WorkSafe Saskatchewan celebrates workplace safety leaders during 2022 Safe Worker and Safe Employer Awards

Regina, Sask., May 17, 2022 – A Saskatoon brewery employee who significantly advanced health and safety at work during the COVID-19 pandemic and an energy firm in Midale that has been free of serious workplace injuries for a decade are being honoured by WorkSafe Saskatchewan’s 2022 Safe Worker and Safe Employer Awards. The annual awards recognize outstanding workplace safety practices in the province. WorkSafe Saskatchewan is a partnership between the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) and the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety.

This year’s Safe Worker Award goes to Cassy M. Appelt, an operations analyst at 9 Mile Legacy Brewing Company in Saskatoon. At the start of the pandemic, Cassy took the initiative to research and communicate safety and hygiene protocols to employees. She further built on these efforts by establishing and leading the microbrewery’s first-ever occupational health and safety (OH&S) committee. That process involved developing a proper structure, meeting schedule, communication and record-keeping systems, a safety inspections process and employee training options.

“Cassy’s efforts fostered a ‘safety-first’ attitude throughout the 9 Mile Legacy workplace and an open and supportive culture as to public health issues,” says 9 Mile Legacy Brewing Company CEO Shawn Moen, who notes that the seven-year-old microbrewery has not experienced a single case of viral infection or transmission. “Her clear, well-thought-out and empathy-driven communication style has been a linchpin of our success.”

Meanwhile, the recipient of this year’s Safe Employer Award is pipeline and civil construction company Pro Canada West Energy Inc. The Midale-based company’s steadfast commitment to the safety and well-being of its workforce is reflected in its achievement of reaching three million working hours (equivalent to 10 years) without a single employee injury resulting in lost work time. The company promotes workplace safety in a number of important ways. This includes offering regular high-quality employee training in safe work practices, promoting the use of near-miss and hazard identification reporting, and consistently documenting potentially hazardous project conditions. For its diligence in ensuring workplace health and safety, the company has earned a certificate of recognition (COR) from Energy Safety Canada, Canada’s oil and gas safety association.

“Working in the mining industry can be difficult for pipeline companies, as many of the [safety] regulations have been developed and implemented for underground mining,” says John Adderley, president of Pro Canada West Energy Inc. “Instead of looking at this as an obstacle, [Pro Canada West Energy Inc.] has accepted it as a challenge and understands that our ability to go above and beyond these regulations while still performing our work efficiently is our competitive advantage.”

Each year, candidates for the Safe Worker and Safe Employer Awards are nominated by their workplace peers and colleagues. The winners are chosen by two committees consisting of representatives from WorkSafe Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, the Saskatchewan Safety Council and the Canadian Society of Safety Engineers. This award program supports the WCB’s ambitious safety initiative, Mission: Zero, which is a call to action to employers and workers to achieve zero employee injuries, fatalities and suffering in the workplace.

“The winners of this year’s Safe Worker and Safe Employer Awards have demonstrated diligence and innovation in promoting safety at their workplaces,” says Kevin Mooney, the WCB’s vice-president of prevention and employer services. “Their accomplishments are an inspiration to workers and employers across the province.”

To learn more about the Safe Worker and Safe Employer Awards, including the 2022 winners’ videos, visit www.worksafesask.ca/resources/awards/.

About the winners:

2022 Safe Worker Award winner
Cassy Appelt, operations analyst
9 Mile Legacy Brewing Company
Saskatoon, Sask.

The winner of WorkSafe Saskatchewan’s 2022 Safe Worker Award is Cassy M. Appelt, operations analyst at 9 Mile Legacy Brewing Company in Saskatoon, Sask.

At the onset of the pandemic, Cassy took the initiative to investigate best practices in workplace safety and hygiene, and communicated these findings with her co-workers. To build on these efforts and establishing a “safety-first” attitude in the workplace, she went a step further and established the company’s first-ever occupational health and safety committee (OH&S) committee.

Getting the committee up and running was no small task. As chair, Cassy invested significant time and effort to research and develop a proper structure, meeting schedule, communication and record-keeping systems, a safety inspections process and employee training options. Her employer reports that her “clear, well-thought-out and empathy-driven communication style has been a lynchpin” to the successful establishment and operation of the committee.

With the OH&S committee serving as a robust internal responsibility system, 9 Mile Legacy Brewing Company can more effectively promote understanding of health and safety matters in the workplace, and prevent work-related injuries and diseases. Among the tangible results that support the company’s safety efforts are more incident/near-miss reports, investigative reports detailing corrective actions, detailed records of OH&S meetings and committee bulletins to employees.

Throughout the pandemic, the OH&S committee’s work has enabled 9 Mile Legacy Brewing Company to proactively mitigate safety issues, often before the provincial government’s introduction of mask mandates and other public health directives. To this day, the company can boast of having a fully vaccinated workforce, and experiencing no instances of COVID-19 infection or transmission among its employees.

2022 Safe Employer Award winner
Pro Canada West Energy Inc.
Midale, Sask.

Pro Canada West Energy Inc. attributes much of its success to its commitment to workplace safety. The pipeline and civil construction firm understands that going above and beyond the safety regulations for its sector is part of its competitive advantage.

A noteworthy aspect of the company’s safety record is having achieved three million working hours – equivalent to 10 years – without a single employee injury that resulted in lost work time. Over the last five years, it has achieved a total recordable injury frequency average of 0.94 per 100 workers. That’s no small feat for a labour area that involves a not-insignificant number of pinch and crush point hazards.

Other key elements of Pro Canada West Energy’s approach to workplace safety include:

  • Having a modified program where the company collaborates with injured employees and their doctors to adapt work duties.
  • Incentivizing employees with $100 gift cards to complete near-miss and hazard-identification cards.
  • Holding monthly meetings to promote and conduct training in workplace safety practices and protocols.
  • Issuing daily bulletins raising awareness about potential safety hazards of current projects.
  • Encouraging supervisors and their crews to fill out and regularly update field-level hazard assessments.
  • Offering safety training in areas such as rigging, powered mobile equipment, flagging, confined spaces, fire extinguisher, H2S alive (hydrogen sulfide safety), first aid, transportation of dangerous goods and ground disturbance.
  • Earning a certificate of recognition (COR) from Energy Safety Canada, which upholds stringent safety standards in the oil and gas industry.

Photos are available through media contact.

 

– 30 –

 

Media contact:

Lisa Goudy
Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board
Phone: 306.787.6714
lgoudy@wcbsask.com