Each year on April 28, Canada observes the National Day of Mourning, a moment to honour workers who have been killed, injured, or made ill through their work, and to renew the commitment to building safer workplaces. This year, that commitment is backed by some of the most sobering occupational health and safety data in recent memory.

The University of Regina’s 2026 Report on Work Fatality and Injury Rates in Canada, authored by Sean Tucker and Anya Keefe and drawing on data from the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada, found that 1,042 workers died due to work-related causes in 2024. Seven of eleven Canadian jurisdictions recorded an increase in their injury fatality rate compared to the 2021 to 2023 average.

The numbers behind those averages are stark. Among larger jurisdictions, Newfoundland and Labrador saw its injury fatality rate increase by 161 percent compared to the prior three-year average. Manitoba recorded a 59 percent increase, and New Brunswick a 57 percent rise.

One finding in particular deserves special attention from health and safety professionals and employers. For the first time, occupational disease deaths now exceed traumatic fatalities in most Canadian jurisdictions. Longer-latency occupational illnesses, conditions that develop over years or decades of exposure to hazardous substances or working conditions, are now the primary driver of work-related deaths in Canada.

What the Data Is Really Telling Employers

The report’s authors and legal analysts reviewing the findings are clear on one point: the rising figures are not simply the result of individual accidents. They reflect a structural gap between the safety programmes organisations have invested in and the proactive, documented, governance-led approach that modern occupational health and safety law now demands.

As one legal analysis of the report noted, the data makes evident that traditional safety approaches are no longer enough to shield employers from liability. Regulatory scrutiny is increasing alongside fatality rates, not decreasing.

Canadian OHS law, whether under the federal Canada Labour Code Part II or provincial frameworks in Ontario, British Columbia, or Alberta, requires employers to demonstrate systematic hazard identification, risk assessment, documented controls, worker training, and incident reporting. The emphasis across all jurisdictions is increasingly on proactive, evidenced compliance rather than reactive incident management.

For Canadian employers in construction, manufacturing, and industrial operations, where the fatality and injury risks are highest, the message from regulators is consistent: documented evidence of safety management activity is not optional. It is the foundation of legal protection and, more importantly, of genuine harm prevention.

The Occupational Disease Challenge 

The shift in fatality profile toward occupational disease deaths adds a layer of complexity that many employers are not yet equipped to manage. Unlike traumatic incidents, occupational diseases often develop slowly and are difficult to attribute to any single workplace event. Managing them effectively requires long-term monitoring of worker exposure, accurate health surveillance records, training records linked to specific hazard types, and consistent documentation of control measures over time. This is exactly the kind of systematic, longitudinal compliance record-keeping that digital health and safety platforms are designed to support.

Turning Data into Action