Saskatchewan's work-related fatalities increase in 2010

The number of work-related fatalities increased to 45 in 2010 from 34 in 2009, largely due to an increase in deaths from occupational diseases, the Saskatchewan Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) said Wednesday.

Of the 45 fatalities, 16 were from deaths from occupational diseases caused by exposure to carcinogens and other hazards in the workplace over years, even decades, the WCB report said.

There were eight fatalities from traumas, such as falls or crushing-type injuries, down from 11 in 2009, the report said.

"There really isn't anything good about having to report fatalities,'' said Peter Federko, CEO of the WCB. "But . . . the good news within these numbers is that fatalities as a result of workplace-specific traumas have decreased."

The other positive in the workplace fatality numbers is there were no workers under 25 killed on the job in Saskatchewan last year. "For the first time in 15 years, we did not have a youth fatality in 2010,'' Federko said.

In 2009, there were three workers under the age of 25 who died from injuries sustained in a work-related incident. "Having zero (in 2010) is wonderful and hopefully we can stay there,'' he added.

Federko said the 16 deaths from occupational diseases are largely the result of long-term exposure to asbestos. "Most of these fatalities were (from) asbestos-related lung disease,'' Federko said. "These exposures occurred 20 or 30 years ago when . . . asbestos was used primarily as an insulator."

The fact that the number of deaths from occupational diseases is rising reinforces WCB's "Mission: Zero'' campaign to eliminate workplace injuries and fatalities.

"What this signals is the importance of what we're doing today — not that we can do anything about those exposures that happened years ago — but to prevent history from repeating itself,'' Federko said.

"We can never, ever stop being vigilant.''

While the total number of workplace fatalities is up over recent years, WCB chair David Eberle noted that time-loss injury rate has fallen by more than 30 per cent since 2002.

"Every workplace death is a tragedy, and we should never lose sight of this. But this increase does not mean our workplaces are becoming less safe,'' Eberle said in a WCB press release

"In fact, there are more people working in Saskatchewan in 2010 and fewer people being injured."

In addition to the WCB fatality claims, each year, there are an average of 14 deaths and more than 200 hospitalizations that occur from farming and ranching work-related incidents.

About 75 per cent of farm deaths and 50 per cent of farm injuries are machinery-related, the WCB said.