From New Canadian Workers: New Home in One Piece by students at Sir Charles Tupper Secondary

Home in one piece: What motivates you, your friends, or your family to come home safely from work?

That was the 2012 theme for the seventh annual WorkSafeBC Student Safety Video Contest – which generated 66 YouTube entries, representing the work of 195 students from 135 schools.

A number of safety organizations sponsored the project and took part in the judging process – using criteria from WorkSafeBC – including ACTSafe, the organization that promotes health and safety in the performing arts and motion picture industries. I spoke with Dawn Brennan, ACTSafe’s general manager, about her experience as a judge.

“It was such an amazing gamut of videos,” Dawn said, describing how she and her staff met and watched them together. ” I love the fact that high school kids took this seriously. The messages were all so varied but interesting, and it was such emotional impact they made. A couple had me in tears.”

Dawn said she enjoyed talking with the creators about their work, when she met them at an awards ceremony. One was very interested in film-making as a career, and Dawn says she is going to distribute the students’ videos to her network of industry contacts.

Congratulations to all winners – and thanks for doing your part to share an important message.