The worker’s life can be interrupted. There is often downtime, productivity loss and a possible increase in workplace injury insurance costs.

It doesn’t have to happen. No one needs to get hurt or killed on the job.

The good news is that Nova Scotia is getting safer. In the past decade, the number of workplace injuries have fallen by 30 per cent.

Yet there are still too many people getting hurt on the job. There were nearly 7,000 serious injuries in 2011. That is simply unacceptable.

Workplace safety is a team effort. Everyone from front line workers to the top managers must embrace safety – if something can’t be done safely it shouldn’t be done at all.