Smiling workers in PPE equipment gathering for a high five
by SHCA SHCA

News from the Field

Construction Week proclaimed in Saskatchewan

Smiling workers in PPE equipment gathering for a high five
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The Government of Saskatchewan has proclaimed Sept. 23 to 27 as Saskatchewan Construction Week. The week has been proclaimed to celebrate the extensive economic and social contributions made by the province’s dynamic construction industry.

“Saskatchewan’s construction industry is not only a major contributor to jobs in the province, but [it] also plays a crucial role in building the infrastructure necessary for a growing economy,” Trade and Export Development Minister Jeremy Harrison said. “As we work toward achieving and surpassing our Growth Plan goals of growing the provincial population to 1.4 million people and creating 100,000 new jobs, the construction industry will further excel this growth by building the offices, facilities, housing and more, which contribute to our strong and vibrant communities.”

The construction industry in Saskatchewan is a key driver of economic growth. Last year, real GDP for the sector grew by 13.6 per cent, with the sector’s real GDP reaching $6 billion. Currently, there are over 43,000 (seasonally adjusted) people employed in the province’s construction industry, making it one of the most important economic sectors in Saskatchewan in terms of job creation.

“During Saskatchewan Construction Week, we celebrate the dedicated professionals who form the backbone of our province’s economy,” Construction Associations of Saskatchewan co-CEO Shannon Friesen said. “These skilled workers, often behind the scenes, build the infrastructure that drives our communities forward.”

“Their contributions are vital, not just in constructing roads, schools and hospitals, but in shaping the very foundation of our future,” Construction Associations of Saskatchewan co-CEO Kevin Dureau said. “This week, we honour their commitment, resilience and the essential role they play in ensuring Saskatchewan remains strong and prosperous.”

The growth the construction industry has experienced recently has had an overall positive impact on Saskatchewan’s economy, with Statistics Canada’s latest GDP numbers indicating that the province’s 2023 real GDP reached an all-time high of $77.9 billion, increasing by $1.2 billion, or 1.6 per cent. This places Saskatchewan second in the nation for real GDP growth, and above the national average of 1.2 per cent.

Private capital investment is projected to reach $14.2 billion in 2024, an increase of 14.4 per cent over 2023. This is the highest anticipated percentage increase in Canada.

The Government of Saskatchewan also recently unveiled its new Securing the Next Decade of Growth – Saskatchewan’s Investment Attraction Strategy. This strategy, combined with Saskatchewan’s trade and investment website, InvestSK.ca, contains helpful information for potential investors and solidifies the province as the best place to do business in Canada.

For more information, visit InvestSK.ca

Survey tool proves effective in predicting injuries and improving safety performance

Yellow hard hat
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The Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association (SCSA) and EHS Analytics are proud to share the success of an innovative Safety Culture Survey tool, designed to predict injuries and enhance Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) performance. With the participation of almost 800 construction companies, making it the largest survey of its kind administered at an industry scale, the tool has proven to be an effective leading indicator for safety performance.

The survey tool uses the Institute for Work & Health Organizational Performance Metric (IWH-OPM), an eight-item questionnaire developed by IWH to assess values and beliefs around safety within workplace culture. The large-scale participation of the Saskatchewan construction industry provided data collected over three years, through six rounds of the survey. EHS analyzed the data to gain insights and further support the industry’s safety efforts.

Key findings include:

  • A strong correlation between high survey scores and lower future lost time injury rates.
  • Identification of areas where safety improvements can significantly reduce injury risks.
  • Enhanced ability for firms to benchmark their safety performance against industry standards and peers.
    Confirmation of the effectiveness of COR® certification.
  • Shortcomings in Canadian OHS performance are not highly related to a lack of tools or equipment.

“Our analysis has proven that the Safety Culture Survey is a true leading indicator of safety performance,” said Mohammad Khalkhali, data science team lead at EHS Analytics. “Finding easy-to-measure, effective leading indicators in safety is incredibly challenging, and the Safety Culture Survey provides companies with the ability to foresee and mitigate potential hazards before they result in incidents. Leading indicators are often considered the ‘Holy Grail’ in safety for predicting risk, and this tool achieves that goal.”

