Photo: Waiward Steel LP

CALGARY, AB May 9, 2017 – Assigning work focusing on what employees can actually do – not just what their certificates say they can do – can transform safety in the workplace, benefit employees and boost companies’ bottom lines, a new Canada West Foundation report shows.

Beyond the Rules: Moving safety from compliance to competence recommends that employers go above and beyond existing safety rules and regulations and adopt a competency approach to develop and deploy workforces.

This kind of approach benefits both workers and the company. That’s the experience of Alberta steel fabrication company Waiward Steel. After four serious safety incidents on the job, the company determined to make its workplaces safer through a competency program. Since then, it has dramatically improved its safety record, including an 800 per cent reduction in lost time claims over historical averages. In the last three years, the company has also saved an estimated $1.5 million under the program.

“Ensuring workers are competent to do the tasks they are assigned, and providing training when needed, will make Canadian workplaces safer and more efficient,” said report author Janet Lane, Director of the Human Capital Centre at the Canada West Foundation

Despite the safety rules and regulations, Canada has a workplace safety problem – too many people die or are injured on the job, said Lane.

“When it comes to making workplaces safer, there is a better way than what we’re doing right now – follow the rules, then go beyond them.”