Injury statistics are an important source of information when considering cause and prevention. These injury statistics come from the Alberta Workers' Compensation Board. They highlight the importance of filing a WCB claim. Workers and employers must file WCB reports for work-related injury or disease if medical treatment is required or there has been time lost from work beyond the date of accident. Some employers are beginning to record "near misses" which are also recognized as an important source of information for injury prevention.

In 2004, overexertion accounted for 42.6% of all claims in the Health Services industries. This was nearly three times higher than the average percentage of injuries for this type of event category for the whole province. Assaults and violent acts by person(s) accounted for 5.2% of claims, but was more than six times greater than the provincial average.

• The Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) – Alberta accepted 3,493 lost-time claims from Health Services workers, representing 9.9% of all lost-time claims in the province.

• The lost-time claim rate for the Health Services industries was 4.0 per 100 person-years, as compared to the provincial rate of 2.6.

• The duration rate for the Health Services industries was 92 days lost per 100 person-years compared to the provincial rate of 65 per 100 person-years.

• B. C. Injury statistics parallel Alberta's. The healthcare sector is the #1 source of time loss claims in British Columbia. Higher than: Logging, Manufacturing and Transportation.

Healthcare injury claims in B. C. accounted for 9.4% of all days lost in 2003.

• From 2001 - 2003 in B. C., a Safe Lift - Ceiling Lift - Initiative accomplished an overall 30% reduction in patient handling injuries with over 20 % of the beds in facilities now covered. Initial B. C. pilot project results documented: compensation costs decreased by 40%; 82.9% reduction in lost hours for lift and transfer injuries; Payback period estimated to be 0.82 to 2.5 years! HSAA's fall 2005 OH&S conference included a presentation on B.C's successful safe lift initiative. (B. C. Safe Lift Initiative.(Chris Back, Ergonomics Program Manager, Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare in British Columbia)