Regulations under this Act:
R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1011 First aid requirements
The purpose of this Act is to:
1. Promote health and safety in workplaces and to prevent and reduce the occurrence of workplace injuries and occupational diseases.
2. Facilitate the return to work and recovery of workers who sustain personal injury arising out of and in the course of employment or who suffer from an occupational disease.
3. Facilitate the re-entry into the labour market of workers and spouses of deceased workers.
4. Provide compensation and other benefits to workers and to the survivors of deceased workers.
The Act is administered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), formerly known as the Workers’ Compensation Board. The Board’s mandate is to promote health and safety in workplaces and to prevent and reduce the occurrence of workplace injuries and occupational diseases. To accomplish this mandate, the Board’s functions include promoting awareness of occupational health and safety by providing education programs for employers, workers and other persons, developing standards for the certification of persons and accreditation of employers who meet the standards, and developing standards for first aid training in the workplace. The WSIB oversees the Province’s workplace safety education and training system that covers about 229,000 employers and their 4 million workers.
The Act governs the administration of the Province’s workers’ compensation insurance system through the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. The insurance fund is wholly financed through premiums paid by employers of all industries to provide workers with guaranteed compensation for accepted claims. As part of this system, the WSIB provides disability benefits, monitors the quality of health care and assists in early, safe return to work for workers injured on the job or who contract an occupational disease
The insurance plan applies to all workers except those who are either:
(a) persons whose employment by an employer is of a casual nature and who are employed otherwise than for the purposes of the employer’s industry; or
(b) persons to whom articles or materials are given out to be made up, cleaned, washed, altered, ornamented, finished, repaired or adapted for sale in the person’s own home or on other premises not under the control or management of the person who gave out the articles or materials.
In situations of injury to the above workers, the worker would have to seek damages through court proceedings if the employer was deemed to be negligent.
The Board may, upon application, declare that any of the following persons is deemed to be a worker and, therefore, is eligible for insurance benefits: an independent operator, a sole proprietor, or a partner in a partnership conducting business. In any of these cases, an optional insurance policy available through the WSIB must be in effect. As in any insurance plan, certain occupations or working conditions may be subject to conditions or limitations affecting benefits and premiums.
The Act also addresses worker rehabilitation and the duties of both employer and worker to enable a timely and safe return to work. The employer’s responsibilities in this regard include maintaining ongoing communication with the worker throughout the recovery period and, when the worker is able to return to the workplace, attempting to provide suitable employment that is available and consistent with the worker’s functional abilities and that, when possible, restores the worker’s pre-injury earnings. The worker, in turn, has a responsibility to assist the employer in identifying suitable employment that is available and consistent with the worker’s functional abilities and that, when possible, restores their pre-injury earnings.
When the worker is medically able to perform the essential duties of his or her pre-injury employment, the employer shall either offer to re-employ the worker in the position that held on the date of injury or offer to provide alternative employment of a nature and at earnings comparable to the worker’s employment on the date of injury. If necessary, the employer shall make accommodations in the work or at the workplace for the worker to the extent that the accommodation does not cause the employer undue hardship