Charter signatories take the lead on making Saskatchewan a safer place

On June 10 last year, 128 Saskatchewan employers signed the province’s first Health and Safety Leadership Charter, an initiative co-sponsored by WorkSafe Saskatchewan and Safe Saskatchewan. The charter was founded as an opportunity for business and community leaders to make a public commitment to help solve what has been described as Saskatchewan’s “injury epidemic.” So far, an additional 75 senior leaders have committed to adding their names to the charter at the second annual signing at TCU Place in Saskatoon, June 9.

The principles of the Saskatchewan Health and Safety Leadership Charter are based on the CEO Leadership Charter developed by Bruce Power in 2005. The Conference Board of Canada has now adopted the Bruce Power charter, expanding its scope to become the national Senior Executive Health and Safety Leadership Charter.

WorkSafe Saskatchewan and Safe Saskatchewan received permission to adapt the principles of that charter and to create one that would apply to both the private and the public sector.

“We wanted to bring that national charter to Saskatchewan, but we wanted to accommodate the interest of the provincial government in signing onto the charter,” says Safe Saskatchewan CEO Gord Moker.

WorkSafe Saskatchewan and Safe Saskatchewan began planning with modest goals.
“When we started out, we thought if we could get 100 signatories we’d be doing really well,” Moker says. At the inaugural event, 200 leaders representing 128 companies signed the charter. In September, the North Saskatoon Business Association hosted a second signing event and another 47 companies joined the initiative, followed by 20 more at a third event hosted by the Humboldt Chamber of Commerce. The current total number of signatories is just under 200.

“This response shows the character of Saskatchewan people and its leaders,” Moker says. “While the Conference Board charter has just over 300 signatories since 2007, in two short years we will have 275 government, business and community leaders who are demonstrating their commitment to health and safety, in and away from the workplace.”

Safe Saskatchewan and WorkSafe Saskatchewan have now created an annual event around the leadership charter. The gathering of Saskatchewan senior leaders will welcome new charter signatories, honour past signatories, and provide an opportunity to establish a dialogue on health and safety.

Moker stresses that signing the Charter is not simply a photo opportunity. It’s making a commitment to work toward the elimination of unintentional injuries in Saskatchewan. “It’s a leader making a pledge on behalf of their company,” he explains. “Any change in a safety culture has to start at the top. Even if employees want a change to occur, it’s not going to happen unless the leaders embody the change.”

“We want help putting an end to this injury epidemic,” Moker says. “We have the second highest injury rate in the workplace and the highest injury rate away from the workplace in Canada. People don’t realize that after work in our province, there’s twice the chance that people will have an injury, four times the chance that they’ll suffer permanent injury and five times the chance that they’ll die from a preventable injury after five o’clock or after their work shift.”

“We accept injuries as a part of everyday life here in Saskatchewan, and we can’t continue this way,” he adds. “The answer lies in transforming our culture to the point where injury prevention is a core value with every business, every government agency, and every citizen in our province.”

Please email info@safesask.com and a charter organizer will be in touch with you, or phone Gord Moker of Safe Saskatchewan at (306) 352-3810.