Local youth attend national safety conference

Oliver Langdon, Minister of Environment and Labour, has announced that 10 young Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will be attending a national conference on Youth Health and Safety in the Workplace being held in Ottawa from October 15 to 18.

The conference will bring together youth representation from all jurisdictions in Canada for an intense three days of presentations and panel discussions from an impressive list of keynote speakers. In addition to approximately 140 youth delegates, it is anticipated there will be 300 other delegates from business, labour, academia, government and other sectors.

While attending the conference some of our youth will also be taking an active role by introducing keynote speakers, as well as thanking speakers and panellists. One of our youth, Christopher Smith will actually be making a presentation on workplace partnership in health and safety at the conference.

"The health and safety of our youth in the workplace is a serious issue," said the minister. "Our youth experience a disproportionately high percentage of injuries in the workplace. By supporting this national initiative we hope to create a greater awareness of the need for all stakeholders to work together to better understand health and safety issues confronting young workers."

Minister Langdon also stated that this conference will serve to emphasize the responsibility of employers to provide a safe and healthy workplace for their workers and for workers to ensure they work in a safe manner for their protection and the protection of their fellow workers.

"We all have a clear responsibility to ensure the health and safety of our workforce," he said. "We owe it to ourselves, to our co-workers and to our families to come home safe at the end of our workday."

Media contact: Sean Kelly, Communications, (709) 729-2575.

Selected Youth Delegates to Youth Conference: