BC metalwork teacher showed gruesome safety video and got reprimanded

A BC metalwork teacher, who while teaching machine safety showed his students a video of someone getting seriously injured after being sucked into a lathe, has been disciplined following a two-day suspension.

According to a Jan 20. BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation decision, metalwork teacher Bradley Jonathan Bootsma told his students that someone died in the video and to look away or leave the room if they didn’t want to see it.

“The video shows what appears to be a worker at an industrial shop reaching into a lathe and getting pulled into the machine and becoming physically injured,” the decision reads.

The Chilliwack School District later suspended Bootsma for two days without pay and told him to make sure he was using “appropriate learning resources.”

Bootsma, who began teaching in 2019, had found the 52-second video with no audio on the internet.

Following the incident, which took place in February 2024, the school district reported Bootsma to the regulator, which issued a public reprimand.

“Bootsma failed to create a safe learning environment,” the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation said in the decision.

There’s no information in the decision about whether any of the students walked out or turned away, or whether any of them were bothered by the video.

In coming to its decision for a public reprimand, the regulator said that Bootsma was a relatively inexperienced teacher and had taken steps to ensure his teaching materials are appropriate in the future.

Bootsma signed a consent agreement with the teaching regulator admitting to his conduct.

No other details are given in the decision.