Every SCSA member company is invited to participate in the survey and view their results in a custom analytics dashboard. Companies can see how their score compares to peers, find follow-up questions to make proactive adjustments to their safety program and monitor their performance over time.

“Having insights into one’s own company in a way that can predict incidents is a game changer,” said SCSA president Collin Pullar. “We encourage all of our members to utilize this simple, but insightful culture survey to better understand where they are doing well, but also better recognize and address weakness in their culture to prevent potential injuries. This is a powerful Canadian-built tool, and we would love to see as many companies as possible use it and learn from it to prevent accidents within their workforces.”

“At the Institute for Work & Health, our mission is to conduct and mobilize research that supports policy-makers, employers and workers in creating healthy, safe and inclusive work environments,” said Peter Smith, president of IWH. “To that end, it is heartening to see health and safety organizations such as the SCSA use the IWH-OPM to both understand organizational health and safety practices over time, and to better understand the relationships between these practices and safety outcomes in Saskatchewan.”

The survey is delivered twice a year to SCSA members, each fall and spring.

For more information, including an infographic of industry results and white paper, visit scsaonline.ca/resources/safety-culture-survey.

Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba continue collaboration on the joint memorandum of understanding

Legislative building
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Ministers for highways and transportation in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba in Saskatoon to continue work to strengthen economic corridors that support Canada’s supply chains. It has been a year since a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by the three provinces.

The MOU commits the partners to jointly working to improve the shared transportation system, to ensure the strength and competitiveness of the Prairie provinces.

Over the past year, the focus has been on regulatory harmonization, advocacy and regional planning. These priorities will continue with additional work on improving multi-modal transport infrastructure for the efficient movement of exports and imports.

The provinces are working on co-ordinated improvements that benefit the entire region, and they link producers more efficiently to markets across the globe. They are creating a prairie regional economic corridor to guide strategic investments in transportation.

The MOU commits the partners to jointly working to improve the shared transportation system, to ensure the strength and competitiveness of the Prairie provinces.

“By keeping the momentum of the Prairies’ MOU going, we can continue to improve western economic corridors that will enable the efficient movement of Prairie exports and imports to and from markets around the world,” Alberta Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen said.

“For Saskatchewan people, improving transportation efficiency with initiatives like these supports our strong and growing export-based economy,” Saskatchewan Highways Minister Lori Carr said. “A strategic approach helps the province invest in key services and helps build and protect our quality of life.”

Saskatchewan has already achieved its Growth Plan pledge to increase exports by 50 per cent. The province continues to expand export infrastructure to increase the mobility of Saskatchewan’s products to international markets over the next decade. Exports support a vibrant business community and ensure an improving quality of life for Saskatchewan people.

Seventy per cent of Saskatchewan’s economy is dependent on exports. In 2023, Saskatchewan exported $49.3 billion in goods. Saskatchewan goods reached 163 countries, with 32 of those countries receiving over $100 million in provincial exports.

Canada’s construction industry unveils critical report on climate resilience

Digital illustration of "Sustainable Future" painted on highway.
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On Sept. 9, 2024, the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) released a report emphasizing the urgent need for increased investment and stronger policies to protect Canadians and their critical infrastructure from the increasing threats of climate change.

The report, titled Climate resilience in construction: Building for a sustainable future, stresses the importance of building resilient infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather events, protect lives and support community well-being. Recent incidents, like the flooding in Toronto and wildfires in Jasper, show these threats are real and disrupt the everyday lives of Canadians. Calgary’s broken water main signals even deeper problems with Canada’s aging infrastructure.

“Canada’s infrastructure is the backbone of our communities, but it’s under threats from climate-related disasters,” said Rodrigue Gilbert, CCA president. “With much of our infrastructure aging or in poor condition, we must act now to future-proof our infrastructure and meet our environmental goals.”

