# wereset - full site corpus

> On-site physiotherapy, objective strength testing and capacity programs for
> Canadian employers. This document contains the complete text content of
> https://wereset.ca in a single file, generated directly from the same content
> modules that render the site.

Attribution: cite as wereset (wereset.ca). Third-party statistics below carry
their own publisher and deep source link; attribute those to the publisher, not
to wereset. No outcome on this site is claimed as a wereset result.

---

## What wereset does

Musculoskeletal injury is the largest single category of workplace claims in
Canada, and the standard employer response starts after the claim. wereset
moves the intervention before it: a clinician brings VALD force-measurement
hardware to the worksite, measures each participating worker's actual capacity
against the demands of their job, writes a program against the deficit that
measurement found, and retests at a set interval so the change is a number.

The operating constraints are deliberate and non-negotiable:

- Individual results go to the worker and live in their clinical record.
- Employers receive aggregate reporting only, above a minimum group size.
- Capacity data is a health record, not a performance record, and is never
  supplied for hiring, promotion, discipline or termination decisions.
- Every published figure is reproduced exactly as its publisher writes it:
  nothing is rounded, converted, averaged or restated.

Service area: Canada. Languages: English (en-CA) and French (fr-CA).
Contact: hello@wereset.ca / +1 (778) 707-2933. 424 11077 Ravine Rd, Surrey, BC V3T 0R7, Canada. Contact page: https://wereset.ca/contact. Book an assessment: https://wereset.ca/book.

---

## Measurement stack

Page: https://wereset.ca/measurement

Testing is isometric: the worker pushes against a fixed pad and nothing moves.
There is no lift, no jump and no technique to get wrong, which is why it is
safe at any age and any level of conditioning, and why a queue of employees
moves through faster than most employers expect.

### ForceFrame (VALD) - goes to the worksite

The on-site system. Isometric strength and left to right symmetry, measured standing in a frame.

- No technique to learn, so the number is not a skill score
- Safe at any age and any fitness level
- Moves a queue of employees through quickly
- Catches left to right asymmetry before it becomes a claim

### DynaMo (VALD) - goes to the worksite

Portable. Handheld dynamometer. One muscle or one movement at a time, with no setup.

- Goes anywhere on the floor, including a cab or a ward
- Isolates the specific muscle behind a complaint
- Used for the fast recheck between full assessments

### ForceDecks (VALD) - clinic only

Clinic only. Force plates for jump and squat testing. We use these in clinic, and we do not take them to a worksite.

- Jump testing is not appropriate for a general workforce
- Reserved for rehabilitation cases that need it
- Told plainly so nobody buys equipment they will never see

---

## The business case

Page: https://wereset.ca/why-wereset

4 steps, each resting on published Canadian figures listed in the evidence
base below:

1. The cost is already on the employer's books - absence, presenteeism,
   premium movement and replacement hiring are live line items.
2. Almost nobody measures it. Fewer than half of Canadian organisations track
   absence at all, and fewer still cost it.
3. Delay between injury and treatment is one of the strongest predictors of a
   claim that does not close.
4. Prevention spend has a documented benefit-cost ratio, sector by sector.

The page carries a calculator. It multiplies figures the visitor enters
(headcount, their own lost-time claim count, their own cost per claim, their
own prevention budget) by published ratios, and applies NO assumed
injury-reduction rate, because no Canadian publisher reports one that
generalises to an arbitrary employer. Its output is arithmetic, not a forecast,
and the page says so. The indirect-cost figure is published as a range of 2
to 4 times direct cost, so the output is a range and never a point estimate.

It also compares 3 options an employer chooses between - wereset, a clinic
referral, and doing nothing - across 7 attributes. Doing nothing is in the
table because it is what most employers actually choose.

---

## Services

Page: https://wereset.ca/services

6 services, all delivered at the employer's own site inside the working
day. The same 4 standing terms apply to every one of them: the clinical
relationship is with the employee; employers receive aggregate reporting only,
above a minimum group size, and never anything usable for an employment
decision; participation is voluntary and a refusal is not reported; anything
outside a clinician's scope of practice is referred out in writing.

### 01. On-site physiotherapy

URL: https://wereset.ca/services/on-site-physiotherapy

The treatment room comes to the loading dock.

A licensed physiotherapist works a scheduled shift at your site, treating the people who would otherwise wait weeks for an appointment they have to drive to.

**Who it is for.** Any employer whose people cannot easily leave the site during a shift: warehousing, manufacturing, construction, long-term care, transport depots and distribution centres.

**What happens, in order.**
1. We take a room. A meeting room, a corner of the break room, or a cleared bay. We bring the plinth, the screen and the kit; you supply four walls and a door that closes.
2. Workers book into a slot. Appointments run inside the working day, in blocks that fit a shift pattern. Nobody books time off, and nobody drives anywhere.
3. Assess, treat, load. A standard physiotherapy assessment, hands-on treatment where it is indicated, and an exercise prescription written against the actual demands of that person's job rather than a generic sheet.
4. Escalate honestly. Anything outside a physiotherapist's scope goes to the worker's physician with a written summary. We do not diagnose outside our licence and we do not keep a case we cannot treat.

**What the employer receives.**
- Scheduled on-site clinic days, weekly or biweekly
- Individual treatment notes held in the worker's clinical record
- Aggregate utilisation reporting to the employer, above a minimum group size
- Written referral out when the presentation is outside scope

**Scope, licensing and limits.**
- Physiotherapists are regulated health professionals, registered with the college in the province where they practise. Registration is verifiable before a clinician sets foot on your site.
- The clinical relationship is with the employee. Individual findings belong to them, and the employer does not receive them.
- We do not perform fitness-for-duty determinations, and we do not supply capacity data for hiring, promotion, discipline or termination decisions.

**Evidence behind it.**
- $232 million (5%) per year - Annual reduction in the burden of illness attributable to physiotherapy (Deloitte LLP, prepared for Canadian Physiotherapy Association, 2022 (estimated)) https://physiotherapy.ca/app/uploads/2024/04/Deloitte-report_EN.pdf
- decreased by 31% - Referral MRI use under a shared care low back pathway (Canadian Journal of Surgery, 2017 publication) https://www.canjsurg.ca/content/60/5/342
- RRRadj = 1.4, 95% CI 1.03, 1.8 - Raised risk of not returning to work when treatment is delayed (Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation (Springer), 2004 to 2018) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-026-10409-4
- 16.8 - Days lost per worker in health care and social assistance. Highest of any sector (Statistics Canada, 2025) https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410019101

### 02. Massage therapy

URL: https://wereset.ca/services/massage-therapy

The benefit your people already have, delivered where they already are.

A Registered Massage Therapist on site on a fixed cadence, issuing the same insurance receipt they would from a clinic - so the benefit plan you already pay for gets used by the people who need it most.

**Who it is for.** Employers with paramedical coverage that is under-used by frontline staff, and any workforce carrying sustained postural or repetitive load.

**What happens, in order.**
1. Set a cadence. Most sites run a half or full day every 1 to 2 weeks. Frequency is set by headcount and uptake, not sold as a fixed package.
2. Workers self-book. Sessions are typically 30 minutes and sit inside the shift. The list is managed by us, not by a supervisor, so nobody has to explain to their manager why they booked.
3. Receipts issue on the spot. The RMT issues a standard receipt with their registration number, which the worker submits to their benefit plan exactly as they would a clinic visit.
4. Flag the pattern, not the person. If one work area keeps presenting with the same complaint, that shows up in the aggregate report as a site observation. No individual is named.

**What the employer receives.**
- Registered Massage Therapist attending on a set schedule
- Insurance receipts issued on site, same as a clinic visit
- Self-serve booking that a supervisor never sees
- Aggregate uptake reporting by work area, never by person

**Scope, licensing and limits.**
- Registered Massage Therapists are regulated in British Columbia, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Where the title is not regulated, we engage therapists who meet the regulated-province standard and say so plainly.
- Massage therapy is a comfort and recovery service. It is not a substitute for the assessment that finds a capacity deficit, and we will say so rather than sell more of it.

