Total injury rate in the health-care space drops almost 10% from 2016 numbers
The Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) and the Saskatchewan Association for Safe Workplaces in Health (SASWH) have signed a new funding agreement that will help them work together to create safer workplaces in the province.
“The WCB has long-standing close ties with our safety associations, including SASWH, to help work toward creating safer workplaces in our province through awareness, training and other injury prevention initiatives,” said Kevin Mooney, vice-president of prevention and employer services. “Our partnerships with safety associations are key to our workplace safety efforts across the province. These close partnerships help us support the safety and prevention interests of all employers in those industries.”
WCB recently signed a similar agreement with Energy Safety Canada.
The WCB currently funds seven industry-based safety associations. The associations are funded through an extra levy on the premium rates of employers within specific rate codes. All safety associations follow a strategic planning process and report on their results against their plans to the industry and the WCB.
“SASWH is pleased to have had the opportunity to work through the new funding agreement with the Saskatchewan WCB to sign a three-year agreement that will support our ability to ensure that workplace health and safety is a priority for all,” said Sandra Cripps, CEO of SASWH.
The new funding agreement included a thorough consultation process that worked to bring clarity to the respective roles of the WCB and SASWH, Cripps added.
“Our role is to ensure that as the health-care safety association, we remain within our core business, which is to provide quality safety education and programs that hold a focus on prevention of injuries to our membership. The approach outlined in the new funding agreement fundamentally aligned with the current processes already in place by SASWH.”
Injury rates
The funding agreements have helped decrease injury incidents in the province, said WCB.
Total injury rates for industries with safety associations decreased to 4.74 per cent in 2020 from 5.46 per cent in 2016.
In the health-care industry, the total injury rate was to 7.17 per 100 workers in 2020, down from 7.96 per 100 workers in 2016, according to WCB. This represents a drop of 9.92 per cent.
In 2020, the workplace total injury rate in the province was 4.46 per 100 workers, a 10 per cent decrease from 2019.
