Province loses thousands of years of work to employee injury

A total of 1,078,534 working days were lost to workplace injury in Nova Scotia in 2021, according to the province’s Workers Compensation Board (WCB).

That is equivalent to a staggering 2,955 person-years of work. But while this number is eye-catching, it’s actually an improvement on 2020, when the province recorded that 1,142,825 working days were lost to injury.

“We are seeing significant and lasting progress over time in our workplace safety culture,” said Stuart MacLean, WCB Nova Scotia CEO. “Supporting workers and employers after injury happens remains a priority for all of us – after years of challenges, we are beginning to see progress there, too.”

Read more: 90 per cent of workers overall said they were aware of their right to refuse unsafe work

Nova Scotia had 5,391 time-loss claims in 2021, up from 4,977 in 2020. However, the number is still an improvement from time-loss recorded in 2019 (5,663), 2018 (5,819) and 2017 (5,906).

Time loss claims per 100 covered workers stood at 1.58, compared with 1.53 in 2020, 1.67 in 2019, 1.72 in 2018 and 1.76 in 2017.

Last year, the province recorded 21,283 total claims, up from the 19,994 recorded in 2020, but down from data in 2019 (24,900), 2018 (24,584) and 2017 (23,952).

Sprains, strains, and other soft-tissue injuries (64 per cent) are by far the most common way that people get hurt at work in the province. And 25 per cent of all time-loss injuries were to the back, the most frequently injured part of the body.

Nova Scotia also recorded 73 cases of COVID-19 being contracted by workers at work.

And despite the slight increase in numbers from 2020 to 2021, time loss claims for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) dropped to 150 in last year from 153 two years ago and 163 three years ago.

Among first responders, time loss claims for PTSD numbered 93, down from 101 in 2020 and 97 in 2019.

Earlier, WCB reported that Nova Scotia recorded 20 work fatalities in the year 2021.