Health and Safety Index

How safe are Ontario’s workplaces and are they getting safer?

 

2023 score

Ontario’s workplaces are 0.6 percent more safer in 2023 compared to 2022

It’s a simple, single measure. Our health and safety index combines multiple performance indicators of health and safety into a single, evidence-based measure. This measure, or score, raises awareness and helps system partners focus their health and safety efforts and resources.

The first iteration of the WSIB’s HSI was developed in 2016 based on best practices at that time. Since then, there have been significant changes in the Ontario’s workplace health and safety system. Based on best practices for social science indexes of this type, we committed to reviewing the Index’s methodology every three years to ensure validity. Our last review was done in 2022 and is reflected in this data. Learn more about our updates to the index in our Technical Paper.

2023 Top five industry scores

-2.2% Manufacturing

Manufacturing

Strength: Workplace culture and prevention

Focus on: Reducing injuries and improving compliance with OHSA and regulations

While prevention activities and leadership both improved, an increase in mental stress and serious injuries and fatalities resulted in a negative score.

-5.2% Healthcare

Healthcare

Strength: Workplace culture and prevention

Focus on: Reducing injuries and improving compliance with OHSA and regulations

The largest negative driver in health care was increased injuries, mainly those related to serious injuries and traumatic fatalities. The increase in physical injuries and illnesses was predominantly related to COVID-19. Poor outcomes in compliance also led to an overall negative score.

+2.5% Construction

Construction

Strength: Lower injuries

Focus on: Improving compliance with OHSA and regulations

Improvements in return-to-work support and reduction in physical and mental injuries resulted in a positive score in construction.

+1.1% Retail trade

Retail trade

Strength: Lower injuries and workplace culture

Focus on: Improving compliance with OHSA and regulations

Despite a lower score in compliance due to more severe orders, the positive result was largely driven by lower physical injuries and serious injuries and fatalities.

 

-3.9% Transportation

Transportation

Strength: Prevention activities

Focus on: Reducing injuries and improving compliance with OHSA and regulations

Prevention activities was the highest result since the survey started in 2016, but the overall negative score was due to higher serious injuries and fatalities, mental stress, and physical injuries and illnesses.

Measuring health and safety

Rather than measuring health and safety in individual workplaces, the index looks at Ontario as a whole.

To measure overall health and safety, we look at four components:

  • Prevention: what is done to prevent work-related injuries and illnesses, like avoiding unnecessary risks and following health and safety rules.
  • Empowerment and workplace culture: how people are involved in keeping workplaces healthy and safe and how they think about the priority placed on health and safety where they work.
  • Enforcement and compliance: the compliance with health and safety regulations and severity of orders issued for poor health and safety practices.
  • Injuries: the injuries and illnesses that occur and how often, how long it takes people to get back to work, and the severity of the injuries, including loss of life.

How it all adds up

The components are scored based on workplace health and safety data covering almost every sector of Ontario’s economy. Each component is weighted equally, and the four scores are added up to reach the single index measure.

The index tracks the yearly change in Ontario’s overall workplace health and safety, and is updated annually.

For details about the methodology and rationale behind the index, please read the
Technical Paper
.

Resources