Increase in sick days and lost time claims costing city, report finds

City employees continue to pile up lost-time claims caused by workplace injuries and sick days at an increasing rate, according to a report published by city administration.

The Corporate Environment, Health and Safety Performance Report, which is scheduled to be presented to a council committee on Wednesday, forecasts the number of days lost and the total costs associated with them to rise this year compared to 2017.

On average, city workers used about 10 sick days last year, a number that has increased each year since 2015.

That compares with about eight days lost on average due to illness in the private sector, but is fewer than the number of sick days claimed throughout the public sector as a whole, according to surveys conducted by the city.

The average number of days lost due to work-related incidents is also forecast to increase by year end, according to the report.

City employees injured in a work-related incident in 2018 missed an average of 19 days, a number the city says is expected to rise. So far this year, there’s been an average of 12.5 workplace injuries per 200,000 hours worked. That’s up from 10.5 last year and 8.3 in 2016.

A key factor in how many days end up being lost in such scenarios is the city’s ability to help employees return to work through various accommodations. The first half of this year saw 54 per cent of employees who were able to be accommodated receive such assistance from the city, down from more than three-quarters of them in 2017.

Lost-time claims will cost the city about $7 million this year, up from about $6 million last year and $4 million in 2016. The city expects that cost will rise to about $9 million by 2019.

“It’s a big city. Every time something like that happens ... there’s a loss of productivity,” said Coun. Sean Chu. “I don’t know what else we can do.”

Chu said the city has done a good job in the past of reducing the risk of workplace injuries that would lead to lost-time claims. He pointed to the city ’s switch to automated garbage collection when it introduced black carts in 2010, making the job less strenuous for garbage collectors.

“That has cut down on injuries,” Chu said. “The city is trying to do the best we can to eliminate anything like that but, of course, there is more work to be done.”

Historically, Calgary has performed better than other large Canadian cities when it comes to the frequency of lost-time claims caused by work-related incidents. Last year, however, the city fared worse than comparable cities.

In the first half of this year there were also three incidents considered “serious,” according to Alberta Occupational Health and Safety’s standards, leading to lost work time.

“It’s always a concern when people are away, either injury or sick, no doubt. If there’s something we can do about it then something should be looked into it,” said Coun. Shane Keating.

“I think it’s something that needs investigation. There probably should be some action taken if we’re finding that we’re getting too many injuries.”

But Keating said the numbers, especially those pertaining to lost work hours due to illness, don’t necessarily speak for themselves.

“You always have to take into account the specific job and these sorts of things,” he said.

“If it’s sick days then you have to take into account the differences, because if you look at bus drivers, for example, with the door opening and closing constantly and the number of people in and out ... I can see them getting more colds and flus and smaller illnesses than someone who sits in an office all day. So you have to look at it in that aspect.

“If we find that it’s a matter of people just taking the sick days because they’re allotted, then it’s a different story.”