SK Association for Safe Workplaces in Health 2014 Annual Report | Page 4

M E S S A G E F RO M T H E
C H A I R O F T H E B OA R D
It has been a real pleasure to have held a leadership role with SASWH as it has evolved from a green-field organization just three
years ago. Over the past year we saw the organization evolve as we continued to get to know the many organizations in the
health sector group who can expect to benefit from our services. Did you know that there are over 700 employer firms classified
by the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) who fall under the category of healthcare (G-22 ) industry rate
code?
The SASWH Board of Directors functions as a model for collaborative effort on the part of healthcare employers and employees
across the provider spectrum in Saskatchewan. As the Chair of this board I have been part of a group of committed people; all
operating from a set of guiding principles that will ultimately see safer workplaces with zero harm to the people who work in the
healthcare system.
In 2014 SASWH continued to reach out to healthcare employers and employees so we could hear more about how we can
support you in building and maintaining safe workplaces. We have responded to your input by defining a Safety Management
System (SMS) that all of our partners can use to assess competence, link other quality improvement initiatives to safety in the healthcare environment and ensure compliance with
legislative requirements. Our Workplace Safety Specialists are prepared to work with you to help you understand and implement the SMS. We will make the effort to tailor
SASWH programs and services to meet your needs, recognizing that there are various degrees of capacity depending on the size and nature of your business.
The safety association has followed the lead of the Ministry of Health and the health regions in our strategic deployment efforts. We have worked with our members to establish
targets that will lead us to injury free workplaces and to measure our progress toward the achievement of those targets. We recognize the value of accurate data to provide us with an
objective analysis as to how we are doing. Along with many employers we use visual tools to graphically depict our successes and the areas in which we need to improve. This is
facilitating useful discussions between employees and employers across the province about how to improve safety in the workplace.
If your organization is not yet identifying targets and corresponding data that you can track to assess your progress toward zero injuries, SASWH would be happy to discuss this with
you. Data collection and analysis doesn't have to be comp