**Evidence behind it.**
- increased by 16% - Year over year growth in paramedical services claims, 2024 (Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA), 2024) https://www.clhia.ca/en-CA/media-and-publications/news-releases/2025/Claims-in-Canada-rising-143-billion-paid-to-help-keep-Canadians-healthy-and-financially-secure
- 116,372 - Claims to muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints (AWCBC, 2023) https://awcbc.org/files/publications/2023-Nwisp-Publicaiton-public-version.pdf
- 55% - Repetitive strain injuries that occurred while working (Statistics Canada, 2000/01) https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2002004/article/6594-eng.pdf

### 03. Ergonomic assessments

URL: https://wereset.ca/services/ergonomic-assessments

A report nobody reads is not a control.

Desk and industrial assessments that end in a dated remediation list with an owner against every line, and a follow-up visit that checks whether the change was actually made.

**Who it is for.** Office teams with rising neck, wrist and low back complaints, and industrial sites where reach, height and repetition drive the injury pattern.

**What happens, in order.**
1. Watch the work being done. We observe the task as it is actually performed on a normal day, not as the standard operating procedure describes it. Those 2 things differ on almost every site.
2. Measure the workstation. Reach distances, working heights, seat and monitor geometry, load weights and repetition counts. Numbers, so the recommendation is checkable.
3. Rank by exposure, not by cost. Findings are ordered by how many people are exposed and how often, so the cheap fix that helps 2 people does not outrank the one that helps 40.
4. Come back and check. A follow-up visit at an agreed interval confirms what was implemented and what was not. An assessment with no follow-up is a document, not a control.

**What the employer receives.**
- Written report with measurements, photographs and a ranked finding list
- Remediation actions, each with an owner and a target date
- Individual workstation adjustments made during the visit itself
- Follow-up visit confirming implementation

**Scope, licensing and limits.**
- An ergonomic assessment describes exposure. It does not diagnose a worker, and a finding about a workstation is never recorded against the person who sits at it.
- Where a control needs an engineer, a millwright or a purchase, we say so and stop. We do not sign off on changes outside our competence.

**Evidence behind it.**
- 9 of the 10 studies - Participatory ergonomics studies reporting positive health effects (Institute for Work & Health, to 2005) https://www.iwh.on.ca/summaries/sharing-best-evidence/effectiveness-of-participatory-ergonomics
- 30% reduction - Sustained reduction in soft tissue injuries at an Ontario utility (Institute for Work & Health, 2016) https://www.iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/reduced-soft-tissue-injuries-at-ontario-utility-attributed-to-work-by-ergonomics-team-set-up-during-iwh-study
- 15.0% - Canadians reporting a repetitive strain injury in a year (Statistics Canada, 2013/2014) https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/150624/dq150624b-eng.htm
- 55% - Repetitive strain injuries that occurred while working (Statistics Canada, 2000/01) https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2002004/article/6594-eng.pdf

### 04. Injury prevention

URL: https://wereset.ca/services/injury-prevention

Screen, measure, program, retest. Then do it again.

The closed loop this practice is built on: find who is carrying a deficit before it becomes a claim, write a program against the deficit, and retest to prove the program worked.

**Who it is for.** Sites with a known injury pattern and a premium that reflects it, and employers who need documented prevention activity to file against a regulator's rebate programme.

**What happens, in order.**
1. Screen the crew. A short movement and capacity screen across the group. Isometric, so there is no lift, no jump and no technique to get wrong - which is why it is safe at any age and moves a queue faster than employers expect.
2. Measure against the job. Capacity is compared with the demands of the actual role, and benchmarked by age and sex. A number that is fine for a 24-year-old picker may be a deficit for a 58-year-old doing the same route.
3. Assign the program. The measured deficit maps to one of the 3 capacity programs. Nobody is assigned a program because of their job title.
4. Retest and report. A repeat test at a set interval. The worker sees their own numbers move; the employer sees the group's, above a minimum size and never attributable to an individual.

**What the employer receives.**
- Baseline capacity screen across the participating group
- Program assignment driven by the measurement, not the job title
- Retest at a set interval, with the change shown as a number
- Documented prevention activity suitable for a regulator rebate filing

**Scope, licensing and limits.**
- Screening data is a health record. It is never supplied to an employer in a form that identifies an individual, and never for an employment decision.
- Participation is voluntary. A worker who declines is not reported to their employer as having declined.

**Screening options.**
- Pre-shift screening: A short capacity check at the start of a shift or a season, used to flag who needs support before the work starts. Voluntary, and the result goes to the worker.
- Pre-employment screening: Available, and constrained. A physical demands screen must be tied to a bona fide occupational requirement and accommodation still runs to undue hardship. We will build the demands analysis it has to rest on; we will not run a screen that functions as a filter.

**Evidence behind it.**
- CA$1.62 - Median return per dollar invested in workplace mental health programmes (Deloitte Insights (Deloitte Canada), 2018 (latest claims year analysed)) https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/articles/2024/ca22901_blueprint-for-workplace-mental-health/di-blueprint-for-workplace-mental-health.pdf
- 1.24 - Benefit cost ratio for Ontario manufacturing employers (Institute for Work & Health, 2013 to 2018) https://www.iwh.on.ca/plain-language-summaries/estimating-financial-return-on-employers-investments-in-prevention-of-work-injuries-in-ontario
- 1.34 - Benefit cost ratio for Ontario construction employers (Institute for Work & Health, 2013 to 2018) https://www.iwh.on.ca/plain-language-summaries/estimating-financial-return-on-employers-investments-in-prevention-of-work-injuries-in-ontario
- 2.14 - Benefit cost ratio for Ontario transportation employers, 2013 to 2018 (Institute for Work & Health, 2013 to 2018) https://www.iwh.on.ca/plain-language-summaries/estimating-financial-return-on-employers-investments-in-prevention-of-work-injuries-in-ontario

### 05. Return to work

URL: https://wereset.ca/services/return-to-work

The first conversation decides the length of the claim.

Accommodation planning built on measured capacity rather than a guess, so the supervisor knows on day one what the returning worker can actually do - and the plan holds up with the insurer.

**Who it is for.** Employers carrying a statutory duty to cooperate in return to work, disability case managers, and any site where modified duty is decided by whoever is on shift.

**What happens, in order.**
1. Establish what the job demands. A physical demands description for the role, written from observation of the work rather than from the job posting.
2. Measure what the worker has. Current capacity, tested rather than estimated, and compared directly against that demands description. The gap between the 2 is the accommodation.
3. Write the plan with the supervisor in the room. Graduated duties with dated steps, agreed by the worker and the person who runs the floor. A plan the supervisor did not help write is a plan the supervisor does not follow.
4. Coordinate with the carrier. The same objective capacity data goes to the insurer or board, so the return date is supported by a measurement rather than argued over. With the worker's consent, always.

**What the employer receives.**
- Physical demands description for the role
- Measured capacity compared against those demands
- Dated graduated return plan, agreed with the supervisor
- Documentation the insurer or board can act on, with consent

**Scope, licensing and limits.**
- We do not adjudicate claims and we do not determine entitlement. We supply the capacity measurement the people who do that rely on.
- Nothing goes to an employer, insurer or board without the worker's written consent, and consent to one recipient is not consent to another.

**Statutory duties by jurisdiction.**
- Ontario: Employer and worker both carry a return-to-work co-operation obligation under WSIB operational policy, alongside a re-employment obligation for eligible workers.
  Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), accessed 2026. https://www.wsib.ca/en/operational-policy-manual/rtw-co-operation-obligations
  Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), 2020. https://www.wsib.ca/en/operational-policy-manual/re-employment-obligations
- British Columbia: A duty to cooperate in return to work and a duty to maintain employment, both in force since 1 January 2024. Accommodation runs to the point of undue hardship.
  King's Printer, Victoria BC (BC Laws), in force 2024 to 01 to 01. https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/19001_04
  WorkSafeBC, 2024. https://www.worksafebc.com/en/law-policy/workers-compensation-law/amendments/bill-41-amendments-to-the-workers-compensation-act/employers-duty-to-cooperate-duty-to-maintain-employment
  King's Printer, Victoria BC (BC Laws), in force 2024 to 01 to 01. https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/19001_04
- Alberta: An obligation to reinstate employment for workers meeting a service threshold, with defined employer and worker responsibilities in return to work.
  WCB Alberta, 2023. https://www.wcb.ab.ca/about-wcb/procedures-manual/obligation-to-reinstate-employment.html
  WCB Alberta, 2021. https://www.wcb.ab.ca/assets/pdfs/public/policy/manual/printable_pdfs/0405_2_app2.pdf
- Quebec: A right to return to work, with the exercise period set by the size of the establishment.
  Éditeur officiel du Québec (Légis Québec), in force 2022 to 10 to 06. https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/version/cs/A-3.001?code=se:179&pointInTime=20260724

**Evidence behind it.**
- 19.4 days - Average days off after a work related injury, before the policy (Institute for Work & Health, pre 2012) https://iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/seven-principles-guidelines-used-in-return-to-work-policies-and-practices
- 10.9 days - Average days off after the return to work policy (Institute for Work & Health, 2012 to 2015) https://iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/seven-principles-guidelines-used-in-return-to-work-policies-and-practices
- 33% greater - Increase in the probability of being off wage replacement benefits (Institute for Work & Health, 2013 to 2015) https://iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/integrating-return-to-work-principles-in-occupational-medicine-service
- RRRadj = 1.4, 95% CI 1.03, 1.8 - Raised risk of not returning to work when treatment is delayed (Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation (Springer), 2004 to 2018) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-026-10409-4

### 06. Wellness workshops

URL: https://wereset.ca/services/wellness-workshops

40 minutes, in the break room, with the people who do the work.

