WorkSafeNB is pleased to announce the winners of its annual Focus on Safety student video competition.
This year’s winning video, La sécurité en mer, ça s’apprend, was created by Audrey Lagacé, Guillaume Doiron and Gabriel Downing from École Marie-Esther in Shippagan. Their video takes an insightful look at fishing industry safety – a topic that is not only relevant to New Brunswickers, but one WorkSafeNB is actively working to address through recent changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which now recognizes fishing vessels as workplaces.
“We were incredibly impressed by their thoughtful approach to this topic,” said Richard Blais, Vice President of Prevention at WorkSafeNB. “Their video shows an understanding of the risks involved in commercial fishing and reflects the very real need for education and awareness in this sector. As we continue our efforts to improve safety at sea, it’s encouraging to see young people taking the lead in spreading this message.”
The first-place winners receive a $1,000 prize, along with a matching award for their school. WorkSafeNB puts this contest on in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety and our provincial winners will go on to compete in the national CCOHS video contest.
“We couldn’t be any prouder. We chose fishing as the topic of our video because it’s such a big part of life in this area of the province,” Lagacé said. “It’s a significant source of revenue and brings so many jobs to the region. A lot of rules surrounding fishing vessels have changed or been introduced over the last few years. A fishing vessel is now considered a workplace, just like a building, so it’s important to comply with the new standards. We wanted to address this topic and inform future generations of fishers.”
Lagacé said she plans to use her portion of the prize to save toward future studies and the school will use the money to invest back in the multimedia program so students can continue to create similar creative projects.
Second place went to Centre Scolaire Samuel-de-Champlain students Zachary Bourgeois and Sasha Van Kessel for their video Projet sécurité pour les employeurs, while Centre Scolaire Samuel-de-Champlain’s Juliette Vie and teammates Martin Bourque and Noah Ouellette claimed third place with Un message aux employeurs: La securite avant tout. All winners received cash prizes and matching funds for their schools.
WorkSafeNB extends congratulations to all participants for their creativity, passion, and commitment to safety.
“These students are the future of our workforce,” Blais said. “By thinking critically about safety now, they’re helping us build a stronger safety culture for tomorrow and making New Brunswick the safest place to work.”
To learn more about workplace safety in the fishing industry, visit: worksafenb.ca/fishing
(For English translation select Closed Captioning (cc) at the bottom of the video, then click the gear icon to select auto-translate)