Leeanne Koshykowski, a special care aide for the River Heights Lodge in North Battleford, is the 2012 Safe Worker Award winner.

Leeanne’s mission is to improve safety through prevention. She championed a program to get power cords and call bell cords out of the way and secure them to the walls. This improved safety for residents, staff, volunteers and visitors. Leeanne’s idea was cost effective and quickly implemented, but it had a big impact on slip, trip and fall injuries. Her prevention advocacy has shifted the safety culture at work – workers talk safety and are encouraged to suggest new safety ideas.

The 2012 Safe Employer Award winner is K-Line Maintenance and Construction Ltd. (White City). K-Line is committed to health and safety, and injury prevention. Their commitment to continuous improvements and their “no-blame safety culture” that encourages hazard and incident reporting has brought K-Line closer to Mission: Zero. K-Line was the first company in Saskatchewan to obtain a Certificate of Recognition with the Heavy Construction Safety Association.

Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board Chairperson David Eberle said, “People like this who are passionate about safety and prevention make Mission: Zero a reality every day.” This is the ninth straight year that Saskatchewan has seen a drop in time-loss injuries.

“People like Leeanne and companies like K-Line know there are big risks in everyday things. They see the risks, and then they do something about them before an injury happens,” said Mike Carr, Deputy Minister for Labour Relations and Workplace Safety. “Mission: Zero is possible in Saskatchewan if we all take responsibility for creating and supporting safe workplaces.”

WorkSafe Saskatchewan is a partnership between the Saskatchewan Workers' Compensation Board and the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety. The partnership began in 2002 and, since then, the workplace injury rate in Saskatchewan has improved by 38%.

Every year, over 80% of Saskatchewan employers achieve Mission: Zero.

In 2011, Saskatchewan workers reported over 39,600 injuries to the Workers’ Compensation Board.

Since 2006, the WorkSafe Saskatchewan Safe Worker Award celebrates workers who go beyond the expectations of their position to make their workplace safer and increase safety awareness for others.

2011 Howard Jones – Morris Industries, Yorkton SK

2010 Bruce Skilliter - SaskPower, Regina SK

2009 Lianne Carpenter - Saskatchewan Research Council, Saskatoon SK

2008 Cindy Cooper - St. Joseph's Integrated Care Centre, Lestock SK

2007 Greg Galbraith - ASL Paving Ltd., Saskatoon SK

2006 Ken Kostyniuk - Rite-Way Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Imperial SK

The WorkSafe Saskatchewan Safe Employer Award has been presented annually since 2007 to a best practice employer who builds safety into every task.

2007 Syntech Enerflex (Enerflex Systems Ltd.), Estevan, Kindersley, Lloydminster, Swift Current SK