October 10, 2018

Halifax, NS - A mom struggles to hear her daughter practice piano, as her hearing declines resulting from a workplace injury.  

And a father isn’t coming home for dinner, as his family copes with the aftermath of a workplace fatality.

These are the stories in an awareness campaign that began airing across Atlantic Canada October 1, developed in partnership by all four Atlantic Canadian workers’ compensation organizations and the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education.

The organizations have been working in partnership on awareness marketing for the past 10 years. This new campaign aims to increase awareness about the impact of workplace injury, and the importance of its prevention. 

Some 15,000 Atlantic Canadians suffer time-loss injuries at work every year. 

Those injuries affect our economy, our communities, our employers, our workplaces, and the lives of workers their families outside of work.

“While we have seen significant progress over the last decade, the impact of workplace injury in Nova Scotia is still too high,” says WCB Nova Scotia CEO Stuart MacLean. “Behind every statistic is a person and a family whose lives have been changed by a workplace injury. We’re proud to be a part of this campaign with our Atlantic partners, and we hope it will get people to think and act differently when it comes to safety in the workplace.”   

MacLean says workplace injury, and the amount of time lost to it, has a direct impact on the economic progress of our region. He says that’s why the work to prevent workplace injury, by both workers and employers, is so important.

“Everyone has a role to play when it comes to workplace safety, as we all have the right to return home at the end of the day,” says Labour and Advanced Education Minister Labi Kousoulis. “This new campaign speaks to the heart of workplace safety and reminds us why it’s so important to make safety the number one priority when on the job.”  

Threads of Life, Canada’s national organization for workplace family tragedy support, is also a partner in the campaign. Threads of Life exists to support people who have suffered a workplace tragedy, and some of those courageous family members provided input on the television commercials.

“We were grateful and appreciative to have been part of the development of these ads,” said Shirley Hickman, Executive Director with Threads of Life. “Family members who took part in reviewing the advertisement had experienced similar tragedies, in real life. They embraced the concept in the hopes it might prevent what happened to their families from happening to someone else.” 

The new campaign features television, radio, print, and social media ads, and will be used to support injury prevention efforts in workplaces.

To see the ads and learn more about the campaign, visit worksafeforlife.ca. 

Nova Scotia Workplace Injury Statistics for 2017:

Number of time-loss claims – 5,906
Workplace fatalities – 21 (5 acute and 16 chronic, due to occupational diseases or other health issues)
Sprain/Strain Time-loss Injuries – 3,824
New Hearing-Loss Claims Filed - 713

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For more information, contact:

Cindy Porter
902-220-6656
cindy.porter@wcb.ns.ca