Ontario workplaces have become safer, claims annual WSIB report

TORONTO, Ont. — Ontario continues to have the lowest lost-time workplace injury rate in Canada, while the number of workers’ compensation claims in the province has steadily decreased, according to the latest annual report from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).

Released on June 26, By the Numbers: 2016 WSIB Statistical Report revealed that the province’s lost-time injury rate had been 0.94 lost-time claims per 100 workers last year, compared to 1.5 for the entire country and below 1.0 for the fourth straight year. The WSIB report also stated that the percentage of Ontario’s workforce covered by the Board had increased by 11 over the previous decade and that the amount of claims for injury or illness decreased by 31 per cent over the same period. In addition, the WSIB claimed that it had paid more than $2.5 billion in benefits in 2016 and that its return-to-work team had visited 20 per cent more businesses last year, contributing to an increase from 61 to 84 per cent in successful returns to work from 2012 to 2016.

“Safe, healthy workplaces are in everyone’s best interest,” WSIB president and CEO Tom Teahen said in a press statement. “By the Numbers opens a window into overall workplace health and safety in Ontario, letting you see areas that are performing well and those that need improvement.”

Ontario has maintained the nation’s lowest lost-time workplace injury rate since 2009, WSIB stated in the report, which is accessible online at http://wsibstatistics.ca.