Five weeks in, and I’m functioning at about 20% of normal. It’ll be at least another three or four weeks before I’m back to normal – and that’s if I can get a correct diagnosis. Falling off ladders is no fun.

What if I was functioning at 0% of normal? What if it was an eight-month recovery or an eight-year recovery? How would that impact everyone else in my sphere of influence?

This got me focused on all the important things I must do – and do now. I’ve been putting off things because, even though they were important, they weren’t urgent.

Everyone else’s important issues became my priority. My urgency.

Like most readers of this magazine, I solve problems. I push my own problems to the bottom of the to-do list. Everybody else’s problems come first.

Can you relate to that? Are you a bit like me in that way? If so, what are you going to do about it – and when? “Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow,” right?

I’ve made out my “important” list and given everything on it a greater sense of urgency. I’ve also shared that list with family and business associates. Because when you commit to others, your chances of finishing the tasks on time are way better.

If we can’t help ourselves, we can’t help others. In the blink of an eye, your whole life can change. If that happened to you, what would you have left undone for your family, your business, and your employees?

Make that list now, share it with the people who are going to hold you accountable, and don’t let other people’s important issues overtake your important issues. Create a greater sense of urgency for your important issues.

To add another dimension to this: as contractors, you have an even greater responsibility than other business owners or managers.

Dr. Vincent Lam, an addiction-medicine physician, says that “most overrepresented in my waiting room are people in the trades.” Dr. Lam serves as the medical director of the Coderix Medical Clinic in Toronto.

WSIB defines reportable as:

“Any injury requiring medical attention beyond first aid or resulting in lost time from work must be reported.”

If a worker is pressured not to report, they can contact provincial Worker Advisers or confidential action lines (e.g., WSIB’s Action Line) to report the wrongdoing.

The above is the Ontario WSIB definition. Each province has its own. BC has similar guidelines to Ontario. Check your provincial regulations.

Workplace injuries are all too common, particularly in construction, and it is difficult to get prompt and good treatment. As a result, many people turn to drugs and alcohol to relieve the pain and the stress. The construction trades have the highest suicide rate of all industries in Canada.

Job Openings in the Skilled Trades

There are a projected 410,000 job openings in the skilled trades by 2033. What are you doing to help those we are losing through injury and its related outcomes? As an owner or manager of a construction company, what can you do to protect your people?

There are a variety of programs that we should be looking at. In BC and Calgary, there is the Tailgate Toolkit (https://thetailgatetoolkit.ca/). There are also initiatives such as the FORGE (https://entertheforge.ca/) and Helmets to Hardhats (https://helmetstohardhats.ca/) helping people transition from the military to the construction trades.

These are initiatives that you should be looking at and encouraging your construction associations to champion.

Extend your legacy beyond your family and your business – extend it to all those within your sphere of influence. For many of us, these are the people who work for us. These people are our most valuable asset. These are the resources that generate income for us. Are we investing enough in our people to ensure that, if and when they fall off the proverbial ladder, we are there to provide them the same level of support that we would provide for ourselves and our families?

In both BC and Ontario, we are averaging more than six deaths a day due to the opioid crisis. When are we going to say, “Enough is enough”?

As business owners, we are supposed to be the ones with common sense. It’s time we started using it – or as somebody put it, “I know he has lots of common sense – he must have because he hasn’t used any of it yet.”

Research undertaken between 2020 and 2022 by Ontario’s Institute for Work and Health (IWH) has found that upwards of 64 percent of injuries and illnesses go unreported to a workers’ compensation board. In their most recent study, they discovered that approximately 40 percent of emergency department visits for the treatment of work-related injuries or illnesses are not reported to the WSIB. The IWH researchers went on to explain this discrepancy represents about 50,000 cases a year that do not correspond to a claim in WSIB records. And that’s just Ontario.

There are many reasons why claims are not made.

Workers fear reprisals from employers and fellow workers, a lack of job security, a lack of income. It’s just part of the job. It’s too minor.

Employers want to keep their premiums down, so they discourage their employees from making claims. This is most prevalent in the high-risk industries where premiums are highest. Employers try to avoid penalties for failure to provide a safe working environment or for poor record keeping.

Processes can be difficult and time-consuming to complete.

The near misses are flags that, as employers and employees, more care and systems need to be put in place.

Sure, in the short term, by not reporting, the employee continues to get their income and the employer saves on premiums. Is this an ethical way to run your business? Who does it help in the long run? With the projected shortfalls in manpower, we need to ensure the long-term care of the people who work for us.

Be an advocate! Help others to be safe on their proverbial ladders, because in the blink of an eye – or by turning a blind eye – we are our own worst enemies...