The Alberta government has improved how it enforces workplace safety, but it hasn't done enough to ensure employers follow the rules, Auditor General Merwan Saher found in his latest report

"The (Labour) department has still not fully implemented process improvements to enforce compliance for all (Occupational Health and Safety) orders issued," states the July 2016 report, released Tuesday.

"The department is unable to demonstrate, with evidence, that it has a complete set of processes to apply department policies to keep Alberta's workers safe."

Although the labour department has started issuing fines, tickets and administrative penalties to employers, it doesn't evaluate how well its workplace safety programs prevent injury and lost time, the auditors found.

Problems remain with how Occupational Health and Safety documents its attempts to get employers to follow the rules.

Employers are given 30 days to fix work-site safety problems. OHS officers can only grant a 30-day extension with the approval of a manager.

Although his auditors found "significant cases of invalid extensions," Saher declined to say how long these stop-work orders were extended beyond the 60-day maximum.

"You will have to accept that in our judgment we saw significant non-compliance with procedures to cause us to make the recommendation," he said.

"I'm not going down the path of giving out numbers which can be misconstrued without the full context."

A spokesman for Labour Minister Christina Gray said in many of these cases, the companies were granted two 30-day extensions at the most.

In cases where the extension went longer, more time was needed because a part for a piece of machinery was on order or an engineering report was required for a structural modification.

Even though the auditor general recommended changes in 2010, the report found managerial approvals are still not properly documented.

In some cases, the OHS officer, not the manager, would make notes about the approval, leading auditors to question whether it was authentic.

The labour department has given up on completing a Work Safety Alberta strategy, the report says. Instead, it will rely on work previously done to come up with something else.

But this isn't good enough, the report states.

"The lack of evaluation and reporting on OHS programs means the Minister of Labour cannot assure Albertans that programs are achieving desired results and providing value to Albertans.".

Gray said the auditor general's findings show how the previous Tory government failed to act on workplace safety.

She said the government will address the remaining issues flagged in Tuesday's report. She said her department is reviewing procedures for compliance timelines and when extensions are granted.

She said the department is training safety officers to ensure compliance orders are logged properly with proper approvals from managers.

Gray wants the auditor general to revisit the audit in a year to ensure the recommendations have been followed.

"I'm confident that we can get this done because Albertans deserve more from their government and that includes ensuring workplaces are fair and that hardworking Albertans can return home safely to their families," she said.

Saher's report also examines how the government issued the rebuilding contracts for the Kananaskis golf course after the 2013 floods and the use of funeral homes to transport bodies for the chief medical examiner in rural areas.