The Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) hopes to raise awareness of workplace injuries by showing the emotional toll of labour site accidents and deaths. Entitled Before Days End, the documentary aims to reduce the statistic that approximately 200 such accidents happen each year.
The CLAC hired a group of young filmmakers to explore job site accidents in a way that would take the place of what Alex Pannu, director of communications and marketing, called “another boring safety video. We wanted to have a film that would have a real emotional impact on our members.
“We brainstormed about how we could bring safety issues closer to our members and we came up with the idea of having a film that would create a real impact,” said Pannu. “The film is meant to turn a spotlight not only on workers themselves, but on the impact of workplace accidents and death on families and colleagues.”
The CLAC steered away from PSAs, ads and other media in favour of an approach that Pannu considers more compelling and more likely to engage audiences.
“The problem is that people get de-sensitized to posters, mass safety meetings and just another safety video. We wanted to have something that would produce a lasting, profound effect. As everyone in marketing knows, one of the greatest elements is to have something with emotional impact.”
While a publicity poster was created, promotion will be mainly online through the BeforeDaysEnd.com website and Facebook page. The film’s primary audience is the union’s membership and, secondarily, all workers in Canada, “even in what you would consider relatively safe environments like retail or service. We want the general population to see what happens when these accidents occur,” said Pannu.
The film launches on Labour Day., Sept. 3.
