In 2019, there were 925 workplace fatalities.
That’s down from the 939 people who died a decade ago, but that figure has not changed much in the last decade. And that’s not good.
That means that there are nearly three people who get killed on the job in this Country, every single day.
In addition, there are over a quarter of a million lost-time injuries each year (271,806 in 2019, the last year that stats are available, due Covid). That works out to over 650 a day.
In BC, on average, 17 workers are permanently disabled every day.
On Thursday, April 28, the flag at town hall will be lowered to half-mast in remembrance of the people who have died and been injured on the job.
According to the Canadian Council for Occupational Health and Safety, April 28 is the National Day of Mourning, a date set aside to remember and commemorate workers who have died or been injured in the workplace. “In 1991, eight years after the day of remembrance was launched by the Canadian Labour Congress, the Parliament of Canada passed the Workers Mourning Day Act making April 28 an official Day of Mourning,” says their website. “Today, the Day of Mourning has since spread to more than 100 countries around the world and is recognized as Workers’ Memorial Day.”
Here in Tumbler Ridge, safety is one of the big priorities at Conuma, the largest employer in town. In 2021, the Brule Mine won the Edward Prior award for safest mine in the province for 2020, the third year in a row for the company, who won for Brule in 2018 and the Wolverine Mine in 2019.
And, on March 1, 2021, Wolverine celebrated an entire year—over 900,000 operating hours—without a single lost-time injury.
Over that same period, the Wolverine operation also saw a 36 percent reduction in overall incidents and a 93 percent reduction in equipment damage costs.
And that’s good news. Safety is important. Because behind each workplace accident, behind every death, there are loved ones: family, friends and co-workers who are directly affected, left behind, and deeply impacted – their lives also forever changed.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
