Most fatalities are male. He also warned that work-related diseases are expected to double by the year 2020, many from toxic exposures occuring now. Furthermore, as the BC WCB points out, deaths are just the peak of the workplace injury pyramid. According to the BC board, for every accident that results in a worker death, there will be one or two dozen accidents where injured workers require medical treatment, and several dozen more involving injuries not requiring treatment. Tracking them would help prevent further accidents that could be much worse.
Statistics are an essential first step to controlling workplace safety and health.
Reporting even minor incidents helps pinpoint hazardous practices. Reporting toxic exposures helps protect the neighbourhood environment as well, because toxins have a way of leaking out of the workplace into the community. Since 1970, in the US, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has required employers to report ALL workplace injuries and fatalities, and to comply with national health and safety standards. In that time, US fatality rates have plummeted from 18 per 100,000 to 4.7 per 100,000. Of course, investors prefer locations that don't enforce labour standards too carefully.