A catalogue of lunch-and-learns and toolbox talks delivered by a clinician, built for the crews who never get sent on a course.

**Who it is for.** Employers with a health and safety committee to satisfy, a wellbeing budget that has never reached the floor, and a manager population that believes prevention is already handled.

**What happens, in order.**
1. Pick from the catalogue. Topics are fixed and written out in advance, so a committee can approve one without a discovery call.
2. Run it where the crew already is. Break room, muster point, or the floor itself. No room booking, no travel, no evening session that nobody attends.
3. Leave something behind. Every session ends with a one-page handout the attendee keeps, and a copy the committee can file as documented training.

**What the employer receives.**
- Clinician-delivered session at your site, inside the working day
- One-page handout for every attendee
- Attendance record the health and safety committee can file
- Bilingual delivery, English or French

**Scope, licensing and limits.**
- A workshop is education, not treatment. Nobody is assessed, nobody is diagnosed, and attendance is never recorded against a health record.
- We will not present a session as a substitute for a control that the site actually needs. If the fix is a shelf height, the talk will say so.

**Workshop catalogue.**
- Lifting without the folklore (Toolbox talk, 20 min, Up to 25). What the evidence actually supports about lifting technique, and why 'lift with your legs' has outlived its usefulness as the whole of a training programme.
- The shoulder at height (Lunch and learn, 40 min, Up to 40). Why overhead work concentrates injury, what early asymmetry feels like, and when to raise it rather than work through it.
- Sitting is a load too (Lunch and learn, 40 min, Up to 40). Static posture, screen geometry and the micro-breaks that actually get taken. Written for desk and cab alike.
- Pain that will not settle (Lunch and learn, 45 min, Up to 40). How persistent pain differs from acute injury, why rest stops helping, and what to do about it without waiting for a diagnosis.
- For supervisors: the first conversation (Supervisor session, 60 min, Up to 15). What to say when a worker reports discomfort, what not to promise, and why the first exchange moves the duration of a claim more than anything that follows.
- Reading your own numbers (Toolbox talk, 20 min, Up to 25). For sites already being measured: what a capacity result means, what it does not mean, and who is allowed to see it.

**Evidence behind it.**
- 61% - Canadian workers who show up while unwell at least weekly (Benefits Canada, February 2026 survey wave) https://www.benefitscanada.com/benefits/health-wellness/61-of-canadian-employees-working-while-unwell-survey/
- 49 days - Productivity days lost per employee per year, absence plus presenteeism (Manulife, 2023) https://www.manulife.ca/business/group-benefits/wellness-report/the-wellness-report-key-findings-2023.html
- 81% - Managers who say preventing burnout is a priority (Mental Health Research Canada with Workplace Strategies for Mental Health and Canada Life, 2025) https://www.mhrc.ca/s/Workplace-Mental-Health-2025.pdf
- 36% - Employees who say their employer offers burnout programs (Mental Health Research Canada with Workplace Strategies for Mental Health and Canada Life, 2025) https://www.mhrc.ca/s/Workplace-Mental-Health-2025.pdf

---

## Programs

Page: https://wereset.ca/programs

3 programs. Each one starts from a measured deficit, not from a job title.

### 01. Bulletproof Back

URL: https://wereset.ca/programs/bulletproof-back
Region: Lumbar spine and trunk

The back is the most claimed body part in Canada.

Build the lumbar load tolerance the job actually demands, then prove it with a repeat test.

**Who it is for.** Lifting, lowering, carrying and repeated trunk flexion. Warehouse, manufacturing, construction, long haul, long term care.

**What is measured.**
- Isometric trunk extension and flexion strength
- Hip hinge and posterior chain capacity
- Left and right symmetry through the hips
- Endurance under repeated load, not a single max

**What the employer receives.**
- Individual program targeting the measured deficit
- Task specific loading that matches the real job
- Retest at a set interval, with the numbers shown to the worker

**Evidence behind it.**
- 50,801 - Back claims. The most claimed body part in Canada (AWCBC, 2023) https://awcbc.org/files/publications/2023-Nwisp-Publicaiton-public-version.pdf
- 116,372 - Claims to muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints (AWCBC, 2023) https://awcbc.org/files/publications/2023-Nwisp-Publicaiton-public-version.pdf
- 19.4 days - Average days off after a work related injury, before the policy (Institute for Work & Health, pre 2012) https://iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/seven-principles-guidelines-used-in-return-to-work-policies-and-practices
- 10.9 days - Average days off after the return to work policy (Institute for Work & Health, 2012 to 2015) https://iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/seven-principles-guidelines-used-in-return-to-work-policies-and-practices

### 02. Shoulder Boulders

URL: https://wereset.ca/programs/shoulder-boulders
Region: Shoulder, scapula and overhead work

Shoulder claims run long, and delay makes them run longer.

Overhead reach, push and pull capacity, built to the demand of the task and retested against it.

**Who it is for.** Overhead stocking, pushing and pulling, sustained reach, tool work. Retail, logistics, utilities, trades, health care.

**What is measured.**
- Isometric shoulder abduction, internal and external rotation
- Push and pull force, standing
- Left and right asymmetry, the early warning sign
- Scapular control through the working range

**What the employer receives.**
- Deficit specific loading, not a generic shoulder circuit
- Modified duty guidance grounded in measured capacity
- Retest before the worker returns to full overhead duty

**Evidence behind it.**
- 19,147 - Shoulder claims (AWCBC, 2023) https://awcbc.org/files/publications/2023-Nwisp-Publicaiton-public-version.pdf
- MD = 66.4; 95% CI 49.1, 83.7 - Days shorter claim duration under a shoulder care pathway (Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation (Springer), 2004 to 2018) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-026-10409-4
- 1.8 times greater (95% CI 1.4, 2.3) - Relative risk of returning to modified duties under the pathway (Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation (Springer), 2004 to 2018) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-026-10409-4
- RRRadj = 1.4, 95% CI 1.03, 1.8 - Raised risk of not returning to work when treatment is delayed (Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation (Springer), 2004 to 2018) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-026-10409-4

### 03. PostureStrong

URL: https://wereset.ca/programs/posturestrong
Region: Sustained posture and static load

Nobody gets injured. Everybody gets worn down.

Endurance for the postures a shift actually holds: seated, standing, static, repetitive.

**Who it is for.** Drivers, desk based teams, line operators, lab and precision work, dispatch and control rooms.

**What is measured.**
- Neck and upper back isometric endurance
- Grip and forearm capacity for repetitive work
- Postural tolerance over time, not in a single position
- Workstation and cab setup against the measured result

**What the employer receives.**
- Micro dosed loading that fits inside a shift
- Workstation changes tied to a specific measured deficit
- Retest to confirm the change actually worked

**Evidence behind it.**
- 15.0% - Canadians reporting a repetitive strain injury in a year (Statistics Canada, 2013/2014) https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/150624/dq150624b-eng.htm
- 55% - Repetitive strain injuries that occurred while working (Statistics Canada, 2000/01) https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2002004/article/6594-eng.pdf
- 61% - Canadian workers who show up while unwell at least weekly (Benefits Canada, February 2026 survey wave) https://www.benefitscanada.com/benefits/health-wellness/61-of-canadian-employees-working-while-unwell-survey/
- 49 days - Productivity days lost per employee per year, absence plus presenteeism (Manulife, 2023) https://www.manulife.ca/business/group-benefits/wellness-report/the-wellness-report-key-findings-2023.html

---

## Case studies

Page: https://wereset.ca/case-studies

5 published Canadian findings with deep source links. Every employer,
intervention and result below was published by a third party. Nothing is
invented and no result is attributed to wereset. The read-across on each entry
is wereset's own interpretation and is labelled as such.

