(Poster image | Courtesy of Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services)
Now is the time for high school students across Oregon to let their creativity flow for a good cause: increasing awareness about workplace safety for young workers.
They will have the opportunity to do so using expanded options and updated rules for the annual contest organized by the Oregon Young Employee Safety Coalition (O[yes]). The 2021 media contest invites participants to do the following:
- Choose one of two themes:
- Hit by or pushed against an object
- Slips, trips or falls on walking surfaces
- Bring the chosen theme to life either by creating a video that is between 30 to 90 seconds in length or by developing a graphic design piece.
- Incorporate a new tagline into the video or graphic design project: “Work. It can be more dangerous than you think.”
The top three entries in each of the two media categories will take home cash prizes ranging from $300 to $500. In each category, the first-place winner’s school, club or organization will receive a matching award.
Some participants may dream up a bold, splashy graphic design to get their message across. Others may grab a smartphone or camera and craft a video that leans on humor or documentary-style seriousness to captivate their audience.
Either way, participants are encouraged to tap their imaginations and inspire young workers to think twice about their personal health and safety at work, and the reality that they could be hurt on the job.
And while they carry out their projects with pizzazz, contestants need to ensure the personal health and safety of their team. That includes avoiding endangering anyone during the creation of your project; ensuring entries do not depict unsafe behavior or show participants not following COVID-19 guidance; and following Oregon Health Authority guidance for COVID-19.
The deadline for submissions is 5pm, Friday, February 19, 2021.
Participants are encouraged to submit entries online. Submissions may also be mailed on a USB thumb drive. Contest winners will be unveiled during a streaming event in spring 2021.
For more information about the entry form and rules, contest expectations and resources — including graphic design examples and 2020 finalist videos — visit the O[yes] online contest page.
The contest sponsors are local Oregon chapters of the American Society of Safety Professionals, Construction Safety Summit, Central Oregon Safety & Health Association, Hoffman Construction Company, Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences at OHSU, Oregon OSHA, SafeBuild Alliance, SAIF Corporation and Oregon SHARP Alliance.
