Monday, September 13, 2010

Are your Workplace Safety and Insurance Board concerns being heard?

The Fair Practices Commission released their 2009 Annual Report.

The Fair Practices Commission is an independent office working to promote and ensure fair practices in the workplace safety and insurance system in Ontario. The Fair Practices Commission is an Ombudsman for the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board(WSIB).

There are three main goals of the Fair Practices Commission:

• To listen to the concerns that injured workers, employers, and service providers have
• To resolve fairness issues quickly
• To identify recurring trends and system-wide issues and report them to the WSIB with recommendations for improvements.

The top 10 ranking of complaints by subject in 2009:

1. benefits
2. health care
3. return to work
4. labour market re-entry
5. appeals process
6. non economic loss
7. employer assessment issues
8. expenses
9. permanent disability
10. loss of earning (LOE) 72 month review

According to the Commission one of the most common concerns is that WSIB has taken too long to make a decision, to send a written decision, or respond to calls or letters.

If you have concerns about the WSIB you can contact the Fair Practices Commission at 1-866-258-4383 and tell them your WSIB concerns or online.