People go to work expecting to earn a salary. They expect to come home at the end of their shift to feed their families and pay their bills. They don’t expect work to kill them.
The Workers’ Compensation Board of Alberta reports that in 2024, however, 203 workers died due to workplace injuries.
Last year’s number was record-breaking, up by 23 percent. In 2023, 165 people lost their lives due to work.
The Alberta Union of Professional Employees honoured those who passed and called for added worker protections in a news release.
“Every year, we demand more must be done to ensure that Alberta’s workers have the protections they need to return home safe when their work is done,” they said.
A national day of mourning was held on April 28 to remember those who lost their lives at work this past year.
Planning and Communication
Mark Hoosein, CEO of the Alberta Construction Safety Association, says worker safety “takes a collective effort from the entire industry.”
“The best companies, they incorporate safety into their planning process,” he told TheRockies.Life in an interview. “Not just, okay, we’re going to have an emergency plan or we’re going to have our hazard assessments.”
According to Hoosein, worker injuries can be avoided through proper planning and communication.
In the construction industry, supply chain delays may cause companies to want to rush projects, which increases the risk of workers getting injured. Companies may not hire enough staff for a contract, leaving those on the job at a higher risk of injury.
Similarly, communication is important. Hoosein says a safe workplace is one “where people can express challenges that they see, ask questions that they have in an atmosphere where they feel like they’re going to be heard and not just a burden.”
Bill 47 Walkback
Good government policies can help further reduce the number of work-related deaths that happen each year.
In 2020, Jason Kenney’s government passed Bill 47, called the Ensuring Safety and Cutting Red Tape Act. The government said the act would “improve health and safety in the workplace by simplifying rules and removing unnecessary barriers, making the process easier for employers and workers.”
It was a controversial bill, with many arguing that it only pretended to improve safety standards. As labour and politics journalist Kim Siever told TheRockies.Life, “reducing red tape means removing some of these [worker] protections.”
The Alberta Federation of Labour criticized Bill 47 for creating “more options for employers to penalize workers while making it harder for workers to file when their employers punish them for standing up for health and safety in the workplace.”
“No workers will be involved in investigating unsafe work anymore and workers who refuse unsafe work can be sent home without pay for refusing,” they said of the bill.
Four years later, more people are losing their lives on the job than ever. In 2020, before the law came into effect, 150 people died at work. Last year’s number of deaths marks a 35 percent increase from 2020.
Know Your Rights
The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) is actively lobbying the government to expand Albertans’ right to refuse unsafe labour. Currently, individual employees can refuse unsafe work, but the AFL would like to see this expanded so that groups of workers can refuse unsafe work.
While some may argue Alberta’s laws to protect workers need a refresh, it’s still important that workers know the rights that they currently do have.
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) has created information material to help workers understand what their rights are on the job.
“You have three safety rights that the government has acknowledged in this law,” they remind workers.
The first is the right to know about the hazards that workers face on the job. The second is the right to participate in decisions that could affect one’s safety on the job. The third is the right to refuse dangerous work.
