Tips For Parents

It is important for parents to talk to their children about health and safety on the job. Don’t assume that someone else is looking out for your child while they’re at work.

Keep your children safe at work with these quick tips:

• Start to talk to your children about job safety as soon as they start to look for work.
• Have your 14 or 15 year old take the Young Worker Readiness Certificate Course from the Ministry of Advanced Education, Employment and Labour.
• Encourage them to ask about safety procedures when they go to a job interview.
• Inform them that they should expect safety training when they start a new job and that they should not be afraid to walk away from a job if they feel it is unsafe.
• Remind them that NO job or rate of pay is worth an injury or worse. Fingers, eyes and life cannot be replaced. A new job can always be found.
• If your children are already working, find out as much as possible about the conditions in which they work.
• Talk to them about their jobs, not just the pay and benefits, but about the actual tasks they take on. Use your built-in parent radar to detect potential risks and ask them how safety is handled on the job.
• Help prevent workplace injuries. Let your children know that you want them to say, “No,” to unsafe work and that you’ll support them in that decision. As they saying goes – better safe than sorry!