### 01. Niagara Health - A written return to work policy halved time off

URL: https://wereset.ca/case-studies/niagara-health-rtw
Location: Ontario | Sector: Health care | Size: More than 4,800 workers | Period: 2012 to 2015
Headline: 19.4 → 10.9 days off

**Problem.** A regional acute care hospital system was averaging 19.4 days off after a work related injury, with no consistent policy governing what happened after the report.

**Intervention.** A return to work and accommodation policy built on the Institute for Work & Health Seven Principles: early contact with the worker, supervisor integration, manager training, and disability case management.

**Published results.**
- Before the policy: 19.4 days - Average days off after a work related injury, before the policy (Institute for Work & Health, pre 2012) https://iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/seven-principles-guidelines-used-in-return-to-work-policies-and-practices
- After the policy: 10.9 days - Average days off after the return to work policy (Institute for Work & Health, 2012 to 2015) https://iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/seven-principles-guidelines-used-in-return-to-work-policies-and-practices
- Against 29 peer hospitals: 45% improvement - Improvement against a peer group of 29 hospitals, which improved 25% (Institute for Work & Health, 2012 to 2015) https://iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/seven-principles-guidelines-used-in-return-to-work-policies-and-practices

**Read-across (wereset interpretation, not a published finding).** The gain came from removing the wait, not from treating harder. Early contact is the mechanism. Objective capacity data makes that first contact useful instead of procedural: it tells the supervisor what the worker can actually do on day one.

### 02. Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro Inc. - Changing the task beat treating the injury

URL: https://wereset.ca/case-studies/kitchener-wilmot-hydro
Location: Ontario | Sector: Electrical utility | Size: About 180 people, serving 91,000 homes and businesses | Period: 2016
Headline: 30% fewer soft tissue injuries

**Problem.** An electrical utility with a small, highly skilled crew was carrying repeated soft tissue injuries. Losing one lineworker removes a rare skill set, not just a headcount.

**Intervention.** A participatory ergonomics program: an ergonomics and wellness team drawn from employees, managers and health and safety staff, redesigning the tasks that were producing the injuries.

**Published results.**
- Sustained reduction in soft tissue injuries: 30% reduction - Sustained reduction in soft tissue injuries at an Ontario utility (Institute for Work & Health, 2016) https://www.iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/reduced-soft-tissue-injuries-at-ontario-utility-attributed-to-work-by-ergonomics-team-set-up-during-iwh-study
- Review evidence behind the approach: 9 of the 10 studies - Participatory ergonomics studies reporting positive health effects (Institute for Work & Health, to 2005) https://www.iwh.on.ca/summaries/sharing-best-evidence/effectiveness-of-participatory-ergonomics

**Read-across (wereset interpretation, not a published finding).** Ergonomics lowers the demand side of the equation. Capacity training raises the supply side. Doing one without the other leaves half the gap open, which is why our assessment covers the task as well as the person.

### 03. Toronto East General Hospital - Psychological health and safety showed up in the absence numbers

URL: https://wereset.ca/case-studies/toronto-east-general
Location: Ontario | Sector: Teaching hospital | Size: 2,500 employees, 413 physicians and midwives | Period: 2008 to 2015
Headline: 10.66 → 6.55 absence days per employee

**Problem.** A community teaching hospital wanted to know whether implementing the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace would move anything measurable.

**Intervention.** Full implementation of the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace, tracked against the organisation's own baseline.

**Published results.**
- Days absent per employee, 2008: 10.66 - Days absent per employee before the psychological health standard, 2008 (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2008 to 2014) https://mentalhealthcommission.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/mhcc_casestudyinterimresults_en_final_1_0.pdf
- Days absent per employee, 2014: 6.55 - Days absent per employee after implementation, 2014 (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2008 to 2014) https://mentalhealthcommission.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/mhcc_casestudyinterimresults_en_final_1_0.pdf
- Overall health care costs: a 7% decrease - Overall health care costs at the same organisation (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2011 to 2015) https://mentalhealthcommission.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/mhcc_casestudyinterimresults_en_final_1_0.pdf

**Read-across (wereset interpretation, not a published finding).** Physical and psychological load are not separate budgets. Nearly half of musculoskeletal long term disability claimants are also claiming for mental disorder medication, which is why our scope does not stop at the musculoskeletal system.

### 04. 2,482 Alberta workers - A defined care pathway cut shoulder claim duration by 2 months

URL: https://wereset.ca/case-studies/alberta-shoulder-pathway
Location: Alberta | Sector: Claims cohort | Size: From a total cohort of 5,075. Median claim duration 114 days | Period: 2004 to 2018
Headline: 66.4 days shorter

**Problem.** Shoulder claims are among the most expensive an employer carries. In this cohort the median claim ran 114 days, and the strongest predictor of a bad outcome was how long the worker waited before treatment started.

**Intervention.** A shoulder care pathway with specialist assessment and collaborative return to work planning, replacing ad hoc referral.

**Published results.**
- Reduction in claim duration: MD = 66.4; 95% CI 49.1, 83.7 - Days shorter claim duration under a shoulder care pathway (Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation (Springer), 2004 to 2018) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-026-10409-4
- Return to modified duties: 1.8 times greater (95% CI 1.4, 2.3) - Relative risk of returning to modified duties under the pathway (Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation (Springer), 2004 to 2018) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-026-10409-4
- Risk when treatment is delayed: RRRadj = 1.4, 95% CI 1.03, 1.8 - Raised risk of not returning to work when treatment is delayed (Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation (Springer), 2004 to 2018) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-026-10409-4

**Read-across (wereset interpretation, not a published finding).** Delay is the variable, and delay is what an on-site clinician removes. The worker does not book, travel, wait for a referral or lose a shift. Assessment happens where the work happens, on the day.

### 05. 422 Ontario patients - Conservative care first cut imaging and the surgical queue at once

URL: https://wereset.ca/case-studies/ontario-isaec-low-back
Location: Thunder Bay, Hamilton and Toronto | Sector: Shared care model | Size: 10% of all patients in the study period | Period: 2017 publication
Headline: −31% referral MRI use

**Problem.** Low back pain was going straight to imaging and surgical referral. Nationally, 30% of low back pain patients without red flags still received imaging, and the wait for spine surgical assessment ran to months.

**Intervention.** Advanced practice clinician triage of low back pain referrals across a networked shared care model, with conservative care as the first step.

**Published results.**
- Referral MRI use: decreased by 31% - Referral MRI use under a shared care low back pathway (Canadian Journal of Surgery, 2017 publication) https://www.canjsurg.ca/content/60/5/342
- Wait to surgical assessment, Toronto site: a mean of 6 (range 1-19) months compared with 38 days - Wait to spine surgical assessment, before and after the pathway (Canadian Journal of Surgery, 2017 publication) https://www.canjsurg.ca/content/60/5/342
- Baseline unnecessary imaging rate: 30% - Low back pain patients without red flags who still received imaging (Canadian Institute for Health Information, in collaboration with Choosing Wisely Canada, 2011 to 2012) https://www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/choosing-wisely-baseline-report-en-web.pdf

**Read-across (wereset interpretation, not a published finding).** Triage is what a physiotherapist on site does all day. Sorting the worker who needs a specialist from the worker who needs 6 weeks of loading is the highest value decision in the pathway, and it is cheapest to make early.

---

## Priority sectors

Page: https://wereset.ca/sectors

Ranked by a weighted model over 6 published inputs: claim rate (24), claim
duration (22), musculoskeletal share (17), serious injury rate (15), days lost
(11) and workforce size (11). A 7th input, a physical demand index, was
dropped because no Canadian body publishes one and grading it ourselves would
have made the ranking partly editorial; its weight was redistributed across the
6 measured inputs in proportion to what they already held. Physical demand
survives below as prose: it describes the work, it does not score it.

