Cameco is weighing in on some recent numbers by the Workers’ Compensation Board.
The board estimates there were 45 to 50 injuries at northern mines last year along with two deaths, but it doesn’t know for sure.
The board says that’s because many companies list their head office as being in southern Saskatchewan, which makes it difficult to determine exactly where the injury occurred.
For its part, Cameco says the number of injuries at its mines was very low.
Spokesman Rob Gereghty says they only recorded four lost-time injuries in 2012 at its Saskatchewan operations.
Three of those incidents involved contractors while the fourth was a Cameco employee.
He agrees it can be tough to track the numbers.
“You could injure your finger at work and it may not be a lost-time injury, then you could return home and then when you visit the doctor and perhaps if there was an infection or something that required additional medical care and attention – x-rays, painkillers, etc. – then that would trigger a WCB claim,” he says.
The Workers’ Compensation Board says it is always trying to improve its ability to track injuries but the current system is the industry standard.