Frequently Asked Questions
If someone has symptoms and decides to stay at home, how should we clean the area where this person worked before we can assign someone to the same spot?
Sanitize and disinfect all potential areas the person has had contact with. We recommend the use of a hospital-grade disinfectant.
If the employer was cooperating and reaching out continuously but the worker is not cooperating and just stops responding altogether, how does Bill 41 apply if the worker has only been employed for 5 months? And of those 5 months, 3 months have been with continuous employment and 2 months on leave?
Ale (KSW Lawyer): The Duty to Cooperate is reciprocal. Employees also have a duty to communicate with the employer and WorkSafeBC. Failure to do so puts them at risk of losing claim benefits. The Duty to Cooperate is applicable to cases where a worker is disabled from earning full wages, even if they were employed for only five months prior to the injury. The Duty to Cooperate continues throughout the claim, or as long as the employment relationship exists. Meanwhile, the Duty to Maintain Employment does not apply, since 12 months of continuous full or part-time employment is required to trigger these obligations.If we have a sub-contractor coming into our plant with two workers, and we have one worker on site, would the sub-contractor need to have one worker with first aid in addition to our first aid?
The contractor is responsible to ensure first aid is provided to their workers. If the plant only has one worker, the plant is unlikely to require a first aid attendant. Yes, as the owner and de facto prime of the workplace the plant employer has a responsibility to ensure appropriate first aid is provided, but the level of first aid required by the contractor might be different than the level provided by the plant, in which case it is on the contractor to ensure an appropriate assessment is conducted and first aid services provided.If we see claims cost after the three-year mark, does the cost get absorbed into the CU base rate?
This is where the history comes in. Once the claim costs leave the 3-year window, it will get bucketed with the history (also referred to as experience rating factor).If you were to have 3 positive workers, would the whole company automatically be shut down or does WorkSafe decide if you can or cannot stay open?
Assessed by your regional health authority. A medical health officer working with the contact tracing team will gather further information in most cases before applying this. If people have acquired infection outside the workplace, and its not thought to be transmission in the workplace, this would not necessarily apply. In some cases, if a workplace is deemed critical to some public functions; food processing, which many of your are part of, their are exceptions to this. This is not automatic that the case count will make a workplace close, but it is the direction from the province that the closures will proceed in the absence of those criteria.I’m a 40+ age group person, I have registered online, do I wait for a call back or do I just go to a pharmacy and book an appointment to get vaccinated?
The fastest route to getting vaccinated for you right now is to book with a participating pharmacy. A complete list of participating pharmacies can be found here: http://www.bcpharmacy.ca/resource-centre/covid-19/vaccination-locationsIn our RTW program, we lose weeks of a worker being away as we have difficulty engaging case managers. Is there more we can do to reduce the financial impact?
Ensure that your workers are well educated in what recovery at work and return to work looks like so there is less of a learning curve when they are actually injured and trying to navigate the system. If they buy-in and understand what to do, it should help communication from all parties with WorkSafeBC. Second, if you follow-up with a case manager and you are not hearing back from them, you may improve those chances by being as detailed as you can when you leave messages so they best know how to answer your question when they respond. You can always ask to speak to case manager’s manager. To do this, ask for their phone number and do not worry that you will upset them, as this is standard protocol, and everyone is well aware and supportive of that approach, as needed. Last, contact the Claims Nurse Line for guidance. This is an employer support line that is managed by a registered nurse team of experts in occupational injury and return to work programs. The nurses provide a clinical perspective that is separate from claims entitlement and prevention issues and focuses on early intervention and offers of modified work. Phone: 604.279.8155 (Lower Mainland) Toll-free: 1.877.633.6233 Hours of operation: Monday to Friday (excluding holidays), 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. If none of these options are working, try the Employer’s Advisors office to see if they can better support you.In regards to employee’s privacy, what information must we give other employees who may now be exposed to someone who got sick? How do we handle the rest of the staff if one worker does get sick?
Employers are expected to follow OHSR5.2 and OHSR5.59 in relation to COVID-19 exposure in their workplace.
People who public health has determined are infected with COVID-19 will be monitored by their local public health office, which will conduct contact tracing and provide them with advice as to treatment, self-isolation, and eventual return to work.
Being considered to be infected with COVID-19 is a medical diagnosis, which is personal information. The employer will need to follow directions provided by public health, if a public health officer advises them that a person who is or has been present at the workplace is an infected person and requests that the employer report the contact information, if known, of each person who may have been exposed to the infected person, and consider their privacy law obligations.
In regards to recent recommendations to wear a non-medical, cloth mask when social distancing can’t always be maintained in public, can you comment on this as it relates to the manufacturing workplace?
We recommend developing policy based on the evolving guidance provided by the relevant authorities. WorkSafeBC will continue to refer to the BC Centre for Disease Control and the Public Health Agency of Canada for guidance.
In the case of vulnerable populations who want to return to work – can the employer request the employees DO NOT Retrun to work
This is a policy matter; consult with HR and obtain legal advice.
In the case of vulnerable populations who want to return to work – can the employer request the employees DO NOT Retrun to work
This is a policy matter; consult with HR and obtain legal advice.
In the new First Aid Assessment: Group 2 says you’re less accessible if you meet one of the non-accessible requirements. But there is an option to have alternative provisions to move the worker to an accessible area. In any of the less accessible situations you will be/already are required to have procedures to rescue that worker, which would then mean you have alternative provisions. Wouldn’t this mean no workplace will fall into this category?
All three conditions must be met to be considered "not less accessible." Workplaces that are remote or that cannot readily be reached by an ambulance travelling by land, or where BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) cannot safety access such as back country, down steep embankments, rough terrain, where high risk of avalanche, flood, etc. exist, will fall in this category regardless if the workplace has alternative provisions in place to safety rescue workers from hazardous areas. Workplaces where workers may be working in hazardous areas should be considered less accessible, unless:- The workplace is not remote, nor otherwise less accessible, and
- The employer has developed alternative provisions to safely rescue workers in accordance with the requirements of section 4.13 of the Regulation. For the purpose of this section, “safely rescue” will be taken to mean:
- Moving the injured worker from the hazardous area to an area accessible to BCEHS in a way that will not cause additional injury or further exacerbate pre-existing injuries or illnesses. This will generally include packaging and transporting an injured worker in accordance with the practices taught in the transportation endorsement course, unless impractical to do so (for example, for workers working in a bucket truck that can be lowered to the ground, or workers working in confined spaces who remain on a harness that allows them to be pulled from the hazardous area)
- Where practicable to do so, and without putting the first aid attendant at unreasonable risk, nor delaying transport to an area accessible to BCEHS, provide immediate and on-going first aid to the injured worker during the rescue. The level of first aid provided during rescue should be sufficient to address injuries likely to arise in the less-accessible area.