RICHMOND, B.C. – Motor vehicle incidents (MVI) are the leading cause of traumatic workplace deaths in British Columbia, according to WorkSafe BC.

The agency says work-related MVI’s account for one-third of all work-related traumatic deaths in the province.

In an average year that means 21 workers are killed while driving on the job, and another 1, 339 are required to miss work due to an MVI-related injury.

From 2012 to 2016 the transportation and warehousing sector had 34% of crashes overall, with work-place related injury claims from the trucking industry accounting for 14% of all MVI claims.

When combined with the service sector and the construction industry these claims made up 75% of all MVI-related workplace injury claims.

Injury claims may have a longer-term impact on fleets says Mark Ordeman WorkSafe BC’s acting manager of Industry and Labour Services for transportation and occupational road safety.

“When workers are injured in a motor vehicle crash, they are typically more severely injured and off work longer than workers injured at work in other ways. Taking steps to reduce the risks to your drivers will help you keep your workers safer, your costs down and your vehicles [and] trucks on the road,” he said.

WorkSafe BC and its partners are aiming to change those statistics through educational events like Road Safety at Work Week, scheduled for March 5 to 9.

Organizations or teams are encouraged to participate in activities for the week, and are eligible to win a prize of $250. A certificate of participation will be issued to every team that registers online and reports their activities by March 19.