The Saskatchewan Safety Council (SSC), the Saskatchewan Common Ground Alliance (SCGA) and the Heavy Construction Safety Association of Saskatchewan (HCSAS) have partnered together to create an online safety construction program, aimed at youth aged 14-21.

The “Ground Disturbance for Saskatchewan Workers” training initiative is available on the SSC website at sasksafety.org. The idea is to instill safe working skills to potential future young employees in the field.

The group says underground facility damage is a $1 billion problem in Canada every year – and Saskatchewan is the first jurisdiction in North America to use this online youth training program to help tackle it.

Derrick Mann, SCGA President says, “The cost to the economy of these incidents is significant, but more importantly, there is also a risk of injury and even death from events that are most often entirely preventable.”

Mann says, developing safety habits when one is young “produces a lifetime of benefits” by that person becoming a role model to champion safe behavior.

The approximately 3-hour online course is free.