Health care sector trends

Overview of injury data

Health and community care services are provided in a variety of complex care settings. The health care sector is comprised of establishments that provide the following services:

• health care by diagnosis and treatment, including a wide variety of out-patient services
• residential care for medical and social reasons
• social assistance, such as counselling and other community care services

The number of workers in the health care sector and overall health care sector has shown steady growth over the past five years from 921, 900 in 2021 to 1,041,200 in 2025, and overall rise of 119,500 workers (13%). Table 1 contains data from Statistics Canada that shows that the labour force in the health care and social assistance sector is increasing.

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0023-01 - Labour force characteristics by industry, annual North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) (Accessed: June 2, 2026).

Lost-time injuries are injuries that occur in the workplace that result in the worker having to miss work.

According to data from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), the lost-time injury (LTI) rate in the health care sector was 2.52 workers, per 100 workers in 2025.

The number of allowed claims declined during 2023 and 2024 a before increasing again in 2025 surpassing lost-time injuries observed during the COVID-19 period. The decline in 2023–204 aligns with a reduction in COVID-19 occupational illnesses claims. 

Table 2 shows the number of LTIs, the LTI frequency rate, and the number of no lost-time injuries (NLTIs) for Ontario’s health care sector from 2021–2025.

Source: Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) Enterprise Information Warehouse (EIW) Claim Cost Analysis Schema and Firm Experience Schema June 2026 snapshot, courtesy of Public Services Health and Safety Association (PSHSA).

Table 3 shows how the LTI counts have changed for the most common occupational health and safety hazards in the health care sector from 2021–2025.

Source: WSIB EIW Claim Cost Analysis Schema, June 2026 snapshot, courtesy of Public Services Health and Safety Association (PSHSA).

Overall the data indicate that “exposure-related claims (primarily covid-19) were the dominant injury type from 2021 to 2023, with a sharp peak in 2022 followed by a sustained decline through 2025 which reflects the covid-19 pandemic recovery and the decrease in exposure to covid-19 and related occupational illness claims.

Health care 2025 statistical breakdown

The data presented below is based on the new WSIB updated classification structure using a North American Industry Classification System (NAICs) framework, which came into effect January 2020. The following data below aligns with this new classification NAICs mapping.

• D3: Hospitals
• N1: Ambulatory care — includes workplaces in the following sectors:
  • nursing services (home health care services), professional health care offices and agencies
  • treatment clinics and specialized services
  • diagnostic laboratories
• N2: Nursing and residential care facilities includes workplaces in the following sectors:
  • homes for nursing care (long-term care homes)
  • homes for residential care (retirement homes)
  • supported group living residences and other facilities (group homes)
• N3: Social assistance includes workplaces in the following sectors:
  • nursing services (services for elderly and persons with disabilities)
  • vocational rehabilitation

Table 4 shows WSIB lost-time injury counts based on allowed claims in 2025 for each of the divisions which make up the health and social assistance sectors.

Source: WSIB EIW Claim Cost Analysis Schema, June 2026 data snapshot, courtesy of Public Services Health and Safety Association (PSHSA).

Table 5 shows the lost-time injury (LTI) frequency rate for the health and social assistance sector based on the WSIB data for allowed claims.

Source: WSIB EIW Claim Cost Analysis Schema and Firm Experience Schema, June 2026 data snapshot, courtesy of Public Services Health and Safety Association (PSHSA).

Occupational health and safety events and injuries / occupational illness

Occupational health and safety events, injuries and occupational illnesses reported to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) are summarized in Table 6.

Statistical notes

• Only critical injury events reported to the ministry are included.
• This represents data that were reported to the ministry and may not represent what actually occurred at the workplace.
• The critical injury numbers represent critical injuries reported to the ministry and not necessarily critical injuries as defined by the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and O. Reg. 420/21: Notices and Reports under Sections 51 to 53.1 of the Act — Fatalities, Critical Injuries, Occupational Illnesses and other Incidents.
• Non-workers who are critically injured may also be included in the ministry's data.
• The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development tracks and reports fatalities at workplaces covered by the OHSA. This excludes deaths from natural causes, deaths of non-workers at a workplace, suicides, deaths as a result of a criminal act or traffic accident (unless the OHSA is also implicated) and deaths from occupational exposures that occurred many years ago.
• Data subject to change because of inspectors' updates to the database.