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The 3rd Annual Cade Sprackman Safety Day, held on June 1st at the Hudson Bay Community School, was an inspirational example of what a community dedicated to injury prevention can do. With the help of community volunteers, grades K-6 participated in a bike rodeo, and outdoor survival lessons. Grades 7–12 students interacted with several industry and health professionals, learning about a variety of workplace and recreational safety topics throughout the day.  Cade Sprackman was a Hudson Bay Community School graduate, who was fatally injured in a workplace incident. Cade’s story is always remembered in this community, and we thank the Sprackman family for sharing their experience. Saskatchewan workers under the age of 25 are at the highest risk of injury, with over 3,000 injuries being reported annually. On June 1st, 2022, Hudson Bay, SK showed us the power of a community inspired to prevent young people from being injured or killed.
To kick off the event, Cade’s parents, Michelle and Jerry Sprackman, delivered a speech that inspired students, teachers, and community volunteers. With the audience’s focus squarely on them, they spoke about Cade’s journey. From Hudson Bay to Saskatoon, inspired by his dream of attending arts school, Cade committed himself to a hazardous new job to earn money for his education. Three weeks into his new position, Cade suffered a fatal injury. This was a powerful message for the youth in attendance, coming from parents who are forever inspired to see their community prevent young workers from harm. A quiet, focused gymnasium was reminded how precious life truly is. As the students began activities for the day, it was apparent they were having fun interacting with the 32 Skill Demonstration Stations that cycle through the Amazing Safety Quest. K-6 students enjoyed a bike rodeo, as well as demonstrations centered around water safety, farm safety, and outdoor safety. Grades 7–12 learned the importance of being safe at work, practicing skills that ensure health and safety are present in every workplace. With many of these students already employed part-time, the hands-on training came at a very opportune time for them.
Feedback received from students indicated that they enjoyed learning about the injury prevention topics through hands-on activities. A team named “Team Tigers” shared that “The Amazing Safety Quest kept us engaged about safety” and that “All of the activities were fun”. Each Team in the Amazing Safety Quest also voted for their favorite Skill Demonstration Station. For some, it was the Mental Health station, for others it was ladder safety, an AED station, the ATV station, a fatal impairment activity, distracted walking, or the lift and carry station. Collecting points through their “Team Passport”, the teams enjoyed a competitive element, spurring their motivation to score high at each station.
Teachers and Community volunteers mentioned how phenomenal it was to see so many local organizations coming together for this year’s Cade Sprackman Safety Day. The station volunteers were made up of local volunteers from health, education, and industry. One volunteer said:
The day prior, grade 10-12 students completed an in-person Defensive Driving Course which emphasized the importance of becoming a defensive driver on the road, citing law requirements, safe driving behaviors, and best practice techniques. Hudson Bay, like many Saskatchewan communities, relies on secondary and rural roads. Youth can use the tools and standards learned in the course to evaluate their own driving. The Saskatchewan Safety Council will continue to share Cade’s story, to help promote the importance of safety training and to prevent injuries and fatalities in the workplace. Career Safety Education is a FREE online program for youth in Saskatchewan, and with the support of our annual Members, Sponsors, and Donations, a wide variety of additional training is FREE for everyone in the province. Grade 10–12 students completed Career Safety Education before the annual Cade Sprackman Safety Day. Do you feel an Amazing Safety Quest could benefit your community? You can host your own Amazing Safety Quest, and the materials will be provided for you to do so. Contact Us for materials and information! The Saskatchewan Safety Council has partnered with the Ministry of Education to review and provide feedback on strengthening injury prevention and safety procedures and practices in Saskatchewan curriculums. What will change for Saskatchewan students, educators, and school communities? The MOU that has been signed forms an integral part of the Community Safety Education Strategy.  Photo: Reagan Coppicus, A Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP), delivers Fire Extinguisher training to high school students. (archive photo) What is the Community Safety Education Strategy? The Community Safety Education Strategy (CSES) was created in 2019 to provide school divisions a unified strategic approach to ensure education stakeholders are informed, involved, and engaged in creating a culture of safety for students, employees, and community. Why was the Community Safety Education Strategy created? A solution to ending our provincial unintentional injury epidemic lies in teaching future generations injury prevention values at an early age. Developing a cultural norm with injury prevention as a core value, however, takes a collaborative effort among students, parents, staff, community members, government, and industry. The Community Safety Education Strategy provides the necessary structure for this initiative. Integral to the strategy are four pillars:  How does the Saskatchewan Safety Council contribute to this strategy? The Saskatchewan Safety Council has focused attention on High Quality Teaching and Learning. In December 2021, Saskatchewan Safety Council and Saskatchewan Ministry of Education signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the intent to support and enable Saskatchewan curriculums to incorporate injury prevention (safety) outcomes and indicators where appropriate; and provide injury prevention resources that are supported by industry with best practice standards in health and safety.  