The construction industry is already working to build sustainably, but it cannot do it alone. Significant investment, strategic planning and collaboration are needed to build infrastructure that is both resilient and sustainable.

“The construction industry is making progress in reducing our environmental impact,” Gilbert said. “But to reach our net-zero objectives and protect our infrastructure, we need support from both stakeholders and all levels of government.”

Key points from the report include:

  • Urgent need for investment: To protect infrastructure assets and address the rising strain from increasing population and housing developments, substantial investment is essential.
  • Industry progress and challenges: The construction sector is actively working to reduce its environmental impact, but long-term sustainability requires broader support and collaboration. Incentives to pilot new processes and technologies are also needed.
  • Policy environment: We need effective policies to ensure infrastructure is built to last. This includes addressing issues like labour shortages, procurement, alternative delivery models and supply chain challenges.

“Too often, infrastructure investment decisions are based on what’s politically expedient, not what’s genuinely needed in a given region of Canada,” said Gilbert. “We need to focus on projects that are ‘shovel-worthy,’ not just ‘shovel-ready’ to ensure Canadians have the infrastructure they depend on.”

Read more about building a sustainable future in this issue of Think BIG.

Highway Hotline introduces new highway condition terminology

Highway in winter conditions
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Saskatchewan’s Highway Hotline has updated the terminology it uses to describe winter driving conditions.

The new terminology offers more clear and concise messaging that will help drivers make decisions about winter travel. The updated language is also more consistent with neighbouring provinces, which will make using the Hotline easier for people travelling across Western Canada.

“The construction industry is making progress in reducing our environmental impact. But to reach our net-zero objectives and protect our infrastructure, we need support from both stakeholders and all levels of government.”

– Rodrigue Gilbert, CCA president

“The Highway Hotline is used millions of times throughout the year to help travellers plan ahead,” Highways Minister Lori Carr said. “These changes will help drivers make an informed decision while having better consistency with our neighbouring provinces and national standards.”

The new primary conditions include:

  • Bare: Road appears black, meaning all wheels of a passenger vehicle are on a bare surface.
  • Partly Covered: Road appears yellow, meaning two wheels of a passenger vehicle are on a snow or ice-covered surface.
  • Covered: Road appears pink, meaning all wheels of the vehicle are on snow or ice.
  • Travel Not Recommended: Road appears blue, meaning that visibility is less than 250 metres and could become impassable.
  • Closed: Road appears red, meaning the highway is impassable.

The colour white was removed because it did not show up well on the digital maps. The maps will continue to indicate poor visibility using a dotted line.

During the winter driving season, road conditions are updated a minimum of four times daily or whenever there are known changes that affect drivers.

The Highway Hotline has existed for more than 50 years. It provides information on highway conditions, road closures, construction zones, ferries and border crossings. As of February 2024, it now allows users to track the progress of plows involved in snow removal and ice treatment. This real-time information helps drivers make informed decisions to protect their safety.

Company Charged, Fined $100,000 for Serious Worker Injury

On Sept. 3, 2024, Adler Firestopping Ltd. pleaded guilty in St. Walburg Provincial Court to one violation of The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, 2020.

Adler Firestopping Ltd. was charged for contravening subsection 12-5 (2) (a) of the regulations (being an employer failed to ensure that every scaffold is designed, constructed, erected, used and maintained so as to perform safely any task that the scaffold is required to perform, resulting in the serious injury of a worker).

Three other charges were withdrawn.

As a result of this charge, the court imposed a fine of $71,428.57, with a surcharge of $28,571.43, for a total amount of $100,000.

The charge stemmed from a worksite incident that took place on Nov. 28, 2022, on the Thunderchild First Nation in Saskatchewan. A worker was seriously injured as a result of a fall from a work platform.

Saskatchewan's Transportation network supports provincial economy
by Martin Charlton Communications Martin Charlton Communications

Saskatchewan’s Transportation Network Supports Provincial Economy

Safe, reliable transportation infrastructure is not just “nice to have” in Saskatchewan, but it’s how our province competes in the global market, ensuring the people of the province enjoy a high quality of life. 

