REGINA, SK – Today the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) held its Annual General Meeting in Saskatoon and in Regina on Thursday, May 3. WCB CEO Peter Federko shared the 2017 financial and operating results with Saskatchewan workers, employers and partners.
“The WCB maintains a solid financial position at year end and we remain financially stable and fully funded at December 31, 2017,” said Federko. “The WCB’s 2017 funded position was 117.8 per cent at year end, which is within the targeted range of 105 to 120 per cent.”
This is the guarantee made to injured workers – that benefits and programs will be available when a workplace injury occurs. It also affirms the WCB’s commitment to employers and workers that the system will be run effectively and efficiently.
Federko gave an overview of the WCB’s successes throughout 2017 and also shared challenges for the coming years.
“Having 88 per cent of employers achieve Mission: Zero for two years in a row demonstrates what workers, employers and provincial leaders can accomplish when we work together on workplace safety,” said Federko. “However, 22,247 workers were injured in Saskatchewan workplaces in 2017 and 27 individuals lost their lives in workplace incidents, which is unacceptable. Even one injury is too many, and we must continue to make our workplaces safer.”
In 2016, the WCB announced its journey of continuous improvement with the primary focus of improving customer service, which Federko said was also a primary focus throughout 2017.
“We recognize that the systemic, lasting and meaningful customer service improvements that we are striving for requires us as leaders to create an environment where every staff members’ input is valued and they are empowered to improve their processes,” Federko said.
At the AGM, Federko spoke to the WCB’s mission and unveiled the revised vision to eliminate injuries and restore abilities.
“Our mission, which is to be a customer-centric organization through a culture of continuous process improvement, provides the means by which we will reach our vision to eliminate injuries and restore abilities,” Federko said. “To achieve this, we have outlined our key strategic objectives going forward into 2021. These objectives represent the highest level of strategic goals for the WCB and achieving these objectives requires the full engagement of the WCB staff in the coming years.”
The WCB’s 2019-2021 Strategic and Operation Plan is available at www.wcbsask.com.
Mission: Zero is an initiative to eliminate workplace injuries in Saskatchewan. Launched at the WCB’s 2008 Annual General Meeting, the Mission: Zero campaign and programs drive home the impact of work injuries and the importance of workplace safety and injury prevention. The intent behind Mission: Zero is to bring about faster and deeper reductions to the provincial workplace injury rate.