Two students from Salem Academy in Salem took home first-place honors and $500 for their video titled Safety: The Musical promoting young worker safety and health. Austin Coburn and Vinny Gasbarro wrote and sang original music and danced their way through the humorous 90-second video. Salem Academy also won a matching amount of prize money.
“Safety is a serious topic but there are fun ways to go about it – whether it’s comedy, music, or both,” said Coburn, a senior. “The video gets the message out but music is what keeps it in your head.”
Coburn took second place honors in last year’s contest with his video “Safety Police.”
The other winners are as follows:
Second place ($400):
- You Don’t Know What You’re Doing and that Could Kill You
Milce Delgado Lopez and Daisy Abundez, Springfield High School, Springfield
Third place ($300):
- Speak Up. Work Safe.
Andre Yu, Zeth Hillman-Johnson,Timmy Nguyen, Bob Lawrence, Sage Krening, Levi Markham, Seth Frecke, Luis Garcia, Emalee Guild, Addalai Clark, Jaime Paredes-Torres, Brandon Beverage, Mario Zivanovic, Vanessa Jones, Connor Bachelder, Dustin Hobbs, Robert Curtin, R.J. Person, Leon Vuong, Ethan Macbrough, Ryan Shone, Vadim Stasyuk, Rachel Billick-Smith, Kristy Lu, Matt McKenna, and Christian Rouse, Parkrose High School, Portland
Students’ choice award ($200):
- You Good?
Michael Norris, Shawn Vielmetti, Keenan Reed, Colton Sundell, Josiah Beggio, Summer Fulcher, Dakota Cunningham, and David Bair, St. Helens High School, St. Helens
The creators of the top videos were presented their awards Saturday during a special screening at the Northern Lights Theatre in Salem. The contest is designed to increase awareness about safety for young workers, with the theme of Speak Up. Work Safe. Students were asked to create a video with a teen job safety and health message and were judged on creativity, production value, youth appeal, and the overall safety and health message. All of the winning videos, as well as the other finalists, are available for viewing.
The contest is organized by the Oregon Young Employee Safety Coalition (O[yes]). Oregon OSHA, SAIF Corporation, local chapters of the American Society of Safety Engineers, the Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology (CROET), Liberty Northwest, Hoffman Construction, Central Oregon Safety & Health Association, the Labor Education and Research Center, SHARP Alliance, Oregon Health Authority, and SafeBuild Alliance sponsor the contest.
Oregon OSHA, a division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, enforces the state’s workplace safety and health rules and works to improve workplace safety and health for all Oregon workers. For more information, go to www.orosha.org.
The Oregon Young Employee Safety Coalition (O[yes]) is a registered nonprofit that strives to prevent young worker injuries and fatalities. O[yes] members include safety and health professionals, educators, employers, labor and trade associations, and regulators. For more information, go to: www.youngemployeesafety.org.