Canada

Organization responsible for the statistics

Collection and compilation: Human Resources Development Canada, Labour Branch (HRDC-L) and the Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC).

Publication: Human Resources Development Canada, Labour Branch (HRDC-L).

Statistics Canada collects, compiles and publishes the employment data used for calculating injury rates.

Periodicity

Annual.

Source

Canadian provincial and territorial workers' compensation boards provide the data to HRCD-L under the aegis of the National Work Injury Statistics Program (NWISP). The NWISP is the only source of national data which can provide information for each of the economic activities.

The workers' compensation boards provide Human Resources Development Canada with annual statistics on the number of compensated occupational injuries and their costs. Coverage is national and for all industries registered with the Boards. Although the accident reporting system used by these workers' compensation boards was not designed as an occupational safety and health information system, they have emerged as the primary source of occupational safety and health data for comparing the occupational injury experience of all jurisdictions (all works, undertakings or businesses in Canada, as well as federal government activities). As a result, the data compiled are subject to the collection practices, reporting requirements, claims policies and definitions employed by the various boards.

Objectives and users

To identify areas of concern for occupational safety and health (accident-prone activities, most frequent sources of injuries, etc.) so as to allow more timely and effective intervention in this field, within a context of limited financial resources.
To establish statistical performance indicators in order to acquire a spatial and chronological representation of the occupational safety and health situation, which provides a basis for comparisons of performance between jurisdictions and for monitoring the effectiveness of programmes.

Major users:

HRDC-L, as the key agency for policy design, programme monitoring and the development of legislation and regulations.

Coverage

Persons:

All paid full and part-time employees, aged 15 years and over, and self-employed workers whenever they have been accepted for coverage by their workers' compensation board. An employee is defined as any person receiving pay for services rendered or for paid absences for whom the employer is required to complete a Revenue Canada T-4 Supplementary form.

Statistics for all private household employees and some extraterritorial workers are available, but injury rates cannot be calculated for them as the corresponding employment data for these categories are unavailable.

Military personnel are excluded.

About 11,000,000 workers are covered by the NWISP.

Economic activities:

All economic activities and sectors, except defence.

Geographic areas:

All ten Canadian provinces and the two territories.

Persons injured in occupational accidents outside the country are included if they are covered by a Canadian workers' compensation board; in general, these comprise persons employed in extraterritorial bodies such as embassies, consulates and recognized international organizations are included.

Persons normally residing outside the country who are involved in accidents in Canada are not included as they are not covered by the Canadian workers' compensation board, unless special arrangements have been made between a Canadian Board and its foreign equivalent.

Establishments:

All types and sizes of establishments.

Types of occupational accidents covered

Compensated injuries that have been accepted by the workers' compensation boards for the purposes of indemnity payments. The type and nature of accepted occupational accidents may differ to some extent from one provincial or territorial workers' compensation board to another. As a result, certain types of injuries not previously universally recognized (such as repetitive strain injuries or emotional shock) may be under-reported.

Statistics of occupational diseases are included if they were compensated. They are included in the tables and published along with the occupational injury data, and are denoted by specific Nature of injury or illness codes in the coding scheme used in the NWISP.

Commuting accidents are not included, as they are not covered for compensation.

Concepts and definitions

(Source: Occupational injuries and their cost in Canada, 1990-94, Human Resources Development Canada, Labour Branch, 1995).

Occupational accident:

any accident involving at least one employee in the performance or in connection with his or her work.

Occupational injury:

any injury, disease or illness incurred by an employee in the performance or in connection with his or her work.

Worktime lost because of occupational injuries:

period when an employee is prevented by an occupational injury from reporting to work or from effectively performing all the duties connected with the employee's regular work on any day subsequent to the day on which the occupational injury occurred, whether or not the subsequent day is a working day for that employee.

Fatal occupational injury:

an occupational injury resulting in death.

Temporary incapacity to work:

incapacity resulting from any occupational injury which temporarily prevents an employee from reporting for work or from effectively performing all the duties connected with the employee's regular work on any day subsequent to the day on which the occupational injury occurred, whether or not that subsequent day is a working day for that employee.

Permanent incapacity to work:

incapacity resulting from an occupational injury (including a fatality) which permanently prevents an employee for reporting for work or from effectively performing all the duties connected with the employee's regular work on any day subsequent to the day on which the occupational injury occurred, whether or not that subsequent day is a working day for that employee.

Disabling injury:

any occupational injury (including a fatality) that:

prevents an employee from reporting for work or from performing all the duties connected with the employee's regular work on any day subsequent to the day on which the occupational injury occurred, whether or not that subsequent day is a working day for that employee;
results in the loss by an employee of a body member or a part thereof or in a complete loss of the usefulness of a body member or part thereof; or
results in the permanent impairment of a body function of an employee.

