Small videos bringing big perspective to workplace safety

In commercial transportation, and all industries, a safe workplace is a successful one.

The Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA) is aiding fleets in ensuring a safe workplace with the production 17 initial educational micro-learn videos – the first of which, Jumping to Contusions – was released in December 2020.

This micro-learning project stemmed from a casual conversation between the AMTA and Full Carrier Member Canada Cartage at an association Regional Meeting early 2020.

“The AMTA created an outline for the project, worked with Canada Cartage’s yard, trucks and staff for shooting video, then edited everything together to create a series of short micro-learning videos covering topics like slips, trips and falls and sleep awareness,” explained Rob Destree, Senior Instructor, Driver Development, AMTA, who edited and produced the videos. “Micro-learning videos can be used during a staff meeting, reviewed as a safety topic, or hosted on various platforms to reach employees individually.”

“As a member of the AMTA, we felt this partnership was a great opportunity to further educate employees on safety in an effort to prevent workplace injuries,” added Tony Palmerio, National Safety and Compliance Manager, Canada Cartage. “Being COR certified in Alberta, Canada Cartage is committed to workplace safety, and by uniting with AMTA, we felt this was a great channel to maintain and bolster our educational portfolio to meet the provincial requirements issued by the Alberta Labour Board.”

According to the Workers’ Compensation Board of Alberta, slip, trip, and fall incidents are one of the most common injury claims. Nearly 14 per cent of lost time claims between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 (percentage based on WCB data collected from 2017-2019) are a result of falling from the same level.

Workplace safety concerns include proper footwear, three points of contact, shop cleanliness, worksite inspections, driver fatigue and fitness, situational awareness, weather, looking out for others, and job pressures. These micro-learn videos are short, and clear in their delivery for a variety of the aforementioned issues aiding whoever views them in working on their own safety practices.

The AMTA also has future plans of packaging the videos and offering them as educational bundles in order for industry to have them quick to hand to potentially increase and improve their safety practices.

“Access to safety videos is very important to fleets like Canada Cartage.  These videos visually educate employees on important safety lessons,” said Palmerio. “They also illustrate the importance of critical safety issues such as thinking before acting, and the repercussions of our actions.  Videos are a great way of disseminating knowledge about safety techniques, with emphasis on personal responsibility and increased awareness.  The videos also stress safe driving techniques, providing practical advice to minimize the risks of driving in potentially dangerous situations, increasing public safety.  These videos teach us that safety does not just happen, but that it requires commitment and participation by everyone.”

“Safety is at the utmost height of everything the AMTA does, and we know how important a safe workplace is to our membership,” said Michelle Spacil, AMTA Education Manager.

For more information on micro-learn videos, and everything the AMTA offers, visit amta.ca.