, I don’t need to drive it to workplace specific, but general mental health for any individual makes them more productive and more happy and more functional at work all the time,” he said.

Demeray explained he was motivated to talk about mental health and tell his own story in part because after his father passed away he learned that his father had also struggled with depression for much of his life. Since he started sharing his story in 2011, Demeray has noticed some changes in how the issue is perceived and has also gotten positive reviews from younger kids who have heard it.

“A lot of the kids that we’ve worked with now that we go back and talk with them they say going into high school after kind of learning these skills pre high school has helped them,” he said.

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn