Number of time-loss claims reached a new low while total claims also decreased from its four-year average
Nova Scotia recorded just 4,997 time-loss claims in 2020, a new low for the province and a drop from the average 5,808.75 time loss claims from 2016 to 2019
Total claims also dropped to 19,994 last year from the average of 24,436.75 the previous four years, according to the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) of Nova Scotia.
Also, there were 1.54 time-loss injuries per 100 covered workers in 2020, a decline from 1.67 in 2019.
However, the province recorded a total of 1,142,835 days, or 3,131 person-years of work, that were spent recovering from workplace injuries.
“The good news is fewer Nova Scotians are being injured on the job,” said Stuart MacLean, WCB Nova Scotia CEO. “The bad news is that when they are, it takes far too long for all of us to work together to bring about safe, healthy, return to work – and that work has such value to people, and to our province.”
On average, it took workers 178 days or nearly six months in 2020 before they returned to work after suffering injuries. This number has been increasing over the past years: 110 days in 2016, 117 days in 2017, 127 days in 2018 and 147 days in 2019.
In Saskatchewan, the workplace total injury rate in 2020 was 4.46 per 100 workers, a 10 per cent decrease from 2019.
Musculoskeletal, psychological injuries
Musculoskeletal injuries – such as sprains, strains and other soft-tissue injuries – continue to make up the highest percentage of time-loss injuries at 63 per cent.
Also, 27 per cent of of all time-loss injuries were to the back, which continues to be the most frequently injured part of the body.
Meanwhile, there was a slight decrease in psychological injuries last year, from 157 in 2019 to 153 in 2020. However, this is still higher than the 94 such injuries recorded in 2018. There were also 45 cases of workers contracting COVID-19 in the workplace last year.
Time-loss claims from first responders also increased to 101 in 2020 from 95 in 2019. Claims of this kind from first responders were only 64 in 2018.
Of all workers who lost time from work due to an injury in 2020, the average age was 43. Also, 12 per cent of time-loss injury claims in 2020 are from those aged 60 and up, up from just six per cent in 2010.
Overall, 32 Nova Scotians died on the job in 2020, up from 22 in 2019 but down from 40 in 2018.
Preventing musculoskeletal injuries
Ergonomics can help employers eliminate injury hazards in the workplace, according to WCB Nova Scotia. And one thing employers must consider in this regard is who is going to do what tasks.
“Design jobs so that most people can safely perform all tasks efficiently. Fitting the work to the worker means considering the physical aspects of the job and determining how people of different heights and strengths can do the work. How can the job be set up and what type of equipment will allow people to work safely? Will the employee need experience, or is this an entry-level task? Will training be required?
“Consider these issues up front so you can more effectively plan and schedule training and skill development. Making jobs easier will expand the potential workforce capable of completing the work tasks. This is especially important with worker shortages.”
