Student, 15, Speaks Out about Safety at Work, in Sports

AJ, 15, a student at Stephen Leacock Secondary School in Scarborough, Ontario, was one of the entrants in the MySafeWork essay contest; part of her essay is shown here:

Students at work continue to get injured on the job. There are many reasons for this happening. Some are not properly trained, some are not trained at all, some are careless, or they don't work in a safe environment.

There are many reasons why students should be properly trained, but when someone get's injured, it's always a matter of who is responsible for it. I would think that sometimes employees are responsible for being careless, not having a safe work environment, or not asking questions.

It could also be the employer's fault for not giving the employee proper training, or not giving them training at all. I haven't really had experience in that area yet but I know I will soon.

It's not all about the money

Some people would say that working is all about the money. I don't think that working is entirely all about money. If you don't have experience or are properly trained, but you are in that area of work because it's a high paying job, it doesn't really make sense. You don't work efficiently, you get fired, you have no money.

Experience or training is worth a lot these days. If you don't have any, it's hard to get a job (especially a high paying one). Learning Experience in a safe environment is very important. If you don't have proper training and experience you are more susceptible to injury. I think a lot of companies try to prevent accidental injuries and deaths. Experience helps to work safely in any area.

Safety in sports

Safety innovation in sports is introducing new ideas and changes about safety to sports. For example, in hockey there is no high-sticking so no one get's hit with a stick. You could also just wear the protective gear that is required. The new ideas can be used to replace non-safe actions while playing sports, or wearing safety gear to be protected from unsafe actions.

There aren't many leaders that are visible examples of sports and safety. I've tried to research leaders and celebrities that portray safety in sports but none of them are really known to. It is really important to practice playing sports or making sports safe. For example, it is possible to play a football game safely. That is why there are rules. The rules are also safety guidlines that need to be followed in order to play. If we play smart and play safe, things going wrong and people getting hurt would be less likely. However, there are coaches at schools that pratice safe sports. They teach the classes and teams to play properly without getting hurt. Other than coaches in schools there are coaches outside of schools that have little leagues. It is good to learn safe sporting starting from a young age, and to control their temper.