MandatE

In Quebec in 2003, 522,000 young people were employed and represented 16% of the working population. While more than half of them work part-time, they suffer more injuries than their older colleagues, who mainly work full-time. Why is this so? Is it the fact that they are new workers? Is it that they lack training? Or is it simply because they are young? Are they exposed to different risks? Many questions remain unanswered...

Since the spring of 2004, the IRSST has been focusing its efforts on better identifying the issues that affect young people and occupational health and safety as part of an initiative called Opération JEUNESST. The latter is based on a troubling observation regarding compensation statistics for young workers 15 to 24 years of age, on evidence of transformations in types of jobs and the labour market in the current social, economic and political context, and on the fact that today’s young people seem to have values that are unique to them, but that also reflect all these societal changes.

The mandate of Opération JeuneSST is to plan, organize and implement a research development strategy regarding young people and occupational health and safety, thereby allowing the IRSST to support the interventions of the CSST, the OHS network and workplaces.