Disponible en anglais seulement
Vancouver Sun (July 27. 2011)
                         
Jessica Vliegenthart isn’t who most people picture when they think of an injured firefighter.

Six years ago, the medal-winning wheelchair athlete, and soon-to-be graduate of the University of Victoria law school, was thrown from a vehicle while fighting wildfires in the Northwest Territories and suffered a broken back.

The accident left her paralyzed and facing months of surgery and painful, and often frustrating, rehabilitation.

“I could barely move my arms, couldn’t even lift the book I was reading,” Vliegenthart, now 27, said in a presentation on workplace safety given in partnership with WorkSafeBC.

Vliegenthart’s injury is an extreme example of the health and safety risks working women are increasingly facing in British Columbia while on the job.

A feature report by the provincial safety agency shows the proportion of injury claims involving women workers has been steadily climbing over the past 30 years, while, at the same time, men’s injury claims have fallen.

In 2010, a third (36 per cent) of all workplace injuries reported in B.C. involved women, with health care workers and those employed in social assistance leading the number of female-worker fatalities.

“It’s something that we need to think about,” said Terry Bogyo, director of corporate planning with WorkSafeBC.

The report, released Wednesday, marks the first time WorkSafeBC has focused attention on women’s injury rates in the workplace.

Bogyo said the agency has noticed a trend over recent years that the proportion of claims involving women is increasing and “we felt that it was time for us to take a closer look at what that meant.”

The report notes that the number of claims has followed, in part, a shift in the B.C. economy from the traditional resource base to the service sector, as well as the entry of more women into the labour force, both in traditional and non-traditional jobs.

“All you have to do is drive around to any of the road-construction sites and you’ll see that many of flag persons working are women and that is not necessarily a traditional job, and they are at greater risk,” said Bogyo.

Young men (age 15 to 24 years) maintain the highest injury rate of all age and gender groups. However, as age increases, the injury rate declines for male workers. For women, the rate increases with age, with women between 45 and 64 years more likely to receive injuries than younger peers.

In certain occupational groups, including health and social sciences, education, government service and religion, female workers had higher injury rates than male workers.

Those at the highest risk of injury, both male and female, were in processing, manufacturing, utilities and trades, transport, and equipment operations.

“About one in 16 female workers and one in 12 male workers in these occupations combined sustained a work-related injury,” the report notes.

Women workers were most likely to experience back strain, bruising, and tendinitis on the job, while men were at greater risk of suffering a dislocation or fracture, hearing loss or cut.

Injuries as a result of a fall represent about one-fifth of all injuries recorded by both men and women workers between 2001 and 2010.

The report found that women are also more likely than men to be attacked or physically harmed by another person on the job: female workers accounted for almost 65 per cent of the victims of all workplace violence in the last decade.

Vliegenthart said people are often shocked to see her take the stage to deliver a presentation on workplace safety and worker rights, a role she has eagerly taken on in the years since her accident.

“The stereotype of an injured worker in B.C. is the 40-something-year-old male who was injured in a forestry accident,” she said.

“But I know that is not the case because I was 20 years old and injured in a forest fire and I have friends who were injured doing all kinds of things.”

Vliegenthart said it’s important workers educate themselves about the potential hazards of their job.

You don’t have to be employed in heavy industry or construction to get injured.

“Of course, very serious injuries do occur and tend to occur in those industries, but just as many occur in places that people don’t suspect. In fact, maybe that is why they occur,” she said.