Non-disabling injury:

any occupational injury that was not a disabling injury, and for which medical treatment was provided (minor injury).

Time-loss injury:

usually the same as a disabling injury, but in jurisdictions where a waiting period must elapse before compensation for loss of wages can be paid, it is an occupational injury for which compensation has been paid.

No time-loss injury:

any occupational injury that was not a time-loss injury and for which medical treatment was provided, the cost of which was incurred by the workers' compensation board of the province or territory where the occupational injury took place.

Minimum period of absence from work: at least one day (24 hours), i.e. the qualifying period for compensation for lost wages. There are some differences, however, between the workers' compensation boards: for two of the twelve boards, compensation is paid only after two or three days (48 or 72 hours), although the injured worker is compensated for this waiting period if he or she is disabled for five weeks or more. In some cases, compensation is paid for a permanent disability without any worktime being lost (e.g. compensation for loss of hearing resulting from excessive noise in the workplace).

Maximum period for death to be considered a fatal occupational injury: none, as long as there is sufficient medical evidence that the cause of death is related to an occupational injury.

Types of information compiled

(a) personal characteristics of persons injured: date of birth, sex, occupation, number of years of experience;

(b) amount of worktime lost;

(c) characteristics of accidents: type of accident (event or exposure); source of injury; secondary source of injury if applicable; location of accident (province or territory);

(d) characteristics of injuries: nature of injury or disease; affected part of body; extent of disability;

(e) characteristics of employers or workplaces: economic activity; employer or worksite size (number of employees).

Measurement of worktime lost

Worktime lost is measured in workdays for which compensation was paid. It is compiled in the case of:

non-fatal temporary incapacity, if the person was absent for more than one day; excluding the first workday lost;
non-fatal permanent incapacity, measured as the number of days for which short- and long- term replacement indemnity were paid;
fatal injuries, measured as the number of days for which short- and long-term income replacement indemnity were paid prior to death, if applicable.

Temporary absences for medical treatment occurring after the first day applicable to a lost-wages compensation claim are included in the measurement of lost worktime to the extent that a compensation claim for lost wages was accepted. This generally applies to employers with no collective agreement to provide some type of wage indemnity payments for medical visits during worktime.

Classifications

(a) fatal or non-fatal accidents;

(b) extent of disability:

not applicable, since the twelve provincial and territorial workers' compensation boards use different methods to rate the extent of disability;

(c) economic activity:

according to the Standard Industrial Classification, 1980 (SIC-80), which can be converted to the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC), Revision 3, 1990; data are classified at a level approximately equivalent to the division (two-digit) level of ISIC Rev.3;

(d) occupation:

according to the twelve major groups of Statistics Canada's Occupational Classification Manual, 1971;

(e) type of injury:

identifies the injury or illness in terms of its principal physical characteristics; the following groups are used in this classification: amputation or enucleation; asphyxia, strangulation, drowning; burn or scald (heat); concussion; contusion, crushing, bruise; cut, laceration, puncture; dislocation; electric shock, electrocution; fracture; hernia; scratches, abrasion; sprains and strains; multiple injuries; occupational injury, not elsewhere classified; burn (chemical); contagious or infectious disease; dermatitis; freezing, frostbite; hearing loss or impairment; heat stroke, sunstroke, heat cramps, heat exhaustion; inflammation or irritation; poisoning, systemic; silicosis; pneumoconiosis, n.e.c.; radiation effect; occupational illness, n.e.c.; non-personal damage only; unclassified or unidentified disorders;

part of body injured: head; neck; upper extremities; trunk; lower extremities; multiple parts; body systems; body parts n.e.c; unclassified;

(f) cause of accident:

a source of injury code identifies the object, substance, exposure or bodily motion which directly produced or inflicted the injury or illness identified; the following groups are used in this classification: air pressure; animals, insects, birds, reptiles and persons, n.e.c.; animal products; bodily motion; boilers and pressure vessels; boxes, barrels, containers, packages; buildings and structures; ceramic items; chemicals and chemical compounds; clothing, apparel and shoes; coal and petroleum products; cold; conveyors; drugs and medicines; electric apparatus; flame, fire and smoke; food products; furniture, fixtures, furnishings; glass items; hand tools, not powered; hand tools, powered; heat, atmospheric and environmental; heating equipment; hoisting apparatus; infectious and parasitic agents; ladders; liquids; machines; mechanical power transmission apparatus; metal items; mineral items, metallic; mineral items, non-metallic; noise; paper and pulp items; particles; plants, trees and vegetation; plastic items; pumps and prime movers; radiating substances and equipment; soaps, detergents and cleaning compounds, n.e.c.; silica; scarp, debris, waste material; steam; textile items; vehicles; wood items; working surfaces; explosives; miscellaneous; unknown, unidentified;

