We have created an interactive tool to help people understand the human and economic cost of preventable injuries.

The website, costofinjury.ca, has data detailing the human cost of injury, including deaths, hospitalizations, and emergency department visits, as well as the economic costs of injury on the health care system and society. Interactive charts and graphs illustrate just how severe this problem is in BC. The tool provides costs by BC Health Authority.

The report is based on 2018 data. The total economic cost of injury in BC in 2018 (direct and indirect costs) was $4.3 billion. This is equivalent to $4.8 billion in 2022, after accounting for inflation. This includes $2.7 billion in direct health care costs—costs related to diagnosis, treatment, continuing care, rehabilitation, ambulance transportation, hospital costs, and emergency care costs ($3.1 billion in 2022 dollars). In other words, each day, an average of $7.4 million is spent on treatment of injuries to British Columbians ($8.4 million in 2022 dollars).

The tool is modelled on the Cost of Injury in Canada interactive report, published by Parachute, the national injury prevention organization, in collaboration with the BCIRPU. Data currently exists for British Columbia and Atlantic Canada, with the potential for more provinces to be added in the future.

Access the tool at costofinjury.ca.