OTTAWA — Blue-collar workers unsurprisingly get hurt at work far more often than other employees.

Of those, workers employed in the trades, transport and equipment operation sectors were four times more likely to sustain an injury than workers in “white collar” jobs like business, finance, administration, education, according to a new study by Stats Canada. Nearly 1 worker in 10 (9 percent) in trades and transport suffered at least one work-related injury.

About one third of all workplace injuries involve the hand

Among the workers at highest risk were machinists and metal formers and shapers, 13 percent of whom suffered an injury in 2003.

An estimated 630,000 Canadians — nearly three-quarters of them men — sustained at least one non-fatal activity-limiting injury at work in 2003.

The study, published today in Health Reports, says that workplace injuries represented a substantial share of all injuries. Among employed adults who experienced at least one activity-limiting injury in 2003, 28 percent said their most serious injury occurred at work.

Nearly 28 percent of all work-related injuries in 2003 involved the hand, followed by the lower back (16%).

The most frequent type of occupational injury was a sprain or strain, followed by cuts, then fractures.

About 6 percent of men aged 18 to 34 suffered a work-related injury, compared with 5.4 percent of men aged 35 to 44, the next highest-risk group. At older ages, the risk of work injury declined even more.

Long hours also took a toll. The odds of injury were 40 percent higher for men who worked 45 to 79 hours a week than they were for those who worked less than 35 hours a week. The odds of injury were nearly double for those working 80 or more hours a week.