A secondary source of injury is also coded, where applicable;

There is a direct relationship between this classification and the nature of injury and part of body classifications:

(g) duration of absence from work:

not applicable;

(h) characteristics of workers:

sex; age group: ten five-year groups from 15 to 64 years, and 65 years and over;

(i) characteristics of accidents:

type of accident: identifies the event or exposure which directly caused the injury or illness: struck against; struck by; fall from elevation; fall on same level; caught in, under or between; rubbed or abraded; bodily reaction; overexertion; contact with electric current; contact with extreme temperatures; contact with radiations, caustics, toxic and noxious substances; public transportation accidents; highway motor-vehicle accidents; exposure to noise; explosions; nonhighway motor vehicle accidents n.e.c.; accident type n.e.c.; unclassified, insufficient data;

(j) characteristics of employers or workplaces:

not applicable;

(k) other:

province.

Reference period

Calendar year.

Monthly tabulations are sometimes available.

An injury is included in the statistics for the period (calendar year) during which the associated claim for compensation was submitted.

Worktime lost is recorded for each period (calendar year) during which compensation was paid.

Estimates

Totals:

number of persons injured with lost worktime (compensated)
number of compensated fatal occupational injuries
number of compensated workdays lost by persons injured

Rates:

rates of fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 persons employed
rates of non-fatal occupational injuries per 100 persons employed
rates of time-loss occupational injuries per million hours worked (or per 2,000 work years if statistics on hours worked are not available)
compensation quotient: total compensation payments made during a given period (usually one year) divided by the number of occupational injuries recorded during that period

Because the reporting of occupational injuries to Human Resources Development Canada is voluntary, some workers' compensation boards fail to report in certain years, while others report late. In these cases, estimated figures are used. In addition, the calculation of all rates is based only on claims accepted by the workers' compensation boards, which may be an underestimation.

The number of occupational injuries compensated during a particular year includes claims originating in previous years. This may lead to overestimation or underestimation for particular years, depending on the number of cases carried over.

Historical background of the series

The Labour Branch of Human Resources Development Canada has been compiling national statistics on occupational injuries for several decades. The statistics provided to the ILO are those compiled through the National Work Injuries Statistics Program (NWISP), which aims at providing information on occupational safety and health in Canada for the purposes of accident prevention, prevention programme analysis and policy making.

The Yukon joined the NWISP in 1991; since that date, therefore, the statistics covered the whole of Canada.

Documentation

Series available:

The following tables are published:

historical summary of occupational injuries and their cost, 1970-1995: number of employees, number of injuries (no time-loss, time-loss and fatal compensated injuries), compensation paid and compensation quotient (in current and constant dollars), rates of fatal injuries per 100,000 employees, rates of time-loss of injuries per 100 employees, rates of all injuries per 100 employees;
occupational injuries and their cost, by province and territory, 1991-1995: number of injuries (no time-loss, time-loss and fatal compensated injuries), and costs ( medical aid, hospital care and funeral costs);
occupational injuries in industries under Federal jurisdiction by industry, 1991-1995: number and rates of injuries (disabling, non-disabling and fatal), by industry;
occupational injuries in industries under Federal jurisdiction by province or territory, 1991-1995: number and rates of injuries (disabling, non-disabling and fatal), by province or territory.

Bibliographic references:

Up to 1995:

Statistics Canada: Work Injuries (catalogue No. 72-208) (annual).

Since 1995:

Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC): Work Injury and Diseases, National Work Injury Statistics Program (first edition covering the period 1993-1995).

Certain tables are published on the Internet: http://www.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/labour.

Methodological information is included in these publications.

Customized tabulations are available from AWCBC, for a small service fee, in a variety of formats (plain text, word processing, spreadsheet, etc.), and can be transmitted electronically.

Data published by ILO:

The following data are furnished to the ILO for publication in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics, relating to compensated occupational injuries according to major divisions of economic activity: number of persons fatally injured, number of persons injured with lost workdays, total of these two groups; rates of fatal injuries; number of workdays lost by persons injured with lost workdays (for all economic activities together only). The number of persons at risk (total number of persons insured) is also supplied and stored in the LABORSTA database.

