Image from the video Eye Warned You, by students in Grades 10 to 12, Walnut Grove Secondary, Langley
I found it very interesting that one of the 2014 Student Video Contest winners looks at the dangers of fatigue on the job – a topic very much on the radar of industry today.
It’s the first time the topic of fatigue has been covered in a student video, says Robin Schooley, a young and new worker industry specialist, who ran the contest with her team at WorkSafeBC. Very timely.
Eye Warned You by students in Grades 10 to 12 at Walnut Grove Secondary in Langley reminds us that late nights playing games online and watching YouTube can lead to fatigue the next morning, which is dangerous in the workplace.
If you live with a teen – or you are one – you will probably relate to this video. In fact, I know from personal experience it’s a topic of much conflict between the generations. But I myself have stayed up too late, drawn from one thing to another online, so I understand how it happens.
It’s also the first time a French language video was submitted, along with a category for Vine and its high-impact, seven-second video format. Altogether, WorkSafeBC received 55 videos created by about 170 students. The videos were posted on YouTube, where viewers voted for their favourites.
“Sure, we have 55 videos with an average of three or four people per film – and when they’re posted online, how many other people are watching them?” said Robin, when I called to talk about how it went this year.
“It’s a ripple effect when one student makes one video – from their own personal experience of researching it, writing it, and, once they have a script, casting it and acting it out. It all reinforces the health and safety messages for them, and also for all the different people involved in their world who are exposed to it,” Robin said.
“And of course once it’s on YouTube – all the tens of thousands more people are exposed to the message. It’s so powerful – and because it’s created by youth for a youth audience, it’s really one generation speaking to itself.”
I asked Robin what advice she had for students who might want to take part in 2015 – the 10th anniversary of this contest, judged by WorkSafeBC and industry partners.
“No matter what the theme is, think about, as a student, how you can connect personally to the topic,” Robin said. “Whenever we bring something personal into developing something creative, it’s going to feel more natural and come across as more authentic. Find something you can connect to – whether it’s something you’ve seen your parents or your friends do. Find something you have an emotional response to, and when you incorporate that, people generally feel it’s more authentic.”
That’s very good advice – and I thank Robin for sharing it.