That message was delivered by Highways Minister Jeremy Cockrill when he spoke at the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce’s Business Conference in May. His presentation, “Transportation: Sharing Saskatchewan’s Food, Fuel and Fertilizer with the World,” explained what was contained in the latest budget to develop that transportation infrastructure and how earlier commitments had been fulfilled. 

Saskatchewan’s transportation infrastructure allows it to meet the world’s needs by safely and efficiently shipping our commodities from agriculture, mining and forestry to the world at competitive rates. Saskatchewan ships to 165 countries around the world and in 2021, the province exported a record $37 billion in goods, Cockrill explained.

Highways Minister Jeremy Cockrill
Highways Minister Jeremy Cockrill

He said his government recognizes the need for shippers to have timely and predictable access to markets, and that most of what is produced here travels south to the U.S., east to Manitoba or west to B.C., making our relationships with other provinces vital. A memorandum of understanding between Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba was signed in April to strengthen economic corridors that support our supply chains. “Our cooperation makes Canada better,” said Cockrill. 

The MOU commits the provinces to investing in and joining solutions to improve highways and rail networks, he said. The three provinces will cooperate to encourage the federal government for infrastructure funding and national supply chain solutions and harmonize regulations to support businesses, industries and shippers.

Growth is his government’s “north star,” said Cockrill, and that growth benefits all in the province. He said his government has its books in order and was able to retire $1 billion in debt when other governments have not because of the bounty Saskatchewan is fortunate to enjoy.  Cockrill also highlighted what the latest provincial budget contained for investment in Saskatchewan’s transportation network, saying it is about more than kilometres of highway. It’s about what that network means to the people, businesses and communities of the province. 

The transportation network includes Saskatchewan’s 26,000 kilometres of highways, but also bridges, culverts, ferries, ice roads, gravel roads and more. Then, there are the municipal networks operated by municipalities. The province’s transportation network is “an incredible asset” built by the people of the province, said Cockrill, including the men and women who work for the Ministry of Highways who are very proud of how they contribute to that network connecting people and goods. He said they work hard every day to make that network safe, efficient, reliable and sustainable. 

The $422 million his ministry is investing in capital projects this budget will support economic growth and that benefit flows to all in the province, Cockrill said. The overall capital budget is smaller than previous years because a two-year stimulus program that saw the province release $300 million in new highways projects ended in 2022. That stimulus program saw investments in hundreds of kilometers of thin-membrane surface highways, numerous highway passing lanes, community airports and more. 

Cockrill referenced Saskatchewan’s Growth Plan, saying his government is now in the fourth year of that plan, which committed the government to improving 10,000 kilometres of highways over a decade. After this year, it will be ahead of schedule, Cockrill said.

Saskatchewan’s transportation infrastructure allows it to meet the world’s needs by safely and efficiently shipping our commodities from agriculture, mining and forestry to the world at competitive rates. Saskatchewan ships to 165 countries around the world and in 2021, the province exported a record $37 billion in goods.

Major projects this budget invests in include beginning construction of twinning projects near Rowatt and Corinne on Highways 6 and 39 between Regina and Weyburn. There is the construction of passing lanes and widening of Highway 5 from Saskatoon to Highway 2 and planning for construction that will extend twinning on Highway 5 east of Saskatoon to support traffic going to BHP’s new facility. Upgrades are being made to Highway 15 east of Kenaston between Highways 11 and 2. Then, there is the planning for the third phase of the Saskatoon Freeway functional study. 

Safety is a major focus of work being done by the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure. Cockrill pointed out that it has been five years since a bus carrying members of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team was struck by a semi-trailer, killing 16 people and injuring 13. After that incident, an engineering review was completed, resulting in 13 recommendations to improve safety at the intersection of Highways 35 and 335, where the crash occurred. Work to implement all those recommendations will be completed this year.