### 01. Transportation and warehousing

Average days lost per absence: 12.4 (Statistics Canada, 2025)
Lost-time claim rate: 5 (WorkSafeBC, 2020 to 2024)
Average claim duration in days: 93 (WorkSafeBC, 2020 to 2024)
Documented benefit-cost ratio for prevention spend: 2.14 (Institute for Work & Health, 2013 to 2018)

**Physical demand.** Repeated lift between knee and shoulder height, hundreds of times a shift. Whole body vibration for drivers. Loading dock handling at either end of a run.

**Why it ranks here.** The longest average claim duration of any measured subsector, and the strongest documented benefit cost ratio for prevention spend.

### 02. Health care and social assistance

Average days lost per absence: 16.8 (Statistics Canada, 2025)
Lost-time claim rate: 5.5 (Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (data: WSIB EIW, June 2025 snapshot), 2024)
Average claim duration in days: 81 (WorkSafeBC, 2020 to 2024)
Documented benefit-cost ratio for prevention spend: n/a

**Physical demand.** Resident and patient handling all shift. Repeated repositioning and boosting with limited equipment. 12 hour shifts, mostly standing.

**Why it ranks here.** Loses more absence days per worker than any other sector in Canada.

### 03. Construction

Average days lost per absence: 8.5 (Statistics Canada, 2025)
Lost-time claim rate: 3 (WorkSafeBC, 2020 to 2024)
Average claim duration in days: 74 (WorkSafeBC, 2020 to 2024)
Documented benefit-cost ratio for prevention spend: 1.34 (Institute for Work & Health, 2013 to 2018)

**Physical demand.** Material handling from truck to pour. Repeated bending to place forms and rebar. Overhead drilling with arms above shoulder height.

**Why it ranks here.** 82% of sampled Ontario construction employers returned a benefit cost ratio above 1.0 on prevention spend.

### 04. Public administration

Average days lost per absence: 15.8 (Statistics Canada, 2025)
Lost-time claim rate: n/a
Average claim duration in days: n/a
Documented benefit-cost ratio for prevention spend: n/a

**Physical demand.** Mixed field and desk work. Long static postures, vehicle time, and a workforce that skews older than the national average.

**Why it ranks here.** Federal administration loses 18.1 days per worker per year, the highest figure published for any group.

### 05. Manufacturing

Average days lost per absence: 11.1 (Statistics Canada, 2025)
Lost-time claim rate: 2 (WorkSafeBC, 2020 to 2024)
Average claim duration in days: 72 (WorkSafeBC, 2020 to 2024)
Documented benefit-cost ratio for prevention spend: 1.24 (Institute for Work & Health, 2013 to 2018)

**Physical demand.** Fixed cycle time, so the same movement repeats every cycle for the whole shift. Static standing on hard floors. Rotating shifts.

**Why it ranks here.** Repetition without task variation is the mechanism on a fixed cycle line.

### 06. Retail and wholesale trade

Average days lost per absence: 11 (Statistics Canada, 2025)
Lost-time claim rate: 2 (WorkSafeBC, 2020 to 2024)
Average claim duration in days: 72 (WorkSafeBC, 2020 to 2024)
Documented benefit-cost ratio for prevention spend: n/a

**Physical demand.** Pallet break down and repeated lift from floor to shelf. Overhead stocking on the top shelf. Static standing at the till.

**Why it ranks here.** Shoulder is a leading claimed body part nationally, at 19,147 lost time claims.

---

## Audiences

**HR and employers** (https://wereset.ca/for-hr). The case is absence duration, modified-duty
placement and the aggregate reporting an employer can act on without ever
seeing an individual's numbers.

**Insurers and carriers** (https://wereset.ca/for-insurers). The case is claim duration,
return-to-work timing and the documented benefit-cost evidence for prevention
spend, sector by sector.

---

## Resources

Page: https://wereset.ca/resources
Feed: https://wereset.ca/rss.xml

Articles drawn from the same sourced research as the rest of the site. Each
one separates published findings from wereset's own argument in an explicit
labelled note, so an extract from any of them should carry that distinction
with it. Full bodies are on the pages themselves; the summaries below are the
authors' own excerpts.

### What your employer can and cannot see

URL: https://wereset.ca/resources/what-your-employer-can-and-cannot-see
Published: 2026-04-15 | Category: research | Reading time: 6 min | Author: wereset clinical team

Written for the worker being asked to take part. Where a capacity result goes, who reads it, and the line between a health record and a performance record.

### The back is not fragile. It is undertrained.

URL: https://wereset.ca/resources/the-back-is-not-fragile
Published: 2026-04-01 | Category: injury-prevention | Reading time: 7 min | Author: wereset clinical team

The most claimed body part in Canada is also the one employers are most afraid to load. That fear is expensive, and the evidence does not support it.

### How to read a benefit-cost ratio without fooling yourself

URL: https://wereset.ca/resources/reading-a-benefit-cost-ratio
Published: 2026-03-18 | Category: research | Reading time: 9 min | Author: wereset clinical team

Prevention returns are quoted constantly and understood rarely. What the published Canadian ratios include, what they leave out, and how to use one in a business case honestly.

### What an ergonomic assessment should actually deliver

URL: https://wereset.ca/resources/what-an-ergonomic-assessment-should-deliver
Published: 2026-03-04 | Category: ergonomics | Reading time: 6 min | Author: wereset clinical team

Most assessments end in a PDF. A control ends in a dated action with an owner, and a visit that checks whether it happened.

### The first conversation decides the length of the claim

URL: https://wereset.ca/resources/the-first-conversation-decides-the-claim
Published: 2026-02-18 | Category: return-to-work | Reading time: 8 min | Author: wereset clinical team

Early contact is the single most transferable finding in the return-to-work literature, and the cheapest thing on this list to get right.

### Why a lifting course does not move your claim numbers

URL: https://wereset.ca/resources/why-capacity-beats-a-lifting-course
Published: 2026-02-04 | Category: injury-prevention | Reading time: 7 min | Author: wereset clinical team

Training changes what a worker knows. It does not change what their back can tolerate. Here is what the Canadian claim data says about which of those 2 drives the number.

---

## Frequently asked questions

**Does testing single out the weakest people?**

No, and it is built so it cannot. Individual results go to the worker and stay in their clinical record. You receive aggregate reporting only, above a minimum group size. Capacity data is a health record, not a performance record, and we will not supply it for employment decisions.

**Is a strength test safe for an older or deconditioned worker?**

Yes. The ForceFrame measures isometric force, meaning the worker pushes against a fixed pad and nothing moves. There is no lift, no jump and no technique to get wrong, which is exactly why we use it on site rather than a force plate.

**How long does it take per person?**

A first full assessment is the longest appointment we run, and follow-up retests are considerably shorter. Because there is nothing to learn and nothing to warm up for, a queue moves faster than most employers expect.

**We already have an EAP and a benefits plan. Why add this?**

Those are claim-triggered: they pay once someone is already unwell. Paramedical services claims grew 16% in a single year, which tells you utilisation is rising, not that injuries are falling. Capacity measurement runs before the claim and gives you a number to manage.

**What do we actually get back?**

An aggregate capacity profile for the site, the deficits that appear most often, the tasks producing them, and a retest trend line you can put in front of a board or an insurer. Plus whatever your regulator needs to evidence prevention activity.

**Does this help with our premiums?**

Every province ties premium to claim experience, and several pay directly for documented prevention activity. Ontario's prevention programme rebates up to 2× your previous year's reported premiums; British Columbia's certification incentive returns 10% of base assessment premiums. We can supply the evidence those programmes ask for.

**Where do you work?**

On-site across Canada, with delivery scheduled around your shift pattern including nights and weekends. Multi-site employers get a consistent protocol so results are comparable between locations.

**Is this only about backs and shoulders?**

That is where we start, because that is where the claims are. But mental health now drives almost 40% of new long term disability claims, and 49% of musculoskeletal long term disability claimants are also claiming for mental disorder medication. Physical and psychological load are the same problem seen twice.

---

## Evidence base

Page: https://wereset.ca/evidence

Every figure used anywhere on this site, 69 in total, with
publisher, year and page-level reference. Values are reproduced exactly as
published.

