The Saskatchewan Workers Compensation Board (WCB) released their 2022 annual report, which showed healthcare workers suffer the most injuries of any occupation in the province.

In 2022, Health Authority, Hospital, and Care Home workers saw 3,392 claims accepted by their WCB, with no other occupation breaking the 1,000 claim mark.

“It does have a high injury rate compared to other industries, and part of that is moving patients. There is a lot of soft tissue injuries, shoulders, backs related to patient handling as well as COVID claims,” said Phil Germain, the CEO of the Sask. WCB.

“Healthcare had some of the higher COVID claims, especially in early 2022. In addition to that, they had some of the higher violence and psychological claims, so you add all that up, they are dealing with a number of complex issues in that industry,” he continued.

Despite leading in accepted claims, healthcare workers saw their overall injury rate decrease to 6.23, the lowest in the last five years.

The WCB also reported 39 fatalities in 2022, the most since 2018.

“These deaths occurred in a variety of Saskatchewan industries, and exposures to asbestos made up 16 of the fatality claims accepted,” Germain said.

The report also shows a decrease in the total injury rate to 4.33 per 100 workers compared to 4.56 in 2021 and the lowest in the past five years. It also marks an over 53 per cent decrease from 2009.

The rate drop can be partly attributed to more workers in Saskatchewan, with the WCB covering 400,392 workers in 2022, an increase of 7,579 from the previous year, but it is still lower than its pre-pandemic levels.

Germain added that a highlight from the report is that 90 per cent of Saskatchewan employers recorded zero injuries and zero fatalities in their workplaces.