Rates are down and investment is up.

That's the latest news from the Yukon Workers' Compensation Health and Safety Board, which announced its 2012 assessment rates at an information meeting Thursday afternoon.

Though this is the third year in a row assessment rates have dropped, this year is notable because they will be felt in all nine rate groups, which will receive decreases ranging from five per cent to 22 per cent. The average reduction is 13.4 per cent.

"All Yukon industries will be paying less for their workers' compensation coverage next year,” said board president Valerie Royle.

"The prime reasons are improvement in safety practices in workplaces in the territory and good return-to-work outcomes. If someone is injured, we are able to get them back to work again. We are preventing disability, and that leads to lower rates.”

A number of other factors go into the calculation of rates as well. Those include claims costs in the past, and projecting payroll, factors which lead the board of directors to set an average target assessment rate for 2012 at $2.39 compared to $2.49 in 2011.

As the Yukon becomes a safer place to work, it's also becoming an increasingly popular place to do business.

Six hundred new employers have set up shop in the territory this year, a growth rate more than double any the board has seen before.

The growth was felt mostly in the construction and mining industries.

Year-end projections estimate that there were also approximately 2,600 more workers hired this year than 2010, with assessable payroll expected to reach the $1-billion mark for the first time in Yukon history.

Even with the growth, the board says that lost time injury rates are expected to stay the same or drop below 2010 levels of about 2.2 injuries for every 100 covered workers.

New this year, the Public Accommodations and Service category — a section which includes hotels, motels and bed and breakfasts — has been moved from the high risk service level to the medium risk category. That ushers in a 47 per cent rate drop from $3.06 per $100 of payroll in 2011 to $1.61 in 2012.

Industries such as air services, metal mining, outfitting and adventure tourism will see a decrease of 12 per cent this year. Office workers, power operators and communication workers will see an 11 per cent reduction. The biggest plunge this year is in the construction industry, which is set to go down by 22 per cent.

But behind the rate tumbles is a far more important figure — the territory's annual workplace injuries, which had reached 1,043 by this morning.

"Our goal is not to lower our assessment rates,” said Royle. "Our goal is to prevent disabilities. And when we do it in an efficient manner in a well-run system, you are going to get lower rates, and this announcement demonstrates that.”

The board's message to Yukon employers is simple: "Investing in safety pays and investing in return to work pays, and what you'll see today is that it pays financially and from a human perspective as well,” Royle said.

By MAX LEIGHTON

Star Reporter