Do you know how to effectively manage a WorkSafeBC claim?

Accidents happen! If an incident occurs in your workplace, it is important to follow the appropriate steps to ensure the safety of your staff and to comply with WorkSafeBC Worker’s Compensation Act.

All employers are required to make every reasonable effort to accommodate ill or injured workers, and to help with this we recommend you develop a return to work plan. This plan will help reduce absenteeism, improve employee morale and productivity, and reduce costs for your business.

Initial Steps

Incident Investigations
Employers must complete a preliminary investigation within 48 hours of an incident to:

• Determine interim corrective actions, prepare a corrective action report.
• Complete a full investigation and submit a report to WorkSafeBC within 30 days of the incident.
• Determine final corrective actions as appropriate and prepare a final corrective action report.

Stop Work Order
A stop work order will be considered when an employer is unable to quickly remedy the issues of concern, and other measures are insufficient to protect workers in that workplace.

• The duration of a stop work order will vary from minutes to hours to days depending on the circumstances.
• WorkSafeBC may cancel a stop work order as soon as the employer has remedied the unsafe working or workplace conditions and a stop work order is no longer required to protect workers.
• This can be applied to other work sites rather than just the worksite for the incident occurred.

Injunction Powers
WorkSafeBC can apply to the British Columbia Supreme Court to:

• Prevent a person from working in an industry, or in an activity in an industry, indefinitely or until further order of the Court.

Getting your employee back to work!

Return to work plan tips:

• Find alternate duties for an employee in case the injury prevents them from fulfilling their original job requirements.
• Ensure all workers and managers know what the expectation is when an injury occurs.
• Consider having a point person for all WCB-related communication.

Steps to manage a WorkSafeBC claim

• Report the injury to WorkSafeBC as soon as possible.
• Determine if a health care practitioner is required to fill out paperwork in order to help determine employee medical restrictions.
• Keep communication open with the injured employee.
• Define the specific duties, expected duration and progression of the worker’s return to work plan.
• Develop a strong relationship with the WorkSafeBC claims manager. Communicate any concerns/issues regarding the availability of diagnostics or medical treatments, the suitability of specific accommodations, and/or the worker’s refusal to participate in a transitional return to work plan.

The WorkSafeBC website contains information and tools for small business.

Remember, never stop managing the claim! It isn’t just up to the doctors and WorkSafeBC to get your employee back to work. For more information on this topic please refer to the Association of Workers Compensation Boards of Canada.