Service NL
December 15, 2014

The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Tony Cornect, Minister of Service NL:

St. Kevin’s High School Develops Workplace Health and Safety iBook

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to recognize St. Kevin’s High School in Goulds for developing the first in a series of iBook textbooks focused on workplace health and safety that will be shared with students around the province and the globe.

The Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission was proud to provide $22,000 in funding to support this innovative project which establishes St. Kevin’s High School as a centre of excellence for student-created safety iBook textbooks. By providing high schools students with the technology and resources to develop initiatives such as safety iBooks, we are ensuring that students are better able to learn how their knowledge and attitudes can improve their workplace health and safety.

Young people are the workforce of the future and have unique health and safety challenges. There are a range of factors that impact their well-being, including unsafe working conditions and job-related factors such as heavy workloads, long working hours and inadequate training. Young people are also impacted by a lack of awareness of their rights and responsibilities in the workplace.

Mr. Speaker, the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission has developed important partnerships with schools through educational initiatives such as Safe Work NL’s – Who Wants to Save a Life? game show, the annual Young Worker Safety Radio/Video Ad Contest, Skills Canada competitions, and the high school course Workplace Safety 3220. These initiatives have resulted in students becoming more aware of their rights and responsibilities as they enter the workforce.

As well, these partnerships show that the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission remains committed to making Newfoundland and Labrador workplaces safer for young workers by increasing awareness of workplace health and safety and how to prevent injuries.

Mr. Speaker, we are proud of the work carried out by the students at St. Kevin’s in helping to keep their peers safe at work and I congratulate them on the launch of their iBook textbook. I encourage all students in our province to visit iTunes and download the iBook Introduction to Young Worker Safety for free. It can be viewed using the iBooks App on any iPad or MacBook computer.

Thank you Mr. Speaker.

2014 12 15                                       1:55 p.m.