The Employee and Labour Relations Committee recommends to the Executive Committee that:

1.         City Council receive the 4th Quarter and End of Year 2013 Occupational Health and Safety Report for information.

This report provides information on the status of the City’s health and safety system, specifically on activities, priorities and performance during the fourth quarter of 2013 and health and safety performance throughout the year.

There was a 10.8% decrease in the total number of lost time injuries and a 34.1% decrease in the number of recurrences in 2013 relative to 2012.  There was an increase of 0.9% in medical aid injuries. WSIB invoiced costs for 2013 were approximately $577,000 lower than in 2012. The City's continuous improvement efforts have resulted in its annual costs for WSIB to be $6.6 million lower in 2013 than 2009.  This improvement reflects reduced injury severity and the effectiveness of return-to-work efforts.  In 2013, the WSIB cost decrease was achieved despite a countervailing increase in the WSIB's administration rate from 27.6 % in 2012 to 35.8% in 2013.

There are no financial impacts to this report.