Newly released figures today by BC Building Trades shows a total of 39 construction workers died in 2023, which is the latest available annual count.
This includes 17 workers who died from trauma, and 22 who later died from exposure.
The annual death tolls in the construction industry are compiled one year after the fact. Statistics for 2024 will be made available in early January 2026.
“It is deeply disheartening to see another year where the death toll in the construction industry is so high,” said Brynn Bourke, executive director of the BC Building Trades Council.
“We as a province and an industry need to do better,” said Bourke. “Those 39 construction workers went to work to provide for their families and build this province. They deserved to come home alive, with their health and safety intact.”
This follows the 54 workers who died in 2022, marking the highest annual death toll in BC’s construction industry in 35 years.
There have been some major construction crane incidents in recent years, including the death of five people following a crane collapse in downtown Kelowna in 2021 and the crane collapse that killed one worker at the Oakridge Park mall project in Vancouver in early 2024. There was also a significant fire and crane collapse at a residential building project on West 41st Avenue near Dunbar Street in Vancouver in August 2024, but there were no fatalities.
According to WorkSafeBC, there were 22 crane safety incidents between 2019 and 2023.
BC Building Trades Council is calling for significant safety improvements in the local construction industry, including universal access to the appropriate personal protective equipment, more workplace safety inspections, improved regulations on safety training, and higher penalties for companies that break the rules.