New Workplace Safety Ads Pack Graphic, Emotional Punch

The Workers Compensation Board of Prince Edward Island has unveiled a new social marketing campaign emphasizing the importance of workplace health and safety. The campaign focuses on the life-changing effects of workplace injuries by using television and radio ads. Limbs mangled in a warehouse fall, a hand severed by a meat saw, and an upper body crushed by a fallen forklift are all images depicted in the television spots. The loss of a father’s eyesight, a mother learning to walk again, and a burn victim, are depicted through the words of injured workers in the radio spots.

George MacDonald, Chair of the Workers Compensation Board, said that “The new ads will raise necessary awareness about the importance of workplace health and safety in Prince Edward Island. A recent national poll found that 61% of Atlantic Canadians believe workplace injury is inevitable or just a part of life. This suggests that workplace injury is not on the general public’s radar screen and that the prevailing attitude is that workplace injury can’t be prevented. We want to change this,” said MacDonald. “The fact is that workplace injury is largely preventable through awareness and education.”

MacDonald explained that “The new commercials grab your attention because the concept is both eye opening and realistic – A Workplace Injury can Change Your Life forever!” Focus groups consisting of Island workers and employers provided direct input into the concept. They reported that they wanted to see the injury in the workplace combined with its emotional impact, especially the impact on family. They also indicated that the injuries should be realistically depicted without focusing on blame. MacDonald said “Their input was essential in creating the final product. These ads really do make you think about the terrible consequences of workplace injuries.”

Carol Anne Duffy, Chief Executive Officer for the Workers Compensation Board, said that “changing attitudes about workplace health and safety is integral to realizing our prevention goals and social marketing is one way we’re helping to build a safety culture in Prince Edward Island. In 2003, when asked how important safety was to them in their day to day work, 79% of employed Islanders said it was important, or critically important. This statistic is encouraging, but we can do better. We want everyone to think before they act and understand that safety matters at work.”

Other key components of the Workers Compensation Board’s injury prevention goals include the Safety Matters@Work, Experience Counts program. This program was launched in 2004 in an effort to tie more closely together the WCB focus on workplace health and safety with employer classification and rate setting systems. Employers with improving experience will see their premiums reduced while Employers with worsening experience will see higher premiums. The bottom line is that making workplace safety a priority means improved health and quality of life for workers and lower assessment rates and more profitable businesses for employers.

The television ads started April 19 and the radio ads begin on April 30. The campaign marks the first ever inter-provincial cooperation in social marketing between Workers Compensation Boards and or Commissions. The Workplace Health Safety and Compensation Commission of Newfoundland and the Workers Compensation Board of Nova Scotia have shared development costs with Prince Edward Island’s Workers Compensation Board.

For more information contact Mark Barrett:

Tel: (902) 894-0362
Email: mabarrett@wcb.pe.ca