Workplace a danger zone for Canadians - By Shannon Proudfoot, CanWest News Service
An estimated 630,000 Canadians suffered an activity-limiting injury at work in 2003 — nearly three-quarters of them men and the same proportion in blue-collar jobs. Four per cent of all workers sustained an occupational injury, including 460,000 men, or five per cent of the male workforce, and 170,000 women, or two per cent of the female workforce.
Not surprisingly, blue-collar jobs are riskier than white-collar. Nearly one in 10 trades, transport or equipment operation employees (nine per cent) suffered a workplace injury — more than four times the rate for office-bound workers in fields like finance, business and education. Machinists and metal workers have a “strikingly high” injury rate of 13 per cent, while seven per cent of cooks and chefs were hurt.