WorkSafe Sask. and provincial government collaborate on new strategic framework

WorkSafe Saskatchewan introduced strategic framework focused on prevention and worker well-being, as it continues efforts to reduce injury rates.

To focus on health, safety and well-being in the workplace, WorkSafe Saskatchewan released a new strategic framework on Wednesday.

Gord Dobrowolsky, the chair of the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB), said WorkSafe Saskatchewan is committed to reducing the human and economic hardship caused by workplace injuries and fatalities.

“By working together, we can and we will ensure Saskatchewan’s workplace can become safer, as all workplace injuries as we know are preventable,” he said, noting the new framework marks a shift in how they think about prevention, people, and the future of work in the province.

Minister of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety Ken Cheveldayoff says the province will continue to focus on asbestos awareness, falls from heights, and reducing moving vehicle incidents.

“What makes this approach different is that it puts into action what we learned from workers, unions, and employers about the importance of sharing best practices and building safety from the ground up,” he said.

He explained that the rebrand reflects the work, and it’s about more than a change in slogan.

“Facilities and serious injuries strategy strengthens efforts to reduce injuries and deaths through regulatory, enforcement, prevention and learning initiatives. Individuals and organizations made this work by coming together to identify root causes and prevent harm,” he said.

Since the organization started in 2002, WorkSafe Saskatchewan has partnered with workers, employers, labour, safety associations and government to improve workplace safety. In 2002, the time loss injury rate was 4.95 out of 100 workers, listed at second highest in the country.

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Since then, the province’s time loss injuries and total injury rate both decreased by 67 per cent.

“The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour is pleased to see workplace mental health, physical recovery, and safety leadership being taken seriously by the provincial government,” said Saskatchewan Federation of Labour president Lori Johb.

The province has reported that 89 per cent of Saskatchewan workplaces reported zero injuries or fatalities in 2025 but would like that number to hit 100 per cent.

“When I’ve talked to workers on the job site, a person I talked to said, ‘When I get to work in the morning, I’m thinking safety, when I’m at lunchtime, I’m thinking safety. When just before I’m going home, I’m thinking about safety.’ So, it’s a way of life. It’s a way of doing work,” Johb said.

The injury rate has dropped to a historic low of 3.68 per cent, but Cheveldayoff says “that number is still too high.”

According to the WCB, as well as Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, approximately 2,500 workers are seriously injured each year in Saskatchewan.

There were 27 workplace fatalities in 2024 and 2025.

According to Dobrowolsky, while workplace injury trends are moving in a positive direction, fatalities and serious injuries have remained steady.

There were 2,599 claims that reached serious injury status in 2024, compared to 2,431 serious injuries in 2023.

Serious injury claims represent about 11 to 15 per cent of total claims received by the WCB and represent about 80 per cent of the WCB total costs.

He says this new framework “embraces a human-centered approach,” focused on physical safety, psychological health and well-being that are “inseparable.”

“That reality is what compelled us to look deeper and to listen carefully to today’s prevention challenges, which have evolved,” he said. “Safety is no longer just about guarding the machine or putting on protective equipment. It’s also about ergonomics in health care. It’s about psychological safety, fatigue, exposure, violence, recovery and return to work.”

According to WCB CEO Phillip Germain, it takes around eight months to understand if a claim is a serious injury.

Germain says WorkSafe trains between 30,000 to 40,000 employees per year.

“We have developed something called ‘learning collaboratives,’ where we bring employers together to focus on a very specific issue, whether it’s challenges related to returning people to work or specific issues like ergonomics in manufacturing or psychological health and safety,” he said.

In the rebrand plans, Cheveldayoff noted that it will include changes to the marketing strategy, with more details to come later.

“Hard work has built this province and safer work will move us forward,” he said. “From value added agriculture to manufacturing, from mining to construction, people across Saskatchewan work hard to deliver the infrastructure our citizens need as the world around us changes. Saskatchewan is strong and growing, and we must protect what matters most - our families, our friends and our communities,” he said.