Photo: Barbara Compton, Community Safety Education Strategy Coordinator The Ministry of Education Curriculum Unit reviews new and renewed curriculum documents that are used by teachers. Working closely with the Saskatchewan Safety Council Community Safety Education Strategy Coordinator, Barbara Compton; B.ED & M.ED Curriculum and Instruction, two-way communication is facilitated with feedback being provided on opportunities to strengthen injury prevention and safety procedures and practices. The Council works with the Ministry of Education to provide safety expertise from Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (CRSP's) in developing outcomes and indicators that will be embedded in new and existing curriculums. The Council works with the ministry to either source appropriate resources, or where resources cannot be found, create custom resources to meet learning outcomes. Ministry approved resources are then posted on the provincial curriculum website to ensure teachers, regardless of geographical locations, have access to valuable teaching tools. What does this mean for the education community?
The intended goal of this MOU is well-informed students, surrounded by healthy physical and social environments in community that supports living injury free. Though there is now a structure in place to ensure high quality learning outcomes are reached, this process needs feedback from those on the front lines in Saskatchewan education settings to cite areas where improvement is needed. Educators that deliver these curriculums will be in position to identify opportunities to include or improve injury prevention language and skills. As injury prevention finds its way into curriculums, educators embracing these changes will champion injury prevention and safety skills for youth, paving the way for improved injury prevention outcomes not only in the workplace, but in recreation, leisure, and all areas of life as well. Looking for easy-to-use safety education material? Free Community Safety Resources are available. An abundance of caution March of 2020, we will remember it for years to come. To keep Saskatchewan Safety Council volunteers safe, we postponed in-person content creation, translations, or events until it was safe to do so. Today, we continue to live with Covid-19, but now we are more cautious and prepared. In 2021, our Saskatchewan Safety Council Volunteer Team jumped at the chance to participate in content creation, translation, and events. We had the pleasure of listening to New Canadian families describe their experiences coming to Saskatchewan, their safety concerns, and the community groups that helped them find resources. Our Content Team met community members discussing addictions and substance abuse, and Seniors in Saskatchewan showed us the beautiful benefits of “keep it moving”! Welcoming volunteers in 2022 Speaking about mental health, in January of 2022 we extended an invitation to participate in a mental health resource video. Our staff and volunteers answered the call generously, with 13 participants volunteering to participate! Those who were involved in this mental health resource video shared their thoughts on why being open and speaking up about mental health is important to them. Each volunteer had their own thoughts, their own opinions, but one message remained the same, “Don't hide it, speak up”! Videos like this need to be translated into other languages spoken across Saskatchewan. If you are bilingual and interested in translating safety video resources or text material, please email [email protected]. For those who have moved to Saskatchewan from another province or country, you know how difficult it can be to understand information that is only available in English. Our resources, and the services that Saskatchewan Safety Council has to offer, can benefit any community and injury prevention services are available for all ages. To be prepared, understanding the information completely is necessary, and you can help members of your community by translating this content. Looking forward, our Volunteer Team will have an important role in future content creation pieces and events. Our Safety Centre of Excellence site will need support, not just during the construction phase, but as operations kick into gear the help of the community and our Volunteer Team will be integral to this success of this project. Please volunteer, share, and subscribe for updates on this amazing news, a long-time dream is finally in the stages of coming true.
 Are you our next Community Safety Champion?
Why become a volunteer with Saskatchewan Safety Council? We can’t complete our mission to Create a Province of Safety Excellence without you! Whether it is being involved in our video resources, on camera, translating important safety messaging and resources, becoming a Community Safety Champion or Social Media Advocate, or being a part of an Event Steering Committee, each role helps to support the work that we do and supports the prevention of injuries from happening in Saskatchewan. When they say it takes a village, that statement couldn’t be more true. Join us and complete a Volunteer Application Request today: https://www.sasksafety.org/volunteer.html. |
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