Number of job deaths ‘troubling’: minister

Firefighters among 47 killed this year

Saskatchewan’s labour minister said this week the number of workplace deaths in the province is “unacceptable”.

Exposure to asbestos was the leading cause.

“It’s troubling,” Don Morgan said, adding “we should be far less” than the 47 workplace fatalities so far in 2018. In 2017, there were 27 deaths.

“Usually most years we see a decline, and it is troubling when it goes up,” Morgan said.

Thirteen of the 47 deaths were related to asbestos exposure — six of those being firefighters who dealt with exposure and got cancer.

Eight people died on the job in a motor vehicle accident.

There were nine “traumatic” deaths — caused by being caught in equipment, carbon monoxide poisoning, a fall, a shooting, being struck by falling objects, being crushed by equipment, electrocution and assault.

One person died on the job from assault, while four died of heart attacks.

The high number of deaths this year prompted the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) to call on the provincial government to hold an emergency meeting and develop a strategy to protect workers.

Morgan had no explanation for the increase, saying it is “surprising.”

“We don’t have any answers for it, but some of the other provinces are up as well,” he said.

Six of the 47 deaths are from the Humboldt bus crash, but Morgan said, “Even if you took those out, it is still an increase and it is unacceptable.”

Morgan also pointed out that “Bizarrely enough, one of the fatalities we had was our deputy minister (Richard Murray), who had a heart attack and died at work. So it’s a really rough time.”

How to best reduce workplace deaths has long been debated in the province.

The SFL is now calling for a public-awareness campaign, and a commitment from the province to publish incident reports and investigation reports related to workplace deaths.

Similar calls have been made before.

Morgan said he is willing to “sit down and talk to anybody anytime who wants to have a coffee or a lunch or breakfast sometime to see whether anybody’s got some things that would be beneficial to us.”