Saint John, NB: Globally, work kills more people than wars.* It’s a shocking statistic, and what’s even more shocking is that the majority of Canadians believe that workplace injuries are inevitable. An Ipsos-Reid survey conducted in 2005 found that 61% of Canadians believe that getting hurt on the job is inevitable. Even more disturbing was that the figure was higher in New Brunswick, at 69%.
But WorkSafeNB is buoyed by a recent survey by Omnibus, which shows that attitudes are slowly changing. In February 2009, the number of New Brunswickers who believed that workplace injuries were inevitable was 57%, a full 12 percentage points down from 2005, and 9 percentage points down from the same time in 2008.
"We’re pleased by these numbers, although we recognize there’s still a long way to go," said Doug Stanley, WorkSafeNB’s president and chief executive officer. "It’s a long term-process, but one that we’re committed to. We know that changing the culture won’t happen overnight. It took Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) almost 25 years to change the culture from one that viewed drinking and driving from inevitable to unacceptable," Stanley said.
"That 57% of New Brunswickers still believe that workplace injuries are inevitable is troubling, and we must turn the thinking around so that all New Brunswickers view them as unacceptable, and convince them to make safety their priority."
To help do this, WorkSafeNB changed its name from the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission to focus on safety. Its social marketing campaign, through advertising and publications, promoted the message that "injuries are no accident," and a new advertising campaign, specially targeted at changing behaviours is set to launch on April 20. To better enforce compliance, WorkSafeNB has hired additional health and safety officers.
*Facts on Safety at Work – ILO 2006