National youth safety video contest launched

The government of Canada has launched its second annual national youth video conference. The "It's Your Job!" contest aims to increase awareness of workplace safety and to reduce workplace accidents and injuries among young workers.
The video contest challenges Canadian high school students to use their creativity to raise awareness of risks in the workplace and teach Canadians how to protect themselves. Young people are more likely than adults to be injured on the job. They work 10 per cent of the hours of all workers, but injure themselves at a rate of 16 per cent, said the government.

Students can participate through their respective province or territory. The provincial and territorial winners will become eligible for two national awards: one chosen by a group of judges and another which allows Canadians to vote for their favourite. 

The first place secondary school video at the Canadian finals will be awarded $2,000, second place will receive $1,500 and third place will receive $1,000. Each winning secondary school will receive a matching prize equal to the total prize awarded to the winning student or team of students.

Employees of provincial or federal workers' compensation boards, provincial and federal ministries and departments of labour and their immediate family members are not eligible.

A selection of the top videos from each province and territory will be posted on a You Tube video contest channel from May 4 to May 12 where Canadian viewers can vote for their favourite video. The video that receives the most votes will receive an additional $1,000 prize. (There is no prize matching for this category).

There are nine judges, including: Rob Ellis, motivational speaker; Shirley Hickman, founder of Threads of Life; Paul Kells, safety culture speaker; and Mag Ruffman, the "Tool Girl."

Click here for more information about the contest: http://www.labour.gc.ca/eng/health_safety/contest/index.shtml.