Which Industries You Think Have the Worst Safety Records

We recently asked which industry you think has the worst health and safety track record. The results:

• Construction (30%)
• Mining & Quarries and Healthcare (16%)
• Forestry & Logging and Transportation (9%)
• Manufacturing (7%)
• Agriculture (5%)
• Oil & Gas and Retail (4%).

It stands to reason that the industries with the worst safety records would also have the highest injury and fatality rates. So do these statistics reflect the perceptions of safety professionals’

According to the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada, in 2011, these industries ranked as follows in terms of fatalities:

• Manufacturing: 201
• Construction: 184
• Transportation: 92
• Mining, quarrying and oil wells: 75 (the AWCBC combines these)
• Retail: 28
• Agriculture: 18
• Forestry & Logging: 15
• Healthcare: 12.

And in 2011, in terms of time-loss injuries:

• Healthcare: 40,577
• Manufacturing: 39,172
• Retail: 28,517
• Construction: 27,652
• Transportation: 19,077
• Agriculture: 3,083
• Mining, quarrying and oil wells: 2,814
• Forestry & Logging: 1,391.

Thus, although safety professionals believe construction has the worst safety record, that industry doesn’t lead in terms of either fatalities or injuries. So why do you have this perception of construction’

And why was manufacturing rated so low in the poll when it’s near the top in both fatalities and injuries’