Employees

As if it isn't hard enough to get a decent job in a new country, recent stats bear out that immigrant workers are more likely to get hurt at work than native-born employees. Two new studies by the The Institute for Work & Health (IWH), an independent, not-for-profit organization, compare work conditions and injury rates between immigrants and workers born in Canada, and come up with some startling conclusions.

Duane Craig writes in his excellent article, Manslaughter on the Jobsite at the blog, The Construction Informer: "There is another side to safety on construction sites... the overwhelming difficulty in getting people to voluntarily comply with safety rules on the job and having enough visibility into what is really going on to make them think twice about not complying."

I don't know about you, but my thoughts fly to factories, lumber yards, mine shafts and construction sites when I think of workplace safety... but I'm learning that there are risks in jobs I wouldn't have thought risky.

Well, today is April Fool's Day and I am sure that if I had more time on my hands I would be trying to think about a good prank or two that I could play on my husband and kids. Instead though I've been trying to think about how I can take a group of city kids that I mentor to the "next level" and let me assure you this is no laughing matter.  

Just imagine the safety risks when you get passed by a 90-year-old truck driver; that’s what you might be faced with in the future as the skilled labour shortage becomes a leading economic issue.

As a business owner I preferred hiring experienced workers over the younger Y and X generation employees. Although Boomers' ability to grasp all the new computer programming was not quick, they seemed to rely on their experience in working with people, problems and possibilities. Boomers were also reliable and loyal members of the working family.