Quick Links
Customer Centres
Agriculture Safety Week
March 13–19, 2011 is Canadian Agriculture Safety Week.
In British Columbia, agriculture workers have the same rights and protections as any other worker. WorkSafeBC regulates occupational health and safety in this sector in B.C.
Agricultural work is physically demanding and worksites have numerous hazards including contact with dangerous chemicals and machinery.
Following are claims and enforcement statistics for agriculture:
Claim statistics
Injury Rate* and Accepted Claims** for Agriculture (7010) – 2001-2010 |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Injury rate | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4* |
| Injuries (accepted claims) | 809 | 710 | 800 | 727 | 757 | 696 | 736 | 625 | 517 | 556 |
| Fatalities | 4 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
Top 10 accident types, all accepted claims**, for Agriculture (7010), 2006-2010 |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | Total | Days lost | |
| 1. Overexertion | 131 | 152 | 110 | 81 | 83 | 557 | 22,862 |
| 2. Struck by | 117 | 114 | 117 | 88 | 79 | 515 | 21,171 |
| 3. Fall: from elevation | 112 | 113 | 96 | 79 | 89 | 489 | 41,337 |
| 4. Fall: same level | 75 | 96 | 74 | 75 | 75 | 395 | 24,812 |
| 5. Vehicle accident | 73 | 55 | 36 | 40 | 56 | 260 | 26,363 |
| 6. Caught in | 39 | 30 | 39 | 29 | 33 | 170 | 12,126 |
| 7. Struck against | 21 | 40 | 31 | 20 | 25 | 137 | 4,266 |
| 8. Involuntary motion | 24 | 29 | 23 | 25 | 7 | 108 | 4,040 |
| 9. Repetitive motion | 18 | 29 | 19 | 13 | 16 | 95 | 4,577 |
| 10. Other voluntary motion | 16 | 17 | 17 | 20 | 15 | 85 | 3,190 |
*All accepted claims (short-term and long-term disability and fatal). |
|||||||
*Number of claims per 100 person-years of employment. The injury rate for 2010 is preliminary.
**Includes accepted short-term and long-term disability and fatal claims.
About the injury rate
WorkSafeBC’s injury rate measures the number of claims per 100 person-years of employment. This rate allows for year-to-year comparisons despite fluctuations in levels of employment.
The overall provincial injury rate is estimated at 2.3 for 2010 – a record low that continues a steady decrease in recent years.
Enforcement statistics
Prevention Activity for Agriculture (Subsector 7010) 2001 – 2011 |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Inspection reporta | 442 | 279 | 156 | 161 | 169 | 244 | 805 | 605 | 958 | 1,136 |
| Penalties imposed | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Orders* | 439 | 334 | 162 | 202 | 166 | 303 | 1,398 | 1,008 | 1,532 | 1,862 |
**Includes initiating and follow-up orders.
For more information on this or other topics, please contact:
|
Megan Johnston |
|