This report is inspired by an article written by Jeffrey Grubb & Amy Groothuis, of Miller Thompson LLP. The Importance Of Workplace Safety

Since the inception of the Saskatchewan employment act in 2014, fines have increased in Saskatchewan’s province for Occupational Health & Safety violations. Currently, fines are statutorily set to a maximum of $1.5 million for corporations and up to $500,000 for unincorporated companies.

Recently, in January 2018, a Saskatchewan corporate employer was fined $420,000 for a workplace fatality that occurred three years ago.

Employers are required to ensure the health and safety of the workplace through:

  • proper training,
  • supplying personal protective equipment,
  • guarding against the hazard,
  • ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place, in addition to
  • maintaining a health and safety committee.

In addition, employers need to ensure:

  • training for managers and supervisors is in place,
  • that supervisors are capable,
  • supervisors and managers instill a culture of safety at the workplace, which raises their team members’ comfort to raise potential dangers or dangers while at work.

Failure to do this properly results in significant fines for employers.

Workforce delivery provides training for the adoption, implementation and administration of policies associated with safety, including violence, harassment, bullying and respect. Besides, WFD provides training on safety rule enforcement for supervisors and managers.