December 15, 2006

Health & Safety

Workplaces killing five each day

Occupational diseases, on the job fatalities: study

BRIAN BAKER

staff writer

The Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) examined workplace fatalities and discovered five Canadians die every work day, an alarming rate to many who work in a high risk industry such as construction.

The study, incorporating statistics compiled by the Association of Workers Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC), covered fatalities both from accidents on the job and occupational diseases from 1993 to 2005.

The executive summary for the ‘Five Deaths a Day’ report noted, “Workplace fatalities, unlike death in general, are in principle avoidable. Thus any workplace death should be unacceptable.

“It is therefore a matter of grave concern that the number of workplace fatalities in this country is increasing, not falling.”

To Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) chair Steve Mahoney, the report opens the eyes of many who suggest workplace fatalities fall under the radar.

“It takes a report like this, with the larger numbers that states we are losing five people every work day, to keep the feet to the fire on the issue,” Mahoney told Daily Commercial News.

“I am grateful that CSLS has done this report, but I am also somewhat frustrated that in Ontario, we have had some difficulty getting the message through in terms of major media and to the public at large.”

WSIB has been aggressively campaigning against workplace injuries, fatalities and diseases over the past eight months, including an advertising campaign featuring two re-enactments of workplace accidents and a talking corpse at a funeral. The campaign is referred to as the ‘Road to Zero.’

“I want this to be high profile to kids at school, to parents at home and to people who aren’t even in the workplace to recognize there is a carnage going on in the workplace, right across Canada, but specifically within Ontario,” added Mahoney.

In 2005, 343 workers were buried in Ontario alone, a fact that Mahoney has been driving home over the past eight months while touring across the province meeting with media, stakeholders and the general public.

“Nationally, it is an even greater tragedy when you look at the fact that we lose over a thousand workers a year,” concluded Mahoney.

Jeff Morrison, spokesperson with the Canadian Construction Association (CCA), agreed with Mahoney.

“Our first message and most important message is clearly one death is one too many on the worksite. Safety for us is the top priority.”

But Morrison also said the construction industry has been experiencing a “massive increase” over the past eight years.

Steve Mahoney

“We have seen about 200,000 new entrants to the industry, so with this increase in activity, you are going to see more accidents happen,” said Morrison.

“However, more activity is not an excuse for having more fatalities. The industry nationally, provincially and locally needs to look at its safety procedures more closely. If there are gaps, those gaps need to be filled.”

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