- **274,022** - Accepted lost time claims in Canada, 2023
  Source: Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC), "National Work Injury, Disease and Fatality Statistics (NWISP publication, data years 2021-2023)", 2023. Table 1 "Number of Accepted Lost Time Claims, by Jurisdiction, 1982-2023", page 2 of 546, row 2023
  https://awcbc.org/files/publications/2023-Nwisp-Publicaiton-public-version.pdf
- **116,372** - Claims to muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints
  Source: AWCBC, "National Work Injury, Disease and Fatality Statistics (data years 2021-2023)", 2023. Table 4 "Number of Accepted Lost Time Claims, by Nature of Injury and Jurisdiction, 2021-2023", page 7 of 546, division 02
  https://awcbc.org/files/publications/2023-Nwisp-Publicaiton-public-version.pdf
- **50,801** - Back claims. The most claimed body part in Canada
  Source: AWCBC, "National Work Injury, Disease and Fatality Statistics (data years 2021-2023)", 2023. Table 5 "Number of Accepted Lost Time Claims, by Part of Body and Jurisdiction, 2021-2023", page 16 of 546, code 23
  https://awcbc.org/files/publications/2023-Nwisp-Publicaiton-public-version.pdf
- **19,147** - Shoulder claims
  Source: AWCBC, "National Work Injury, Disease and Fatality Statistics (data years 2021-2023)", 2023. Table 5, page 16 of 546, code 21
  https://awcbc.org/files/publications/2023-Nwisp-Publicaiton-public-version.pdf
- **9,158** - Wrist claims
  Source: AWCBC, "National Work Injury, Disease and Fatality Statistics (data years 2021-2023)", 2023. Table 5, page 17 of 546, code 32
  https://awcbc.org/files/publications/2023-Nwisp-Publicaiton-public-version.pdf
- **about 30%** - MSI share of all WorkSafeBC time loss claims
  Source: WorkSafeBC, "Musculoskeletal injuries remain the most common workplace injury in B.C.: WorkSafeBC (news release)", not stated on the page, February 2026 news release. Quote attributed to Todd McDonald, Head of Prevention Services
  https://www.worksafebc.com/en/about-us/news-events/news-releases/2026/February/musculoskeletal-injuries-remain-the-most-common-workplace-injury-in-bc-worksafebc
- **exceeded $2.35 billion** - MSI claim costs in British Columbia, 2020 to 2024
  Source: WorkSafeBC, "Musculoskeletal injuries remain the most common workplace injury in B.C.: WorkSafeBC (news release)", 2020 to 2024. News release body, paragraph 5
  https://www.worksafebc.com/en/about-us/news-events/news-releases/2026/February/musculoskeletal-injuries-remain-the-most-common-workplace-injury-in-bc-worksafebc
- **7.6 million** - People in Canada living with chronic pain. 1 in 5
  Source: Health Canada (Canadian Pain Task Force), "Canadian Pain Task Force Report: March 2021 — An Action Plan for Pain in Canada", Report released March 2021 (no reference year stated in sentence). Section "Nearly 8 million people in Canada live with chronic pain"
  https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/corporate/about-health-canada/public-engagement/external-advisory-bodies/canadian-pain-task-force/report-2021.html
- **$38.2 - $40.3 billion** - Total direct and indirect cost of chronic pain in Canada, 2019
  Source: Health Canada (Canadian Pain Task Force), "Canadian Pain Task Force Report: March 2021", 2019. Section "Chronic pain is taking a massive economic toll"
  https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/corporate/about-health-canada/public-engagement/external-advisory-bodies/canadian-pain-task-force/report-2021.html
- **15.0%** - Canadians reporting a repetitive strain injury in a year
  Source: Statistics Canada, "The Daily — Canadian Community Health Survey: Combined data, 2013/2014", 2013/2014. Section "Repetitive strain injuries"
  https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/150624/dq150624b-eng.htm
- **55%** - Repetitive strain injuries that occurred while working
  Source: Statistics Canada, "Health Reports: Repetitive strain injury (Catalogue 82-003, Vol. 14 No. 4)", 2000/01. PDF page 3 (journal page 13), section "Half work-related"; Table 2
  https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2002004/article/6594-eng.pdf
- **$39,000** - Average direct cost of one lost time claim, 2018
  Source: Institute for Work & Health, "Estimating the financial return on employers' investments in the prevention of work injuries in Ontario (Issue Briefing)", 2018. Section "How the IWH return-on-investment study was conducted"
  https://www.iwh.on.ca/plain-language-summaries/estimating-financial-return-on-employers-investments-in-prevention-of-work-injuries-in-ontario
- **2 to 4 times** - Indirect cost added on top of every direct claim cost
  Source: Institute for Work & Health, "Estimating the financial return on employers' investments in the prevention of work injuries in Ontario (Issue Briefing)", 2011 methodology applied to 2013 to 2018 claims. Section "How the IWH return-on-investment study was conducted"
  https://www.iwh.on.ca/plain-language-summaries/estimating-financial-return-on-employers-investments-in-prevention-of-work-injuries-in-ontario
- **61.4 days** - Average composite claim duration, Ontario, 2024
  Source: WSIB, "2024 Annual Report, "Positive impact of recovery and return-to-work practices"", 2024. Page 4
  https://www.wsib.ca/sites/default/files/2025-11/2024_annual_report_20250429_final_with_signatures.pdf
- **72 days** - Average short term disability claim duration, British Columbia
  Source: WorkSafeBC, "WorkSafeBC Statistics 2024", 2020 to 2024. Figure 2.10 "Time-loss claims rate and duration by subsector, 2020-2024", page 43, row "All subsectors"
  https://www.worksafebc.com/-/media/WorksafeBC/Resources/about-us/annual-reports-and-statistics-reports/statistics-2024-pdf-en.ashx
- **62.1 days** - Estimated average claim duration, Alberta, 2025
  Source: Workers' Compensation Board Alberta, "WCB-Alberta 2025 Annual Report — 2025 year at a glance", 2025. 2025 year at a glance table, row "Estimated average claim duration (TTD days)"
  https://www.wcb.ab.ca/annual-report-2025/Our-year-at-a-glance.html
- **15% and 10%** - Claims still on wage replacement at 3 and 6 months
  Source: Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario, "By the Numbers: Schedule 1 - Discussion and analysis (2020 WSIB Statistical Report)", 2020. Section "Recovery and return-to-work outcomes"
  https://www.wsib.ca/en/bythenumbers/schedule-1-discussion-and-analysis
- **9.1** - Days lost per full time employee per year to illness or disability, 2025
  Source: Statistics Canada, "Table 14-10-0463-01 Work absence of full-time employees by geography, annual", 2025. Table 14-10-0463-01; vector v1642734005; coordinate 1.1.8
  https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410046301
- **11.0** - Days lost per full time employee per year, all personal reasons
  Source: Statistics Canada, "Table 14-10-0463-01 Work absence of full-time employees by geography, annual", 2025. Table 14-10-0463-01; vector v1642734004; coordinate 1.1.7; Geography=Canada
  https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410046301
- **16.8** - Days lost per worker in health care and social assistance. Highest of any sector
  Source: Statistics Canada, "Table 14-10-0191-01 Work absence of full-time employees by industry, annual", 2025. Table 14-10-0191-01; vector v1406280; coordinate 1.1.13.7
  https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410019101
- **61%** - Canadian workers who show up while unwell at least weekly
  Source: Benefits Canada, "61% of Canadian employees working while unwell: survey", February 2026 survey wave. Article body, paragraph 1
  https://www.benefitscanada.com/benefits/health-wellness/61-of-canadian-employees-working-while-unwell-survey/
- **49 days** - Productivity days lost per employee per year, absence plus presenteeism
  Source: Manulife, "The Wellness Report 2023 highlights", 2023. Section "The Wellness Report 2023 highlights"
  https://www.manulife.ca/business/group-benefits/wellness-report/the-wellness-report-key-findings-2023.html
- **46** - Per cent of Canadian organisations that track employee absence
  Source: The Conference Board of Canada, "Missing in Action: Absenteeism Trends in Canadian Organizations (Briefing, September 2013)", 2012. p.1 "At a Glance"; p.3 Table 1
  https://www.sunlife.ca/static/canada/Sponsor/About%20Group%20Benefits/Focus%20Update/2013/Special%20Edition%20-%20Sept.%2023%20-%20%20Sun%20Life%20co-sponsors%20major%20new%20Conference%20Board%20of/MissinginAction_SUN%20LIFE_EN.pdf
- **15** - Per cent that track what absence actually costs them
  Source: The Conference Board of Canada, "Missing in Action: Absenteeism Trends in Canadian Organizations (Briefing, September 2013)", 2012. p.8, Chart 5 "Tracking the Cost of Absenteeism"