Confidentiality:

Confidentiality legislation prohibits the publication of any data on occupational injuries that could lead to the identification of individual workers or businesses. In order to protect privacy, all personal identifiers are removed by the workers' compensation boards before the data is handed over to Statistics Canada. In addition, a further safeguard to privacy is implemented in Statistics Canada's publications and customized tabulations, in which all values smaller than 10 are suppressed as they could potentially allow the identification of individual workers or businesses.

International standards

The NWISP was designed to comply with and to take advantage of current and future international standards.

It is the result of a national consultation process in which representative bodies of employers, workers, governments and workers' compensation boards and commissions were involved.

Method of data collection

Legislation:

In Canada, legislative jurisdiction is shared between the federal government and twelve provinces and territories. Provincial and territorial governments are currently responsible for legislation on workers' compensation matters within their territory. As a result, there is no single national law or regulation governing workers' compensation, but a number of laws and regulations, of which the following are the most relevant:

Newfoundland: Workers' Compensation Act, 1983, c48s1
New Brunswick: New Brunswick Workers' Compensation Act
Nova Scotia: The Workers' Compensation Act of Nova Scotia
Quebec: Loi sur la santé et la sécurité du travail (L.R.Q., c.S-2.1)
Ontario: The Workers' Compensation Act of Ontario
Manitoba: The Workers' Compensation Act of Manitoba, enacted in 1916
Alberta: The Workers' Compensation Act of Alberta
British Columbia: Workers's Compensation Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 492. Each provincial or territorial workers' compensation board maintains a list of medical conditions or impairments that are deemed suitable for compensation claims. While the details of the conditions for the admissibility of compensation claims may vary between provinces and territories, most recognized occupational injuries and diseases are accepted by all Canadian workers' compensation boards or commissions.
Some provincial or territorial boards require a claim to be submitted within a certain period of time following an accident. A few examples are:
- Newfoundland: within six months of the accident
- Ontario: within three days of the accident
- Manitoba: within five business days of the injury
- British Columbia: no limit specified
Reporting:

The claim submission procedure may vary between provinces and territories. Typically, however, the worker is required to fill in the employer injury log, if any, and to complete a Notice of Injury form issued by the workers' compensation board. This form should be signed by a representative of the employer and any witnesses to the accident. Subsequently, the accident should be formally reported to the workers' compensation board, either in person or by telephone, using the appropriate form, which must be signed by the applicant. A copy of the Notice of Injury form should also be provided to the workers' compensation board. The medical practitioner treating the injured worker is required to complete and send a confidential medical report to the workers' compensation board.
Employers are usually required to report the injury as soon as possible, and to complete and return an Employer Report Form.
Each provincial or territorial workers' compensation board uses its own specific forms, which are accompanied by guidance leaflets. Many of these are now available on the Internet.

Data reported:
The following types of information are typically included in the forms from the different provincial or territorial workers' compensation boards:
1. about the worker: name, address, gender, date of birth, social insurance number, marital and dependent status;
2. about the employer or place of work: name, registration identification, address, address of place of work where the injury occurred;
3. about the occupational accident: date, circumstances, probable cause, names of any witnesses;
4. about the occupational injury: nature of injury, part of body injured, cause of injury.
Changes planned:
Since the provincial and territorial workers' compensation boards and commissions are autonomous entities, accountable only to their governments, they may implement whichever changes they deem appropriate for the context in which they operate. Therefore, the Canadian workers' compensation schemes are continuously evolving from the nationwide viewpoint. However, none of the changes currently foreseen are expected to have a significant impact on national workers' compensation issues.

Additional information
Another important source of information on occupational injuries comprises the record-keeping and reporting requirements of Part II of the Canada Labour Code. The Canada Hazardous Occurrence Investigation Recording and Reporting Regulations specify procedures for the recording and submission of data on occupational injuries.
The Human Resources Development Canada's Labour Program maintains a register of employers in federal works, undertakings and businesses pursuant to paragraph 141(l)(f) and (g) of the Canada Labour Code. Through an annual survey, the register is updated by deleting or adding employers.
A form is mailed every January to all employers in the federal register. Employers are required to submit the complete form by March of each year, reporting on hazardous occurrences for the preceding calendar year. All employers with one or more workers are required to report.
Employers provide information on the number of disabling and non-disabling injuries, fatalities, other hazardous occurrences, total number of workers (office or non-office) and the total number of hours worked for the year. These statistics are used for calculating annual occupational injury indicators for the federal jurisdiction.
In 1995, about 3,380 federal jurisdiction employers were registered under Part II of the Canada Labour Code, about 79 per cent of whom had submitted their reports for 1995. A national total of 774,421 full-time equivalent workers were reported in 16 economic activities.