With the end of year looming, many high school and tertiary students will be looking for summer jobs with retail, hospitality, construction and manufacturing trades being the popular choices for those looking for some extra cash. While the jobs may be ‘casual’, research shows that these workers have a high risk of suffering a work-related injury.

Statistics show that young people aged between 15 and 24 are twice as likely to sustain a workplace injury and be hospitalised than any other age group. Some injuries are minor, some are life changing and others are fatal.

In 2007, there were 19,460 compensation claims made in Australia by young workers, with these claims resulting from a fatality, permanent incapacity or temporary incapacity[1]. However according to WorkSafe Victoria, it is estimated that 50 per cent of injuries sustained in the workplace are not reported, as many believe the injury is their fault. This means there was potentially a large number of young workers who got hurt but didn’t make a claim.
 

An important way of avoiding these injuries is to speak up if you’re not sure how to do something safely at work. Young workers should understand that speaking up doesn’t make them a big mouth but it does mean they’ll be around to tell the story.

To this end, the second installment of the Big Mouth Project – a collaboration between some of the world’s most talented artists and WorkSafe Victoria in aid of spreading the word about workplace safety amongst young people – has just kicked off with mixed media artist Jonathan Zawada onboard to tell the story.

Zawada’s interpretation of speaking up in the workplace has come in the form of a zine, consisting of digital drawings around the letters that form the campaign message – ‘Speak Up, Be Work Safe.’ Below is the story behind JZ’s inspiration for  the first five letters of the campaign. 

There’s no two ways about it. To all young workers – the best way to stay safe is to use your mouth and speak up!

Two Mouths

This image illustrates two mouths pointing in different directions and trying to communicate but not connecting. It’s symbolic of how young people would like to speak up but are afraid of the consequences within their workplace.

Eye Inside The Hand

The most common injuries amongst young people are cuts from sharp objects and hot oil burns. Many of these cuts and burns occur to their hands. This picture is symbolic of how your hand has eyes too and is watching the damage being done to your body.

Eyeball Rolling Down The Stairs

This image is inspired by the fact that many injuries occur from falls, trips and slips, and yet not many people report these injuries mostly because they see fractures as minor bodily damage. However if a fall resulted in your eyes being injured, young workers would almost surely report such an injury. Why is it that other parts of your body are not deemed as important?

Broken glass

Some of the most common injuries to young people in hospitality are cuts, wounds and amputations to hands and fingers from broken glass. Everyone knows to avoid broken glass in their everyday life and yet it’s a common occurrence in hospitality that people are hurt from it. This illustration symbolises the need for young workers to slow down and apply the same care at work that they would in their personal life.

Broken bones

Fractured and broken bones occur in almost every industry for young people – whether it be construction, manufacturing, hospitality or retail.  The fact remains that young workers often fall or slip in their working environment. The image illustrates how the most simplest of accidents, such as a trip or fall, can still result in significant damage.