Workplaces rife with danger up in Canada Prevent-it.ca, a workplace saftey group in Canada, has a few PSAs out that are as graphic as anything on American TV, although they are grasping at a larger point. This one caught me off guard, as did this one. Who, aside from hockey fans, knew these Canadians had it in them? An American who fell through a glass coffee table like that would collapse into bloody panic and begin suing anyone close enough to feel the arterial spray. But for a first attempt at disquieting, unexpected violence, it’s not half bad. We should lend them Steven Seagal to help them kick things into high gear. We need to get rid of him anyway. —Posted by David Kiefaber

November 12, 2007 in Kiefaber | Permalink

Comments

---

Oh man, that second one (the burn victim) is horrific. Remind me never to go to Canada.

Posted by: Canadaphobic | Nov 12, 2007 1:13:52 PM

ummm... gross

Posted by: | Nov 12, 2007 9:39:29 PM

No one would argue that workplace safety is not important. However, these gory ads are an elaborate social marketing campaign orchestrated to manipulate the public into talking about accidents, safety and prevention rather than talking about the failure of workers compensation boards to compensate the victims. WCBs in each Canadian province (and in the US) have come under a lot of scrutiny for their avoidance of paying fair compensation to disabled workers. The fact that people are talking about the ads rather than the dysfunctionality of the WCB system shows that this orchestrated social manipulation campaign is working.

WCBs in Canada and the US represent employers (the only ones paying into the fund). Therefore WCBs will do whatever they can to lower fees for corporations. One way is by denying compensation payments to disabled workers. But this would be socially unacceptable unless the public can also be manipulated into believing that the worker is somehow negligent or at fault for causing the accident. In this social marketing campaign, WCBs are subtly adopting the language of the anti-drunk-driver campaign - " zero tolerance" "negligence", etc. to manipulate public attitudes towards injured workers. They also use the term "accidents" rather than "injuries" to take the focus away from the person and onto the event. These ads, and other orchestrated 'social engineering' techniques lay the foundation for WCBs to justify a reduction in injury compensation payments to disabled workers by manipulating public attitudes toward disabled workers.

Those injured workers in the videos would realistically spend the rest of their lives in poverty fighting the WCB for compensation.

The way to reduce injuries is to make companies accountable for workplace safety violations through realistic fees, not protect unsafe companies from these higher fees by denying disabled workers' claims.

If you think the WSIB's ads are scary, check out the Canadian Injured Workers Society at http://www.ciws.ca for a real eye-opener!

Posted by: | Jan 12, 2008 6:21:13 PM

Totally. Thanks for that response, which I have just found. I have been looking for some way to show my revulsion for these disgusting spots and the blame the victim philosophy behind them. Now there are new ones out.

Is there somewhere I could participate in a campaign against them? My last try to complain to the Advertising Standards Board and other bodies met with absolutely no response, almost as if a fix were in.

Could I repost this response on a networking site? I would be glad to email you if there were some way you found acceptable.

Posted by: | Nov 1, 2008 11:55:12 PM

Post a comment

Name:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments:

The opinions expressed in comments are those of the individual poster. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Adweek or Nielsen Business Media. Comments of a promotional nature or comments that are otherwise inappropriate may be removed.