Take Our Kids to Work Program 2022

Every year the Upper Grand District School Board, the Wellington Catholic District School Board along with other Ontario school boards co-ordinate a Take Our Kids to Work program whereby Grade 9 students accompany their parent to work and observe them in their daily role as an employee.

The University supports this initiative and wishes to ensure that the experience for these students, who may shadow parents at University workplaces on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 is both a safe and a productive one.

All school boards require that parents sign a waiver and the University will also require a signed Release and Indemnification Form from the parent or guardian of any student who is participating in this initiative. A copy of this form may be found on our Tours page and you may make photocopies.  

Application:
The signed Release and Indemnification Form is to be forwarded to Environmental Health and Safety ASAP for tours and on or before Friday, October 28, 2022 as they tend to fill up really quickly. Permission to bring a student into the workplace must be obtained and authorized by the Dean/Designate or Director/Designate of your workplace.

Program Outline:

• It is important that the Take Our Kids to Work program commence with a mandatory safety orientation in the parent’s host department, to review pertinent health and safety awareness, workplace-specific risks and local safe work procedures.
• Ensure any required personal safety equipment (e.g.. safety glasses) and written safety instructions (e.g. workplace safety rules) are provided to the student. Students must remain under supervision throughout the day.  
• Under no circumstances shall students be permitted to operate motorized vehicles or farm equipment.

Every year, several tours are arranged in order to provide insight into unique facets of the Guelph campus, and to enable participation where shadowing a parent is deemed inappropriate.

• These tours are available for limited group sizes and must be registered for in advance.  
• Please indicate your interest in having your son or daughter join a tour on the Release and Indemnification Form.
• Parents will receive confirmation of tour enrollment.
• Parents need to make arrangements to get your son or daughter to and from the tours.

For reasons of safety, overcrowding or privacy of clients, certain work sites have been deemed inappropriate to host student visitors; these are listed below.

Work Sites/Activities OFF LIMITS to shadow a parent for Take Our Kids To Work Program:

1.    University Construction Sites
2.    Central Utilities Plant
3.    Steam Tunnels
4.    Hospitality Services Kitchens
5.    Bulk Chemical Storage Locations (flammable and corrosive liquids, pesticides)
6.    Animal and Poultry Science Abattoir
7.    Biomedical Sciences Gross Anatomy
8.    Human Health and Nutritional Science/Human Anatomy
9.    Animal Health Laboratory (AHL), Agriculture and Food Lab (AFL) and Pathobiology Post Mortem
10.  CRIFS
11.   Rooms for which Biohazard Permits have been issued
12.   Intermediate Level Radioisotope Laboratories and areas where Radiography Equipment is used
13.    Counselling Services
14.    Human testing and medical facilities (Student Health Services, Occupational Health and Wellness, Human Health and Nutritional Science/Human Anatomy)
15.    Private living areas of Student Residences
16.    Patient care areas of Ontario Veterinary College Health Science Center
17.    Driving Motorized Vehicles
18.    Operating Machines/Equipment in Machine Shops
19.    Climbing Ladders, Scalable Fixtures or operating/riding on any Lifting Device
20.    Areas where Class III and Class IV Laser Devices are being used
21.    Hazardous Environments (gases, welding, noise, dusts)
22.    Campus Community Police and Fire Prevention
23.    Other work sites identified by the University’s Director of Environmental Health and Safety

The University of Guelph, as employer, has a duty to provide and maintain safe workplaces, to provide safety information to workers and to comply with occupational safety regulations.  As part of the educational benefit of the Take Our Kids to Work program, those organizing and supervising the experience for these students must promote safety awareness and the use of personal safety equipment (e.g. safety glasses, safe lab techniques, etc.).  

More information and a sample orientation can be found at the EHS website. Please direct questions or requests for a list of orientation topics as well as any questions about the appropriateness of any work site to Christi Cooper by email or phone (519) 824-4120 ext. 52049.

This opportunity is a worthwhile one for these high school students who may one day become our students.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment and for making safety a priority for our employees, students and visitors.