REGINA, SASK. – The Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association (SCSA) has signed a new agreement with Saskatchewan Polytechnic to improve safety in the industry by targeting its future leaders.
The five-year memorandum of understanding will explore opportunities to collaboratively engage more Saskatchewan learners in construction safety. Both organizations have a goal of increasing construction safety participation from youth, as well as underrepresented groups including women, Indigenous learners and learners in remote communities.
“We both have a lot of enthusiasm and interest in advancing this forward,” said Collin Pullar, president SCSA. “It not only works well for our organization, but it works well for our industry and they are excited. We want to reduce injuries in the short-term and build a workforce, in the long-term, where the safety culture is brought in early.”
The two groups have a history of partnering for safety. In 2018 the SCSA provided Joseph A. Remai School of Construction students with Safety Construction Orientation Training (SCOT) for free. SCOT is recognized throughout the Saskatchewan construction industry as a base safety orientation in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors.
In 2019 the SCSA and the school started to offer reciprocal course credit recognition of prior learning between the SCSA’s National Construction Safety Officer (NCSO) courses and Sask Polytech’s Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) certificate.
Pullar said the association and the school are not ready to make any new announcements quite yet, but there are several projects in the works.
For example, a program to use the school’s resources to do remote proctoring for the construction safety officer program is being developed.
“This allows us to reach parts of the province that are sometimes challenge due to distance,” said Pullar. “It would be a great offering to workers seeking that designation and employers needing to free up time for them to do it.”
Pullar said the partners are working on a project that targets at-risk youth training for the construction workforce. They also have ideas for applied research projects.
“We want to increase value to the industry,” said Pullar. “Creating the safest construction environment in Canada has been a strong vision for us. Focusing on future leaders has been a key pillar to that. That’s a major part of what this partnership makes a lot of sense.”
Don Morgan, Minister of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, praised the growing partnership.
“Safety is everyone’s responsibility and through partnerships like this one we were able to develop a Fatalities and Serious Injuries Strategy that also looks at ways we can ensure every employee goes home safe from work each day,” said Morgan. “By working together, we will be able to make our goal of Mission: Zero a reality.”
School officials also lauded the agreement, noting that sets up a strong foundation for the industry’s future.
“Sask Polytech takes our commitment to safety seriously,” said Paul Carter, dean of the Joseph A. Remai School of Construction. “We are pleased to formalize our long-standing relationship with the SCSA. This five-year agreement will strengthen our great working relationship and create new and exciting construction safety training opportunities for learners in Saskatchewan.”
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