Category: Training & education

Photo of a group of high school students talking by school lockers

B.C.’s high school curricula is taking a new view of career education. To reflect the changes, WorkSafeBC updated its Student WorkSafe program for teachers.  B.C. teachers and students are taking a new approach to career education this year. They are using a new curriculum that allows students to focus more on their own unique goals […]

Photo of a man in a first aid class checking airway of CPR dummy

WorkSafeBC updated its occupational first aid training in July 2018. The changes make it easier for students to remember what to do in an emergency.  WorkSafeBC’s occupational first aid (OFA) training requirements changed on July 1, 2018. To find out more about what’s different, I contacted Dan Westerby, manager of WorkSafeBC’s Certification Services. Essentially, the […]

Photo of people buying food from food trucks

Operating a food truck is a dream for many. Here are some of the most common safety issues for mobile food vendors and tips on how to prevent them.  Notice how many food trucks there are nowadays? Over the years, I’ve seen more and more of them. You can even download this Street Food App […]

Photo of worker in safety gear abseiling down from a tower

NAOSH Week 2018 is May 6 to 12. Everyone can participate; it doesn’t matter if your plans are big or small. Need inspiration? Here’s what others have done.  North American Occupational Health and Safety (NAOSH) Week, also known as Safety and Health Week, is an annual event for employers, workers, and the community to talk […]

Photo of debris around shipping container that exploded

Storing even a small amount of flammable material in a shipping container can lead to an explosion. Adequate ventilation is crucial for safety.  Shipping containers have long been used for transporting goods across the ocean – they’re secure, mobile, and watertight. These features are also why more people outside the shipping industry are using them […]

Photo of hands in work gloves, making notes on a clipboard

Read one manager’s tips for getting buy-in during safety talks. He honed his skills at BC Construction Safety Alliance’s Train the Safety Trainer course.  Russell Thompson is an environmental technologist and OHS manager for McCue Engineering Contractors. It’s a company that designs, builds, and operates water treatment systems throughout western Canada. Sometimes he gives safety talks […]

Photo of large truck descending narrow B.C. highway

Large trucks need much more room to stop and to turn than passenger vehicles. They have many blind spots. Leave space to stay safe when sharing the road.  Driving the narrow, winding highway to and from Tofino this past summer, I saw passenger vehicles making stupid, careless moves around big rigs. One of the worst […]

Photo of Nanaimo fire chief Karen Fry, cropped for grid

As Nanaimo’s newest fire chief – and its first-ever female fire chief – Karen Fry says the key to safety is dealing with issues as soon as they arise.  Karen Fry is the City of Nanaimo’s newest fire chief. She says it’s important for management to show staff that their health and safety is important. […]

Photo of blinding sun and a thermometer showing it's hot

We’re having a heat wave in B.C. This raises safety concerns for people working outside. Please review these tips for keeping workers safe.  It’s a hot one this summer in B.C. Not only are we dealing with wildfires, but we’re also facing record-breaking temperatures. Last year in B.C., there were 16 claims for work-related injuries […]

Photo of older man with head in his hands

A New Brunswick student’s two-minute video shows how one young worker’s decision had consequences that lasted a lifetime.  It’s “so dramatic and suspenseful.” That’s how a teen worker describes the video that won the 2017 Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) national student video competition. (You can also watch the video below.) The […]