The Workers Health & Safety Centre (WHSC) invites high school students to submit an entry for the 14^th annual WHSC Student Scholarship Initiative.
 
Applicants are asked to write an essay, design a poster or produce a video that will raise the profile of workplace health and safety among young and other new workers in their community. Though this profile includes worker death and suffering, it also focuses on the efforts needed to achieve safer and healthier workplaces.
 
According to the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB), 67 Ontario workers between the ages of 15-24 were killed at work over the 10 year period between 2003 and 2012. Tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands more suffered injuries and/or were exposed to harmful chemicals that can lead to cancer and other occupational diseases years down the road. 
 
Just last summer Ministry of Labour (MOL) inspectors visited more than 2,300 workplaces in the industrial and health care sector focusing on new and young workers. They issued in excess of 8,500 orders requiring employers to comply with a minimum safety obligation by a certain date. These obligations are outlined in the Occupational Health & Safety Act and regulations. In 201 instances, the risk to worker health was so high the inspector issued an immediate stop work order.
 
According to the MOL, lack of training and supervision as well as unsafe working conditions were some of the more common reasons orders were issued.
 
All workers have the right to be protected on the job. And the legal duty to ensure this occurs rests ultimately with the employer.
 
The WHSC Student Scholarship Initiative is designed to help shed light on the risks faced by workers new to a job. Equally important, the initiative seeks to focus on the reasonable precautions employers must take for the protection of all workers. 
 
These reasonable precautions include significant training and supervisory obligations. 
 
The WHSC Student Scholarship Initiative is open to any student residing in Ontario and beginning their first year of full or part-time studies leading to a degree, diploma or certificate from a publicly-funded Ontario College or University. Entrants must not have graduated high school prior to summer of 2013. 
 
Two successful candidates from each media category will be eligible to receive a $1,200 scholarship.
 
The submission deadline for the 2014 WHSC Student Scholarship Initiative is Friday, June 13, 2014. Winners will be announced in fall 2014.
 
Want to know more about the 2014 WHSC Student Scholarship Initiative?
 
Want to access the many WHSC Young Worker resources?

Want to know how the WHSC can help workplaces better understand and meet the extensive training obligations for all workplace parties including new and young workers and supervisors?


For additional information about WHSC training or information resources:
Call:        1-888-869-7950
Email:     contactus@whsc.on.ca
Online:   www.whsc.on.ca