In 2019 WorkSafe Saskatchewan, a partnership between the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) and the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, launched the first three-year Fatalities and Serious Injuries Strategy to help eliminate workplace fatalities and serious injuries.
Approximately 2,400 Saskatchewan workers are seriously injured each year in Saskatchewan. Building on the success of the first strategy, the 2023-2028 Fatalities and Serious Injuries Strategy document lays out a new approach to fatalities and serious injuries in Saskatchewan’s workplaces.
Workplace fatalities and injuries at a glance
- Approximately 2,400 Saskatchewan workers are seriously injured each year in Saskatchewan. The 2023 – 2028 Fatalities and Serious Injuries strategy aims to eliminate workplace fatalities and serious injuries.
- From 2010 to 2021, workplace-related motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of acute work-related fatalities in the transportation industry.
- From 2010 to 2021, approximately 51 per cent of fatalities were from occupational diseases in the construction industry.
- Eighty-one per cent of the public was not aware of asbestos risk exposure during home renovation work. Ninety-four per cent of occupational disease fatalities between 2010 and 2021 in the construction industry were asbestos-related.
Our strategy
This strategy brings stakeholders together to implement and deploy solutions to mitigate the root causes of fatalities and serious injuries in the workplace.
The strategy focuses on three of the most high-risk industries with aggressive targets. Through collaborative efforts, we can save lives. It is everyone’s responsibility to move safely forward.
By sector
TRANSPORTATION
(Transportation, courier, commercial bus)
From 2010 to 2021, workplace-related motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of acute work-related fatalities in the transportation industry.
COMMON ISSUES: Mental health, violence, machinery, motor vehicle crashes, industrial ergonomics, falls, asbestos.
CONSTRUCTION
(Construction trades, residential construction, commercial construction, industrial construction)
From 2010 to 2021, approximately 51 per cent of fatalities were from occupational diseases in the construction industry.
Eighty-one per cent of the public was not aware of asbestos risk exposure during home renovation work. Ninety-four per cent of occupational disease fatalities between 2010 and 2021 in the construction industry were asbestos-related.
COMMON ISSUES: Mental health, violence, machinery, motor vehicle crashes, industrial ergonomics, falls, asbestos.
The health care, transportation and construction industries tend to have disproportionate serious injury rates making them the focus of the Fatalities and Serious Injuries Strategy, 2023-2028. The strategy targets these industries as well as the most common serious injuries to maximize impact.
Operational actions
| PREVENTION AND LEARNING STREAM | COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT STREAM |
|---|---|
| Improve resources and capacity in safety education and training and drive quality assurance. | Improve resources and capacity in education on legislative requirements to better inform employees and employers on roles and responsibilities. |
| Develop general and targeted communications campaigns and materials for high-risk safety issues. | Conduct focused inspections in high-risk industries and workplaces selected based on safety performance and compliance. |
| Research best practices, support learning and solutions to prevent injuries and transfer knowledge of best practices across sectors. | Utilize technology and tools to ensure accurate data management tools and statistics are available for decision-making. |
| Integrate mental health injury prevention intervention resources into high-risk industry strategies. | Ensure risk-based enforcement actions as required to strengthen compliance culture. |
How we’re doing so far
Performance measures
Targets
- Reduction in serious injuries and fatalities in the province.
- Ongoing review and implementation of best practices to improve processes.
- Support occupational health and safety improvement in workplaces.
- Open dialogue with safety, labour and employer associations on current and new issues.
- Actions were taken to address the highest hazards that result in workplace injuries, illnesses or fatalities.
- Evidence-based decision-making based on research and monitoring of injury and vulnerable workforce indicators.
Workers and employer voices
Darryl’s story
It was an ordinary day road gravelling for Darryl, a father, husband and truck driver of over 30 years when his life changed due to a workplace accident. Darryl was attempting to dislodge a frozen lump of gravel in the bottom dump trailer when the gate of the trailer fell and crushed his legs.
Darryl did not have access to his phone and wasn’t found for four hours. He almost didn’t survive. He had one leg amputated and spent six months is the hospital.
Darryl is grateful for WCB Saskatchewan’s support. They helped him in numerous ways including physically, financially and mentally.
Darryl is still in recovery, but he was able to walk his eldest daughter down the aisle at her wedding and thanks to the nerve regrowth in his leg, is back to truck driving.
It is tough to think about it, but I hope that by sharing what happened to me, I can help someone else avoid a serious injury
Tyler’s story
26 year old Tyler Galloway shares his story of a life-changing motor vehicle accident he experienced on the job and his journey toward healing and recovery.
Josh’s story
In 2019, Josh Forrest had to have his leg amputated after he contracted a staph A bacterial infection at work that turned into flesh-eating disease.
Darryl’s story
While attempting to dislodge frozen gravel in his dump trailer, Darryl Gurbach had the gate close around his legs. He almost didn’t survive.
Employer voices
What we heard from stakeholders
Health care remains a priority
- Highest number of serious injury claims.
- Emerging issues include COVID-19, mental health, workload, burnout and violence.
The top cause of injuries
- Increased violence in the workplace.
- The continuing increase of mental health claims.
- Back injuries and recovery.
- Motor vehicle collisions.
Data reporting and analysis
- Indigenize report and provide Indigenous statistics. Camosun College defines Indigenization as the “process by which Indigenous ways of knowing, being, doing and relating are incorporated into educational, organizational, cultural and social structures.”
- Identify injury rates for workers with different migrant statuses.
- Report serious injuries by occupation.
- Break out permanent functional impairments and costs to identify new trends.
Leadership support
- Worker engagement, adequate supervision, training and orientation, and support for safety culture are critical to encouraging employees to freely raise safety concerns.
- Proactive hazard assessment and quality incident investigations advance workplace safety systems.
Cultural awareness
- Emerging serious injuries in workplaces with foreign workers.
- Claims suppression. Underlying issues may be a lack of awareness or dependency on the employer to remain in the country.
Alternative funding/grant models
- Alberta grant model and creative sentencing models (fines and penalties to fund prevention approaches) were referenced.
- Exploration of affordability factors around asbestos testing to remove financial barriers to enable citizens to proactively plan work.
- Promotion of engineering controls for fatality prevention.
Performance insights and data
- Overall, the original focus points remain the primary drivers of serious injuries and fatalities in the province and some emerging issues have been identified.
- The serious injury profile remains consistent – falls, bodily reaction, and back, leg and shoulder injuries account for a disproportionate number of serious injuries.
- There is a significant age difference in overall claims and serious injury claims – from 2010-2021 34 per cent of serious injury claims were made by those ages 20-39 and 51 per cent were made by those ages 40-59.
- A disproportionate number of serious injuries are occurring in specific industries with 61 per cent of serious injuries occurring in 10 industry rate codes in the last 10 years.
Enforcement
- Expand summary offence tickets for not preventing asbestos exposures.
- Align the enforcement activity as part of the strategy.
- Implement creative sentencing, such as fines and penalties, to fund prevention approaches.
Stakeholder engagement was key to developing this strategy.
Reducing the number of injury and fatalities by implementing the strategy is not an independent job but a shared responsibility. Over two phases of stakeholder engagement, we received valuable contribution from over 400 citizens, that resulted in the themes above. We’re in this together. Safely forward.
Workplace fatality notices
Workplace incident fatalities are cases where a worker dies at a worksite or as a result of injuries sustained at a worksite.
The following reports are broken down based on the date in which the incident occurred:
Workplace fatality summary reports
Fatality summary reports are not published until all court proceedings are complete.
