Young, T. (June 6, 2016). Call for WorkSafeBC rebates is premature. Vancouver Sun. Retrieved from: http://vancouversun.com/opinion/letters/june-6-lng-right-to-die-poverty-worksafe.
Re: WorkSafeBC rebate for business owners is overdue, Opinion, May 30
Laura Jones’ argument that WorkSafeBC should rebate business owners due to “overfunding” falls flat. A likely source of the “overfunding” is the numbers of injury claims WorkSafeBC denied workers over 2014 and 2015.
WorkSafeBC revealed 146,814 injuries were reported by workers in 2013. WorkSafeBC disallowed 8.6 per cent of claims. There is no data about claims accepted or disallowed for 2014 or 2015, a serious oversight in terms of transparency and accountability.
Another concern is that one per cent of WorkSafeBC decisions on denied worker injury claims were overturned at the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal (WCAT) “due to perceived error in the application of legislation or policy.” This is an increase over 2014 numbers.
As a registered social worker and counsellor I have assisted people injured or disabled in the workplace and many have been failed by the system, often leaving these workers and their families in crisis.
The B.C. Supreme Court recently ordered WorkSafeBC to reopen and investigate a claim they denied where a man was bullied, demeaned and harassed by a supervisor. How many other such claims has WorkSafeBC denied? Until they report this, it is premature to talk about rebates for employers.
Tracey Young, Catalyst Enterprises BC: Counselling, Consulting, Coaching
#WorkSafeBC #workplacesafety #occupationalsafety #OHS #bcworkplaces
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