  https://www.sunlife.ca/static/canada/Sponsor/About%20Group%20Benefits/Focus%20Update/2013/Special%20Edition%20-%20Sept.%2023%20-%20%20Sun%20Life%20co-sponsors%20major%20new%20Conference%20Board%20of/MissinginAction_SUN%20LIFE_EN.pdf
- **as high as 200%** - Cost to replace a departing employee, as a share of their salary
  Source: Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), "5 secrets for reducing employee turnover ("How to reduce employee turnover")", Article updated 2025. Article body, opening paragraph
  https://www.bdc.ca/en/articles-tools/employees/manage/secrets-for-reducing-employee-turnover
- **increased by 16%** - Year over year growth in paramedical services claims, 2024
  Source: Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA), "Claims in Canada rising: $143.3 billion paid to help keep Canadians healthy and financially secure", 2024. Release body, paragraph 4
  https://www.clhia.ca/en-CA/media-and-publications/news-releases/2025/Claims-in-Canada-rising-143-billion-paid-to-help-keep-Canadians-healthy-and-financially-secure
- **almost 40% of claims** - Mental health share of new long term disability claims, 2024
  Source: Sun Life, "Designed for Health: Shifting tides in disability claims – Addressing mental health and chronic disease in the workplace (2025 Designed for Health Report, TL1185 09-25)", 2024. p.6, section "Mental disorder claims continue to drive overall volumes", Figure 1
  https://www.sunlife.ca/content/dam/sunlife/regional/canada/documents/gb/ltd-claim-trends-report-tl1185.pdf
- **49%** - Musculoskeletal LTD claimants also claiming mental disorder drugs
  Source: Sun Life, "Designed for Health: Shifting tides in disability claims – Addressing mental health and chronic disease in the workplace", 2024. p.15, "Many LTD claimants are also claiming for chronic disease drugs"
  https://www.sunlife.ca/content/dam/sunlife/regional/canada/documents/gb/ltd-claim-trends-report-tl1185.pdf
- **at least $50 billion per year** - Annual economic cost of mental health problems in Canada
  Source: Mental Health Commission of Canada, "Making the Case for Investing in Mental Health in Canada", 2011. p.1 "Snapshot"; p.15 "Summary"
  https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/wp-content/uploads/drupal/2016-06/Investing_in_Mental_Health_FINAL_Version_ENG.pdf
- **75%** - Employees reporting no overall workplace mental health strategy
  Source: Mental Health Commission of Canada and Morneau Shepell, "Understanding mental health, mental illness, and their impacts in the workplace", 2018. Executive Summary, "Study Findings", p. 5
  https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/wp-content/uploads/drupal/2018-06/Monreau_White_Paper_Report_Eng.pdf
- **81%** - Managers who say preventing burnout is a priority
  Source: Mental Health Research Canada with Workplace Strategies for Mental Health and Canada Life, "Mental Health in the Workplace 2025", 2025. pp. 29 and 41, Q1/Q30, managers n=1,758, employees n=5,008
  https://www.mhrc.ca/s/Workplace-Mental-Health-2025.pdf
- **36%** - Employees who say their employer offers burnout programs
  Source: Mental Health Research Canada with Workplace Strategies for Mental Health and Canada Life, "Mental Health in the Workplace 2025", 2025. pp. 29 and 41, Q1/Q30, managers n=1,758, employees n=5,008
  https://www.mhrc.ca/s/Workplace-Mental-Health-2025.pdf
- **18%** - Injured workers reporting a mental illness 18 months after injury
  Source: Institute for Work & Health, "Injured workers face mental health challenges beyond diagnosable conditions", 2025 study, 18 months post injury. Identifying different mental health experiences
  https://www.iwh.on.ca/plain-language-summaries/injured-workers-face-mental-health-challenges-beyond-diagnosable-conditions
- **77%** - Workers not comfortable discussing a mental health problem with their employer
  Source: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), "Workplace mental health top of mind for Canada's business leaders", 2021. Standfirst below headline
  https://www.camh.ca/en/camh-news-and-stories/workplace-mental-health-is-top-of-mind
- **CA$1.62** - Median return per dollar invested in workplace mental health programmes
  Source: Deloitte Insights (Deloitte Canada), "The ROI in workplace mental health programs: Good for people, good for business", 2018 (latest claims year analysed). p. 2, Executive summary, "Key takeaways for decision-makers"
  https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/articles/2024/ca22901_blueprint-for-workplace-mental-health/di-blueprint-for-workplace-mental-health.pdf
- **CA$2.18** - Median return where the programme has run 3 or more years
  Source: Deloitte Insights (Deloitte Canada), "The ROI in workplace mental health programs: Good for people, good for business", 2018. p. 2, Executive summary, "Key takeaways for decision-makers"
  https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/articles/2024/ca22901_blueprint-for-workplace-mental-health/di-blueprint-for-workplace-mental-health.pdf
- **$4.10** - Return at a single large Canadian employer
  Source: Deloitte Insights (Deloitte Canada), "The ROI in workplace mental health programs: Good for people, good for business", 2018. p. 8, FIGURE 5 "Bellʼs 2018 ROI on workplace mental health programs for every dollar invested"
  https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/articles/2024/ca22901_blueprint-for-workplace-mental-health/di-blueprint-for-workplace-mental-health.pdf
- **2.14** - Benefit cost ratio for Ontario transportation employers, 2013 to 2018
  Source: Institute for Work & Health, "Estimating the financial return on employers' investments in the prevention of work injuries in Ontario (Issue Briefing)", 2013 to 2018. Section "Study findings on return on OHS investments"
  https://www.iwh.on.ca/plain-language-summaries/estimating-financial-return-on-employers-investments-in-prevention-of-work-injuries-in-ontario
- **1.34** - Benefit cost ratio for Ontario construction employers
  Source: Institute for Work & Health, "Estimating the financial return on employers' investments in the prevention of work injuries in Ontario (Issue Briefing)", 2013 to 2018. Section "Study findings on return on OHS investments"
  https://www.iwh.on.ca/plain-language-summaries/estimating-financial-return-on-employers-investments-in-prevention-of-work-injuries-in-ontario
- **1.24** - Benefit cost ratio for Ontario manufacturing employers
  Source: Institute for Work & Health, "Estimating the financial return on employers' investments in the prevention of work injuries in Ontario (Issue Briefing)", 2013 to 2018. Section "Study findings on return on OHS investments"
  https://www.iwh.on.ca/plain-language-summaries/estimating-financial-return-on-employers-investments-in-prevention-of-work-injuries-in-ontario
- **19.4 days** - Average days off after a work related injury, before the policy
  Source: Institute for Work & Health, "Seven "principles" used in return-to-work policies and practices", pre 2012. Section "Seven Principles helps build successful RTW programs"
  https://iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/seven-principles-guidelines-used-in-return-to-work-policies-and-practices
- **10.9 days** - Average days off after the return to work policy
  Source: Institute for Work & Health, "Seven "principles" used in return-to-work policies and practices", 2012 to 2015. Section "Seven Principles helps build successful RTW programs"
  https://iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/seven-principles-guidelines-used-in-return-to-work-policies-and-practices
- **45% improvement** - Improvement against a peer group of 29 hospitals, which improved 25%
  Source: Institute for Work & Health, "Seven "principles" used in return-to-work policies and practices", 2012 to 2015. Section "Seven Principles helps build successful RTW programs"
  https://iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/seven-principles-guidelines-used-in-return-to-work-policies-and-practices
- **MD = 66.4; 95% CI 49.1, 83.7** - Days shorter claim duration under a shoulder care pathway
  Source: Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation (Springer), "Reducing Time Off Work Through an Integrated Care Pathway for Shoulder Injuries: Evidence from a Workers' Compensation Cohort Study", 2004 to 2018. Results, "Effect of Delivery of Care on RTW"; Table 1
  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-026-10409-4
- **1.8 times greater (95% CI 1.4, 2.3)** - Relative risk of returning to modified duties under the pathway
  Source: Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation (Springer), "Reducing Time Off Work Through an Integrated Care Pathway for Shoulder Injuries: Evidence from a Workers' Compensation Cohort Study", 2004 to 2018. Results, "Effect of Delivery of Care on RTW"; Table 2
