Good news on the workplace safety front from one of Canada’s provinces.
The rate of Alberta workers being hurt on the job dropped in 2013, according to information provided by the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB). In fact, the lost-time claim (LTC) rate is now at an all-time recorded low.
In addition, the disabling injury rate (DIR) dropped in some of Alberta’s key sectors last year: construction; manufacturing; and oil and gas development. The DIR combines information on workers who couldn’t work because of their injury or had their duties modified due to workplace injury or disease.
Despite safety improvements, there were 188 workplace fatalities in 2013. More than half of the fatalities resulted from occupational disease. In some cases, the worker may have been exposed to the disease decades ago.
While the rate of injury went down, the number of disabling injury claims rose slightly as Alberta’s workforce grew by 2.9 per cent to 2.1 million.
“I’m pleased to see a steady improvement in workplace safety. The hard work of industry, employers, workers, safety associations and government is paying off. That said, there are still far too many workplace deaths. I want all Alberta workers to get home safely at the end of the day,” said Kyle Fawcett, minister of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labor.
Highlights
• The LTC rate is now 1.34 per 100 person-years, an all-time recorded low. That’s down from 1.40 in 2012.
• The DIR decreased to 2.67 from 2.72 per 100 person-years in 2012.
• In 2013 there were 54,140 disabling injury claims, the combination of lost-time claims and modified work claims, and an increase of two percent from 53,081 claims in 2012.
Author Kori Shafer-Stack, Editor, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in post-injury response procedures and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: kstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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