Trends in Construction Incidents

When I am out on projects and speaking with workers and employers, encouraging them to work in a safe manner, I remind folks that All Safety Consulting staff are just trying to ensure that every worker goes home in one piece.

In 2022, 371 workers did not go home in one piece, suffering a critical injury on a construction project in Ontario, while a further 18 did not go home at all. While there were fewer workers in 2022 than 2021 who didn’t make it home, the number that didn’t go home in one piece was considerable higher than the previous year.

The clients of All Safety Consulting are engaged in a variety of sectors of the industry, low rise residential, high rise residential, road building, surface mining and ICI, all with their own unique hazards and challenges.

Regardless of the sector, falls from heights, falls from equipment, falls from ladders and same level slips and trips accounted for 220 critical injuries (out of 371 total) or 60% of the total.

Struck-by equipment and struck-by material accounted for 93 critical injuries or 25% while electrical contacts (6) and excavation collapse (8) made up the rest of the single cause incidents.

Incidents with multiple factors such as a fall resulting from a scaffold being struck by equipment accounted for 38 further critical injuries.

The Ministry of Labour Immigration Training and Skills Development carefully analyses each of these incidents in order to plan future inspection and enforcement activities, put forward suggested legislation changes and share with stakeholders in order to identify trends and hopefully see employers address any gaps in their H&S programs.

Ministry officer field activity is also guided by these incidents. For example, in Durham Region following the fatalities of two workers in the water/sewer sector, officers were directed to stop at every excavation they encountered. An astounding number of Stop Work orders and enforcement activity resulted.

The Provincial Labour Management Committee roll out these reports each month where they are presented to local Labour Management Committees. All Safety Consulting is represented on the Kingston committee and participates in the sharing of information at these meetings. If you are interested in receiving these monthly reports, please let our office know.

BY DAVE BELL,

SENIOR TECHNICAL ADVISER