Work Injury Statistics

Workers' compensation boards (WCB) and commissions across Canada collect information about accepted time-loss injuries.

The Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC) publish accepted time-loss injuries and fatality reports under the National Work Injuries Statistics Program (NWISP) according to the following categories:

• Nature of Injury (the type of injury or disease)
• Part of Body affected by the injury or disease
• Source of the Injury (immediate cause of the injury)
• Event (type of accident resulting in the injury, for example, "fall")
• Industry in which worker was employed at time of the accident
• Occupation of the injured or ill worker
• Province or Territory in which the injury, disease or fatality occurred
• Gender (sex) and Age (in age groups)
  

The publication can be ordered online from NWISP.

The NWISP database contains information about work-related illnesses and diseases as well as injuries.

Summary data by province/jurisdiction are available free of charge for the number of accepted time-loss injuries (1982-2015) and the number of fatalities (1993-2015) on the AWCBC web page NWISP statistics.

Before March 1996, Statistics Canada managed the National Work Injuries Statistics Program and collected data from all the WCBs and commissions. NWISP summarized the information on all the time-loss injuries and diseases that were accepted by the boards and commissions and prepared reports that were published by under the titles Work Injuries 1992-1994, Work Injuries 1991-1993, etc. (Catalogue 72-208, Statistics Canada).

After March 1996, the AWCBC assumed the responsibility for the National Work Injuries Statistics Program.

The AWCBC produces an annual publication that contains statistical data on the Number of Accepted Time-Loss Injuries and Diseases, and the Number of Fatalities for each of the twelve Canadian workers' compensation jurisdictions. A total for Canada is also shown for each category.

Accepted time-loss injuries are captured in several different categories. The report includes tables that show these injuries by:

• Province
• Gender and Province
• Age Group and Province
• Nature of Injury and Province
• Part of Body and Province
• Source of Injury and Province
• Event and Province
• Occupation and Province
• Industry and Province
• Nature of Injury and Industry Division
• Part of Body and Industry Division
• Source of Injury and Industry Division
• Event and Industry Division

Fatality statistics are shown by:

• Province
• Nature of Injury and Province
• Part of Body and Province
• Source of Injury and Province
• Event and Province
• Age Group and Province
• Gender and Province
• Occupation and Province
• Industry and Province

These reports summarize data for groups of industries and occupations. For example, "industry division" applies to a group like the "manufacturing sector" not to specific industries like the "paint and varnish industry". Similarly, occupations in these reports refer to the major groups like "construction trades occupations" (Statistics Canada Occupational Classification group 87) rather than to unit groups like "carpenters and related occupations" (group 8781).

It is important to remember that these reports do not include all workplace injuries: they only include accepted time-loss injuries. The AWCBC defines a time-loss injury as "an injury for which a worker is compensated for a loss of wages following a work-related accident (or exposure to a noxious chemical) or receives compensation for a permanent disability with or without time lost in his or her employment". An example of the latter kind of time-loss injury is a worker who receives compensation for a loss of hearing caused by excessive workplace noise even though the worker may have not missed any time from work because of this injury.

To be included in the statistical report, the injury must have been accepted by a WCB or commission. This requirement means that cases not accepted by a workers' compensation agency would not be included in the reports. Other examples of excluded information include:

• injuries that were never reported to the WCB (e.g., the injury was considered minor or "first aid" only, etc),
• injuries among some work groups that are not covered by WCB (such as the self-employed),
• incident rates (e.g., number of time-loss injuries per 100 workers),
• costs of accidents, or
• amount of time lost.

If you require more specific work injury statistics or need information that is not in the AWCBC or NWISP reports, AWCBC can carry out customized searches on a fee-for-service basis. You can obtain more information on customized reports and request searches from the AWCBC at the following address:

Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC)
40 University Avenue, Suite 1007
Toronto ON M5J 1T1
Telephone: (416) 581-8875 or Toll-Free: 1-855-282-9222
Fax: (416) 581-1635
E-mail: contact@awcbc.org
http://www.awcbc.org

You may also wish to contact the WCB in your jurisdiction for additional statistical information. These agencies can provide various kinds of work injury statistical reports; the cost may vary according to the availability of the data and the time required to undertake computer searches, if required.