HALIFAX, N.S. – The number and rate of occupational injuries continue to decline in Nova Scotia, as the latest annual report from the province’s Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) has revealed a new historic low. Published on June 15, the report revealed that the WCB had received 5,847 time-loss claims in 2016, a decrease from 6,014 in the previous year, while the province had also seen a workplace injury rate of 1.74 time-loss injuries per 100 covered workers, also an all-time record. In addition, there were only two workplace fatalities due to traumatic injuries in 2016, along with 18 deaths from workplace-related disease. There was a 20 per cent decrease in time-loss injuries from slips, trips and falls from 2015, and injuries in the fishing sector also went down. But sprains, strains and back injuries continued to account for a large percentage of injuries in the province, according to the report. “Our time-loss injury rate… has been improving every year for the past decade. There are also thousands fewer claims than there were ten years ago and close to 300,000 fewer days lost to workplace injury,” WCB CEO Stuart MacLean noted in a press statement. “That’s great progress, but there is still a lot more work to do.” The report is accessible online at http://www.wcb.ns.ca/Portals/wcb/WCB_Nova-Scotia_AR_2016%20FOR%20POSTING.pdf?ver=2017-06-15-101440-820.