National Day of Mourning Highlights Urgent Need for Action
The recent workplace death in Burlington highlights the urgent need for improved efforts to prevent employment-related accidents. Across Ontario, the Workplace Safety Insurance Board reports another tragic increase in annual work-related traumatic fatalities last year.
Sunday, April 28 is the National Day of Mourning. Also called Workers’ Memorial Day, this occasion marks efforts to prevent workplace-related injuries and promotes the right to a safe and healthy work environment.
Worldwide, the United Nations International Labour Organization’s (ILO) 2023 safety report estimates that 2.6 million workers died from work-related injuries. Additionally, 395 million experienced work-related injuries. These figures, collected before the pandemic, represent a regression compared to the year 2000.
“Today’s ever-evolving work landscape presents multiple challenges to the effective prevention of work-related fatalities, injuries, and diseases,” says the ILO. “The impact of climate change, including extreme weather events and rising temperatures, changing work patterns, fast technological advances, and the global COVID-19 pandemic have all introduced new pressing concerns for safety and health at work.”
Canada’s recent official workplace safety track record is alarming, with roughly one workplace fatality occurring every eight hours. Respiratory diseases are significantly undermining progress in workplace safety. Statistics from the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada highlight a stark contrast between moderate, traumatic work-related injuries and the dramatic rise in respiratory infections.
Recent April labour force reports by Statistics Canada and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that work absence rates remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels. Work absenteeism serves as an early indicator of economic health and social cohesion.
The pandemic caused a significant surge in work absences. By the end of 2023, illness, family, and child-care-related work absences in Canada had increased by almost seven percent compared to pre-pandemic levels. In the U.S., the increase exceeded eight percent.
These statistics underscore the pressing need for enhanced workplace safety measures and policies to address both traditional and emerging health threats.
Pandemic Worker Death Rates Highlight Need for Paid Leave: Canada vs. U.S. Comparison
In 2023, roughly 7.4 workers per 100,000 employees died due to the pandemic, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. In contrast, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a U.S. worker pandemic death rate of eight per 100,000. This higher U.S. death rate reflects the lack of paid time off protection compared to Canada.
The Washington-based Center for Policy and Economic Research notes that less than a quarter of American workers had access to paid leave last year. In contrast, Statistics Canada reports that more than twice that share of Canadian workers were covered.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, union workers are “far more likely to receive paid leave from their employers.” Canada’s union coverage, at 30 percent, is almost three times greater than that of the U.S. This union advantage helps explain the difference in work absence and pandemic worker fatality rates between the two countries.
There is reason to believe the worst is over, at least for Canada. By last month, the gap between U.S. and Canada-wide post-pandemic work absence rates had widened substantially. The U.S. now charts double-digit increases in work absence compared to pre-COVID-19 levels, while Canada has reduced absence rates, though not yet to pre-pandemic levels.
Pandemic-related hospitalization rates in both countries highlight the route to future workplace health and safety improvements. The most recent Canadian Institute for Health Information records show that the share of COVID hospitalizations by working-age residents has fallen to roughly one-fifth from a previous high of almost half of admissions—a 58 percent decline. Meanwhile, CDC weekly new COVID hospitalization admissions data shows a more modest 25 percent fall for 2023 compared to 2022.
To secure a safe and healthy work environment, prevention is key, and paid leave is an essential component of that strategy.