All Canadians are entitled to work in a healthy and safe environment, yet every year work-related injuries and diseases cause nearly 1,000 deaths in companies and organizations.
Prevention is, without a doubt, one of the keys to reducing work-related injuries and diseases and creating healthy work environments. Prevention means identifying dangers and eliminating risks and/or minimizing them as much as possible. Prevention of injuries and diseases requires close cooperation between employers and their employees. Prevention is everybody’s business.
As an employee, you have a key role to play in preventing work-related injuries and diseases. First, you have to be careful and take the necessary precautions to ensure your own health and safety and that of any colleagues who may be affected by your work or activities. Nobody knows a workplace better than the people who work in it, so Part II of the Codegives the workplace parties—the employers and employees—a strong role in identifying and resolving health and safety concerns.
Health and safety committees and representatives play a vital role in preventing work-related injuries and diseases, and are an important part of what is called the internal responsibility system. This system, based on cooperation between employers and employees, improves the overall understanding of occupational health and safety issues in the workplace.
The Canada Labour Code also provides a specific dispute resolution mechanism called the internal complaint resolution process. Employers and employees must follow this process to resolve occupational health and safety problems and disputes. Both the internal responsibility system and the internal complaint resolution process require extensive participation by the health and safety committees and representatives.
Your Health and Safety representatives for each area are : Sudbury - Lise Orsini Manitoulin - Karen McGraw Espanola - Lynn Trudeau
The team meets 4 times a year at the Joint Health and Safety Committee to discuss health and safety related concerns throughout the board. If you have any concerns bring it forth and contact your representative in your area as soon as possible.
WSIB
A worker who is injured at work or becomes sick because of his/her job should:
Get first aid immediately, or health care if needed.
Tell your employer about the accident or illness as soon as possible.
When can I make a claim for WSIB benefits? As a worker, you can claim benefits for a work-related accident or illness if you have:
received health care, and/or
lost time or wages from work beyond the day of accident/illness, or
continued to work but on partial hours only.
If you had to do different work due to the accident/ illness for more than seven days and did not see a health professional, you can also make a claim.
What is a Worker’s Report of Injury/Disease (Form 6)? You must fill out a Form 6. This is a WSIB form that the worker completes and sends to the WSIB after a work-related injury or illness. It is a way for you to tell the details of what happened to cause the injury or illness. It also provides WSIB with information needed to make decisions about and process your claim. This form is different from the accident incident report that you fill out for the school board. When you complete and submit the Form 6, it tells WSIB that you are claiming for benefits for a work-related accident.
There is a time limit for you to report. It is important to claim benefits as soon as possible. You have six months from the date of the accident to claim benefits or, for occupational diseases, from the time you learn of the disease. If you have incurred a workplace injury please make sure to report it to your employer. Please contact Lorie St.Amand for assistance in dealing with WSIB, RTW and Accomodated work plans.