Injuries Higher for Skilled Nursing Workers

Workers in skilled nursing and residential care facilities report among the highest nonfatal occupational injury rates compared to the overall working population.
A study recently published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine,an estimated 569,800 injuries occurred from 2015 to 2022, a rate of 302 per 10,000 FTEs.
Most injuries occurred among females (81%).
The most prevalent injury events were overexertion and bodily reaction (38%), violence (24%), and falls, slips, and trips (16%).
While injury rates declined from 2015–2021, skilled nursing and residential care facilities injury rates were higher than the rest of the healthcare industry and all industries.
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A new program introduced by Canada’s Alberta Construction Safety Association targets first-year construction workers who are responsible for 55% of Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) claims.
ACSA, representing over 56,000 member companies, is focusing its Injury Prevention Campaign on reducing these injuries, which occur among both inexperienced newcomers and experienced workers who are new to a job site.
The campaign provides free resources through its website (firstyear.youracsa.ca), including safety guides, toolbox talk templates, and communication strategies for supervisors.
Construction is one of Alberta’s most hazardous industries, accounting for 12% of the province’s workplace injuries and about a third of all fatalities, despite employing only 10% of the workforce, according to the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada.
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The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against the U.S. Postal Service for wrongful termination of an employee who fell while delivering mail and reported the work-related injury.
An OSHA investigation found the USPS violated the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act by firing the worker on Feb. 27, 2024, 10 days after the injury was reported.
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, asks the court to hold the Postal Service liable for illegal retaliation and require payment of back wages and damages.
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More than 95% of the voting workers at Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) gave their union a strike mandate over unresolved workload and mental health issues.
A recent Copenhagen Psychosocial Survey revealed that among WSIB employees,
43.9% screen positive for anxiety, with 25.1% in the severe range.
As well, 36% screen positive for depression, with 16.8% experiencing severe symptoms.
On Tuesday, the union and WSIB agreed to work with mediator Brian O’Byrne, chair of the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
The most recent contract, reached in June 2023, expired on April 30. If both sides fail to reach an agreement by May 16, and WSIB imposes terms, union members say they are ready to strike.
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Poultry processor Mar-Jac Poultry MS said this week that it reached one million man-hours without experiencing a lost-time incident.
The announcement comes less than a month after the company was listed by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health as one of the country’s “Dirty Dozen” which is informed by both worker and advocate testimony in many of those local organizations, as well as federal investigations.
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