Other intersections and road safety matters also got attention and investment at the conference. This year, the government will have fulfilled its commitment to spend $100 million over five years to work on turning lanes, streetlights, flashing warning lights, rumble strips, crosswalks and sightline improvements. This work often had a big impact on communities, Cockrill said. Other contributions to improving safety include spending millions on pavement marking, increasing the budget for signs and ditch mowing. 

Almost $63 million will be spent to repair and rebuild bridges and replace over 100 culverts across Saskatchewan. Major bridge projects include replacing the Montreal River Bridge on Highway 2 in the La Ronge area as well as rebuilding the Highway 6 bridge over the Ring Road at the south end of Regina. 

Cockrill encouraged those present at the conference to learn from an example out of Moosomin for “how to get stuff done” in the province. Moosomin’s airport needed improving so the air ambulance could land on the runway, which was too short. So, patients were being transferred by ambulance to Virden, Man., where Saskatchewan’s air ambulance could land. 

Many residents from the Moosomin area worked together to stay in contact with the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure office to explain their situation. A partnership was formed in the area between various municipalities as well as a local employer, Nutrien, which the province joined to provide $1.3 million to extend the runway. 

Cockrill encouraged communities and regions who have a project to discuss with government to contact him about their concerns to make him aware of the opportunity to meet. He said this budget provided urban municipalities $6.6 million and rural municipalities $15 million to support their transportation needs. 

Cockrill spent some time explaining the investment being made in northern Saskatchewan and its significance. He said this budget invests $89.4 million to build, operate and maintain the transportation system in northern Saskatchewan, including gravel road improvements on Highway 924 northeast of Green Lake and continuing to work on Saskatchewan’s portion of the Garson Lake Road. A one-time investment of $6 million for gravel work and brush clearing supports the northern population and the province’s forestry industry, which Cockrill said is an important sector for the province that is poised to grow because of private investment. 

He said because the provincial highway network is the largest per capita in the country, the ministry must maximize how long those assets are in use. There is 230 kilometres of repaving to be done all over the province and other work is being done to more than 600 kilometres to extend the life of those highways, Cockrill said.

The growth Cockrill sees in the province is exciting and investing in infrastructure is an important factor in that growth. The economic prosperity has allowed the government to invest in twinning highways, safety improvements and northern roads while providing support for municipalities – all while paying down the provincial debt. The growth is attracting people to locate in Saskatchewan, Cockrill said, because of the province’s opportunities and affordability. 

Cockrill and Prabha Ramaswamy, the CEO of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, were asked questions by some in the crowd during the conference. Cockrill was asked what was being done with Saskatchewan’s transportation network to ensure the agriculture and mining sectors remain competitive. 

He emphasized the importance of safety improvements, including passing lanes that allow producers to move equipment while others commute between communities. The government is advocating for more prairie voices on the board for the Port of Vancouver because so much of what is produced in this province must be exported through that port, Cockrill said. He also pointed to his government receiving intervenor status after gateway improvement fees were introduced at the Port of Vancouver, saying those fees unfairly penalize bulk shippers in the province.

Finally, Cockrill was asked what the provincial government is doing to promote sustainable transportation. He again pointed to the investment in northern Saskatchewan, saying many northern communities have a single road to get in and out. Recent fires in that part of the province demonstrate the need for people to be able to get out when they must. Investing in flood mapping is another way the province helps prepare communities. 

As for electric vehicles, Cockrill pointed out that the gas tax is a source of revenue for the province to be able to maintain highways, although what is spent on highways exceeds what is collected. The government implemented a fee to ensure that as drivers transition to EVs, the revenue generated by the fuel tax was replaced. The private sector is stepping up to add charging stations along highways, he said.

Someone else asked about innovative construction materials for highways and roads. Cockrill described a surface treatment for gravel roads, but said for highways, there doesn’t appear to be a silver bullet. That being said, they continue to work with consulting engineers to ensure highways are built properly so they last longer.