A core mission of CROSH is to collect and disseminate Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) knowledge in remote and rural communities of Northern Ontario while at the same time providing OHS training to the students who will be our future OHS professionals.
CROSH is funding student interns to partner with workplaces, potentially in their home area, to assist that workplace with an OHS problem.
Our aim is that these funded internships will:
- Enhance student training;
- Reduce financial strain for students; and
- Help workplaces solve their OHS problems at no additional monetary cost to themselves.In addition to funding, CROSH provides knowledge translation guidance and assistance to the student if they need to prepare infographics, posters, brochures, or other materials for the workplace in order to educate their workforce on the selected project.
The duration of an internship is 150 hours (approximately 12-16 weeks).
CROSH will:
- Provide a $3000 stipend to the student (approximately $20/hr); and
- Provide internal supervisory support for the student, including access to our Marketing CommunicationsSpecialist to assist in the development of any knowledge translation and exchange materials the workplace might want the student to develop.
The Workplace will:
- Identify and oversee the project to ensure that the student is working on a project that helps the workplace achieve its OHS objectives; this would include regular, ideally weekly, communication with the student about the project; and
- Provide the student with opportunities to learn about OHS in the workplace. This can be passive – e.g. having the student attend OHS meetings to listen to and learn about workplace challenges/objectives. The goal is to have the student gain a better understanding of OHS in the real-world.
Why CROSH internships are good for businesses
CROSH funds student interns to partner with workplaces to assist with a workplace-identified OHS problem. In return, we ask the workplace partner provide opportunities for the student to observe or participate in company activities related to OHS in order to gain real-life experiences in workplace OHS management.
Given the many aspects involved in health and safety management and the financial challenges for workplaces, these internships provide businesses with support to resolve a pressing OHS issue, in a relatively short time frame, at no cost to the business. CROSH aims to match student skills with the identified project in order to help the business resolve their problem. This may connect businesses to a skillset that their workforce does not currently have access to (e.g. data analysis, literature reviews, knowledge transfer material development). The workplace will also have access to CROSH equipment and other resources (e.g. experts in a field) through the student intern.
CROSH interns may also provide new perspectives to workplaces on OHS problems and will bring new skills and academic knowledge into the workplace. Additionally, internships can act as a test period where businesses can evaluate the working relationship for future hiring opportunities or further collaborations with the Centre for other workplace projects.
Why CROSH internships are good for students
CROSH internships provide students with valuable workplace experiences and training in OHS. This may include: exposing students to Joint Occupational Health and Safety meetings, policies and procedures used to monitor safety hazards, workplace procedures to resolve OHS concerns, historical safety data, safety and training meetings, and more.
The internships also help students’ professional development. This is done by giving them the opportunity to interact and collaborate with industry professionals and by presenting them with opportunities to develop their knowledge dissemination skills. Likewise, students’ skillsets are further developed by exposing them to projects, information, and data that they have not previously had experience with. Students will also experience the challenges that arise in “real world” situations, and they will learn how these challenges can be approached and mitigated.
Providing internship funding to students helps reduce the financial strain they may be facing.
Internships may lead to employment opportunities for students.
Duration
Internships are for 150 hours (approximately 10 hours a week for 15 weeks).
Funding
CROSH provides a stipend to the student. Recent stipends have been $3000.
Examples of Recent Internship Projects
| Project | Organization | Student |
|---|---|---|
| Modified Bow-Tie Analysis of OMA COVID-19 Controls | Ontario Mining Association and MIRARCO (Mining Innovation Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corporation) | Amanda Dodaro, Undergraduate |
| WSIB Excellence Program Review | Laurentian University, OHS | Azin Zargham, Master’s Student |
| Health, Safety & Training Data Analysis | Torex Gold Inc | Emily Tetzlaff, PhD Student |
| COVID-19 Management in the Workplace: Swabbing to Result Management of Essential Workers | NEOMO | Eyad Kinkar, PhD Student |
| Working at Home Ergonomics/Panbio Antigen COVID-19 Rapid Testing 8-Week Pilot Project | Laurentian University, OHS | George Flagler, Undergraduate Student |
| Various OHS Projects including development of Courses and Training | NORCAT | Josée Cormier, Master’s Student |
| Health Promotion; Influenza Campaign; Workplace Violence Prevention | Health Sciences North OHS Department | Kelsey Lefebvre, Master’s Student |
| Using models from safety theory to explore historical accident data from the mineral exploration field | Avalon Advanced Materials | Rebecca Bond, Master’s Student |
| Reliability of thermal detection equipment to detect human body temperatures | Provix and Glencore | Sara Gauthier, Undergraduate Student |
| COVID-19 controls within the Ontario Mining Association and the International Council on Mining and Metals | MIRARCO and Ontario Mining Association | Vanessa De Coppi, Undergraduate Student |
| Analysis of return-to-sport protocols amidst the COVID-19 pandemic | CROSH | Jared Whitney, Master’s Student |
| Leadership Diversity and COVID-19 Risk Management in NCAA Division I Football | Divergent Lab (University of Guelph) | Lance Warwick, Master’s Student |
| Measuring whole body vibration on heavy duty machinery mine operators within the New Gold Rainy River Mine | New Gold Inc., Rainy River | Kate Posluszny and Emily Tella, Master’s Students at Lakehead University |
| CMHA Cochrane Timiskaming – Safety of health care clinicians performing house visits | CMHA (Canadian Mental Health Association) – Cochrane Timiskaming Branch | Victor Benitez, Master’s Student |
| Field evaluation of the ergonomic conditions and physiological effects of using a loop-wire carrying backpack | Vale | Sydney Boileau, Undergraduate Student |
| Virtual training for healthcare workers in rural & northern communities | Laurentian University | Jared Whitney and Adam Graham, Master’s Students; Sara Perfetto, Undergraduate Student |
| Nutrition Knowledge Translation Exchange (KTE) | AFFES (Aviation Forest Fires and Emergency Services) | Parastou Zargham, PhD Student |
| Fatigue Knowledge Translation Exchange (KTE) | AFFES (Aviation Forest Fires and Emergency Services) | Kira Gouchie, Undergraduate Student |