  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-026-10409-4
- **RRRadj = 1.4, 95% CI 1.03, 1.8** - Raised risk of not returning to work when treatment is delayed
  Source: Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation (Springer), "Reducing Time Off Work Through an Integrated Care Pathway for Shoulder Injuries: Evidence from a Workers' Compensation Cohort Study", 2004 to 2018. Results, "Factors Associated with RTW"; Table 2
  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-026-10409-4
- **30% reduction** - Sustained reduction in soft tissue injuries at an Ontario utility
  Source: Institute for Work & Health, "Reduced soft-tissue injuries at Ontario utility attributed to work by ergonomics team set up during IWH study", 2016. Section "Decade later, research-based PE program still going strong"
  https://www.iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/reduced-soft-tissue-injuries-at-ontario-utility-attributed-to-work-by-ergonomics-team-set-up-during-iwh-study
- **9 of the 10 studies** - Participatory ergonomics studies reporting positive health effects
  Source: Institute for Work & Health, "Effectiveness of participatory ergonomics: summary of a systematic review", to 2005. Section "Results", "Effectiveness of PE interventions for improving health outcomes"
  https://www.iwh.on.ca/summaries/sharing-best-evidence/effectiveness-of-participatory-ergonomics
- **10.66** - Days absent per employee before the psychological health standard, 2008
  Source: Mental Health Commission of Canada, "Case Study Research Project: Early Findings Interim Report", 2008 to 2014. p. 9, "In The Spotlight TEGH"
  https://mentalhealthcommission.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/mhcc_casestudyinterimresults_en_final_1_0.pdf
- **6.55** - Days absent per employee after implementation, 2014
  Source: Mental Health Commission of Canada, "Case Study Research Project: Early Findings Interim Report", 2008 to 2014. p. 9, "In The Spotlight TEGH"
  https://mentalhealthcommission.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/mhcc_casestudyinterimresults_en_final_1_0.pdf
- **a 7% decrease** - Overall health care costs at the same organisation
  Source: Mental Health Commission of Canada, "Case Study Research Project: Early Findings Interim Report", 2011 to 2015. p. 9, "In The Spotlight TEGH"
  https://mentalhealthcommission.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/mhcc_casestudyinterimresults_en_final_1_0.pdf
- **-20%** - Reduction in mental health related short term disability claims
  Source: Deloitte Insights (Deloitte Canada), "The ROI in workplace mental health programs: Good for people, good for business", 2018. p. 8, FIGURE 6 "Key metrics at Bell"; restated p. 9
  https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/articles/2024/ca22901_blueprint-for-workplace-mental-health/di-blueprint-for-workplace-mental-health.pdf
- **-50%** - Reduction in relapse and reoccurrence of mental health short term disability
  Source: Deloitte Insights (Deloitte Canada), "The ROI in workplace mental health programs: Good for people, good for business", 2018. p. 8, FIGURE 6 "Key metrics at Bell"
  https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/articles/2024/ca22901_blueprint-for-workplace-mental-health/di-blueprint-for-workplace-mental-health.pdf
- **$232 million (5%) per year** - Annual reduction in the burden of illness attributable to physiotherapy
  Source: Deloitte LLP, prepared for Canadian Physiotherapy Association, "Economic Impact of Physiotherapy in Canada", 2022 (estimated). p. 3, Executive Summary (restated p. 4 and p. 44)
  https://physiotherapy.ca/app/uploads/2024/04/Deloitte-report_EN.pdf
- **decreased by 31%** - Referral MRI use under a shared care low back pathway
  Source: Canadian Journal of Surgery, "Improving spine surgical access, appropriateness and efficiency in metropolitan, urban and rural settings", 2017 publication. Abstract, Results
  https://www.canjsurg.ca/content/60/5/342
- **a mean of 6 (range 1-19) months compared with 38 days** - Wait to spine surgical assessment, before and after the pathway
  Source: Canadian Journal of Surgery, "Improving spine surgical access, appropriateness and efficiency in metropolitan, urban and rural settings", 2017 publication. Discussion, paragraph 1
  https://www.canjsurg.ca/content/60/5/342
- **from an average of 130 days to 69 days** - Wait to spine surgical assessment under a multidisciplinary pathway
  Source: Canadian Journal of Surgery, "Improving spine surgical access, appropriateness and efficiency in metropolitan, urban and rural settings", 2017 publication. Discussion, paragraph 1
  https://www.canjsurg.ca/content/60/5/342
- **30%** - Low back pain patients without red flags who still received imaging
  Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information, in collaboration with Choosing Wisely Canada, "Unnecessary Care in Canada", 2011 to 2012. p. 20 banner (restated p. 9 Key findings); Figure 1 p. 22
  https://www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/choosing-wisely-baseline-report-en-web.pdf
- **33% greater** - Increase in the probability of being off wage replacement benefits
  Source: Institute for Work & Health, "Integrating return-to-work principles in an occupational medicine service", 2013 to 2015. Section "Peer-reviewed article points to favourable RTW outcomes"
  https://iwh.on.ca/impact-case-studies/integrating-return-to-work-principles-in-occupational-medicine-service
- **200%** - Ontario prevention programme rebate, capped at 2× prior year premiums
  Source: Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), "Health and Safety Excellence program: Frequently asked questions", 2025. How are my rebates calculated? table footnote
  https://www.wsib.ca/en/health-and-safety-excellence-program-frequently-asked-questions
- **$1.23 per $100** - Average Ontario premium rate per $100 of insurable payroll, 2026
  Source: Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), "2026 premium rates", 2026. Opening paragraph
  https://www.wsib.ca/en/2026premiumrates
- **approximately 15%** - Maximum annual premium rate movement in Ontario
  Source: Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), "2026 premium rates", 2026. Understanding your 2026 rate(s)
  https://www.wsib.ca/en/2026premiumrates
- **up to 50%** - WorkSafeBC experience rating discount
  Source: WorkSafeBC, "How to reduce your premiums", 2026. How experience rating works
  https://www.worksafebc.com/en/insurance/know-coverage-costs/reduce-premiums
- **up to 100%** - WorkSafeBC experience rating surcharge
  Source: WorkSafeBC, "How to reduce your premiums", 2026. How experience rating works
  https://www.worksafebc.com/en/insurance/know-coverage-costs/reduce-premiums
- **10%** - British Columbia Certificate of Recognition incentive on base premiums
  Source: WorkSafeBC, "Incentives – Certificate of Recognition (COR)", 2026. Incentive amount, Additional details
  https://www.worksafebc.com/en/health-safety/create-manage/certificate-recognition/incentives
- **up to 40%** - WCB Alberta experience rating discount from the industry rate
  Source: WCB Alberta, "WCB-Alberta Pricing Guide", 2026. p. 3, "Experience rating plan for large employers"
  https://www.wcb.ab.ca/assets/pdfs/employers/2026_pricing_guide.pdf
- **effective January 1, 2024** - British Columbia duty to cooperate and duty to maintain employment
  Source: WorkSafeBC, "Employers: Duty to cooperate and duty to maintain employment", 2024. WCA ss. 154.2, 154.3
  https://www.worksafebc.com/en/law-policy/workers-compensation-law/amendments/bill-41-amendments-to-the-workers-compensation-act/employers-duty-to-cooperate-duty-to-maintain-employment
- **physical and mental well-being** - Quebec's employer general duty expressly covers mental well being
  Source: Éditeur officiel du Québec (Légis Québec), "Act respecting occupational health and safety, CQLR c. S-2.1, s. 51", amended 2021 c.27; 2024 c.4 s.341. s. 51, first paragraph
  https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/document/cs/s-2.1#se:51
- **1,079,188** - Canadian employer businesses with fewer than 100 employees
  Source: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (source: Statistics Canada Business Register), "Key Small Business Statistics 2025", December 2024. Table 2, row "1‒4 employees", Total column
  https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/sme-research-statistics/en/key-small-business-statistics/key-small-business-statistics-2025#t2

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