BC workplace fatalities take devastating toll

Date: Dec. 7, 1999
Time: 2:55 pm

This finding was highlighted in Lost lives: work-related deaths in BC, likely the first longitudinal study of work-related fatalities in Canada. The Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) of BC study examines the period between 1989 and 1998, when 1482 BC workers died.

"This study gives us enough information to analyze trends and problem areas," WCB spokesperson Karen Zukas told eCMAJ Today. Unfortunately it is difficult to compare BC's averages with other provincial or territorial programs because each board differs in what industries it covers.

The decade-long BC review found that of all the work-related deaths, 74% (1103 workers) were the result of a single-incident accident and 26% (379 workers) resulted from work-related disease.

Zukas says that while there has been an overall decrease in deaths due to trauma, the number of disease-related deaths are rising "because exposure occurred 30, 40 years ago." She adds that there will be a lot of asbestos exposure victims emerging in the next decade.

Of the 379 workers who died from a work-related disease in the study decade, 52% were as a result of asbestosis or mesothelioma, diseases that develop after exposure to asbestos fibres. An additional 20% of deaths were due to silicosis, a chronic lung disease that causes scarring and stiffening of the lungs.

The logging industry continues to lead the way in the number of deaths caused by accident -252 during the decade.

Accidents involving motor vehicles and industrial vehicles were the most common single-incident deaths, comprising 35% of the total. Struck-by accidents, where a worker is hit by a moving object, made up 21% of the deaths, while aircraft accidents accounted for 11% of workplace fatalities. Almost 98% of those who died were male; young men, age 15-24, were 70% more likely to be injured on the job than other age groups.

"The statistics are too high," says Zukas. "We consider it unacceptable." The WCB, which serves more than 1.8 million BC workers and 160 000 employers, strongly recommends orientation and training for all new workers to a work site as a way to save lives. The board has also put faces to those statistics to drive home the dangers; Lost lives presents poignant stories about the ones left behind.

Related occupational health sites:

The American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, Inc.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Duke Occupational & Environmental Medicine

— Barbara Sibbald, Ottawa

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