Safety Matters

Thanks to the efforts of safety champions from across the province, Nova Scotia is becoming a safer place to work. 

Last year, Nova Scotians were injured at work less frequently than the year prior. If they were injured seriously enough to lose time from work, on average, they were able to get back to work sooner. 

WCB Nova Scotia’s 2022 Impact of Workplace Injury Report includes the organization’s latest statistics on the number of workplace injuries, the most common types of injuries and how they occurred, which industries they were happening in and much more.  

While the province is showing signs of progress in many areas, there is still more work to do make sure every Nova Scotian gets home safe. 

The numbers are a stark reminder of the very real human and economic toll workplace injuries take on our province, and why it is so important to make sure physical and psychological health and safety are always the number one priority. 

For Safety and Health Week, read and download the complete report and talk about it in your workplace. 

What steps will you take to make sure even more Nova Scotians go home safe in 2023? 

Find out what risks exist in your industry and use the Risk Mapping Tool to mitigate these risks. These resources are also available. 

Report Highlights

• 5,420 Nova Scotians were injured seriously enough to lose three or more days from work.
• Despite a slight increase in the total number of time loss injuries, the provincial injury rate improved to 1.54 per 100 covered workers, down from 1.58 in 2021, and is one of the lowest rates in the past ten years. In 2012, the injury rate was 1.96.
• Several industries saw significant improvements in their injury rates in 2022, including retail, accommodation-food and beverage, and transportation.
• Sprains and strains remain the number one type of workplace injury, accounting for more than half of all injuries that require time off to recover. Backs are still the part of the body that’s most often injured.
• A slip, trip or fall was the cause of more than 20 percent of all time-loss injuries.
• The age of Nova Scotians who experience an injury continues to increase. Workers over the age of 50 years now comprise over 37 per cent of all time loss claims.
• Fewer young workers were injured in 2022. Injuries among workers aged 20 to 24 years were down from 478 in 2021 to 449 in 2022. Injuries among younger workers under 20 years of age were down from 124 in 2021 to 119 in 2022.