New Directions for WorkSafeBC?

It was over two years ago, just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, that a formal, independent review of BC's entire workers' compensation system was released. Led by Janet Patterson, a labour lawyer with a history of representing workers, the review would be a comprehensive look into the WorkSafeBC's compensation process.

The submitted report, entitled New Directions: Report of the WCB Review 2019, was seen by BCNU and other unions as a positive, significant step in the right direction for thousands of people who'd suffered injury at work and had struggled through a complicated and often discriminatory compensation process.

The Patterson Report is unique. Its terms of reference required an open, public consultation process, unlike previous reviews that heard primarily from regular stakeholders and insiders familiar with WorkSafeBC processes. The review involved a wide range of persons using a number of methods, including public hearings, written submissions, online responses and a range of party consultations. The report drew on numerous first-hand accounts from nurses and other workers, and presented a number of significant recommendations on how to best improve the compensation system so that it better serves the needs of employees around the province.

The Patterson review was years in the making, and widely seen as an ambitious undertaking. It was the first major review since the 2002 Winter Core Review and the legislative changes that followed under the previous Liberal government.

Now, three years after its release, BCNU President Aman Grewal says it's time to enact the Patterson Report recommendations.

"We want to see the recommendations, especially the legislative recommendations, be enacted," she says. "It is well known that nurses and health-care workers have among the highest injury rates in the province. The report is aimed at reflecting the needs of all injured workers."

After consulting over 200 presenters, the reviewers found that the existing WorkSafeBC process was extremely complex and often left out workers whose injuries or recovery fell outside the board's "pre-determined" guidelines.

They also raised concerns that WorkSafeBC often disregarded medical evidence, discriminated against workers who had difficulty understanding the board's legalistic decision letters, and made it hard for people who didn't speak English as a first language.

Reviewers also found that there was little communication between WorkSafeBC and an injured worker before a decision was made, that WorkSafeBC showed an overall lack of respect toward claimants, and that a complicated claims process often meant workers required legal counsel to help them navigate it. 

When it came to return to work (RTW) and vocational rehabilitation issues, the report recommended that WorkSafeBC adopt best practices RTW guidelines that include providing established training for staff whose disability was being accommodated or who were receiving disability management services. It also recommended that WorkSafeBC initiate vocational rehabilitation programs for immigrants, older workers and younger workers.

Recognizing workers' long-standing lack of confidence in WorkSafeBC, the report's authors recommended that a Fair Practices Commission independent of the WorkSafeBC board be created to address both individual complaints and systemic issues.

The report addressed workers' mistrust in WorkSafeBC-arranged medical exams by recommending the creation of a Medical Services Office that would look at individual cases and arrange medical exams from a roster of approved physicians.

By and large, the review process validated what many injured workers have known for years – that a more "worker-centric" delivery system would provide injured claimants with the services and assistance they need and with the respect and dignity that they deserve.

PANDEMIC MEANS REFORM MORE URGENT THAN EVER

In the more than two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, it's been hard to miss the devastating toll the crisis has taken on nurses who've been on the frontlines of the health-care system, and providing care under challenging circumstances. The stress and strain of COVID-19 has only been compounded by crushing workloads, fear of violence, dangerous working conditions, and a crippling staff shortage.

The spike in nurses' mental health claims is proof to this unfortunate reality. WorkSafeBC claims rose 58 percent over the last two years, to 784 during the height of the pandemic in 2021.

"Nurses have been working incredibly hard throughout this pandemic and they have reached a breaking point," says Grewal. "In fact, our latest internal survey conducted last spring found 83 percent of nurses said their mental health had suffered because of the pandemic."

Grewal says supporting nurses' mental and physical health remains BCNU's top priority, and it's one of the main reasons she wants the government to implement the legislative changes recommended in the New Direction report.

For Grewal, the report hits close to home. During the review process, she lent her own, personal story as a worker with a disability – one of several BCNU members who took part in consultations.

Grewal told Janet Patterson about the difficulties she faced when trying to make a WorkSafeBC claim after suffering a serious back injury at work.

"I injured my back in 2009 and again in 2012 and had to undergo multiple surgeries after that as a result," says Grewal. "I was off work for a number of months and was in pain and unable to walk. On top of all that, I found myself having to deal with the complicated, frustrating and demoralizing task of having to navigate the WorkSafeBC process."

Grewal says explaining her traumatic experience to Patterson made her feel acknowledged, and she was pleased that her story was included in the final report.

"I felt listened to," she says. "When you're an injured person and facing financial hardship because of your condition, the last thing that should happen is for WorkSafeBC to treat you as a case number and not as a human being."

BCNU has a particularly good track record when it comes to WorkSafeBC advocacy and has spent years speaking on behalf of nurses who've suffered injury at work.

In the summer of 2019, the union was invited to Victoria to participate in an in-person hearing while the Patterson Review was underway to give an impassioned presentation on the union's commitment to keep nurses safe through increased awareness, violence prevention measures, and ensuring the principles, tools and guidelines that make up the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety were implemented in workplaces across the province.

BCNU had recently been successful in its hard-fought win to have nurses included in the list of eligible occupations that have the presumption of a workplace mental injury. This was a big gain for the union and for nurses as it finally recognized that the predominant cause test that had been applied to mental disorder claims discriminated against workers suffering from psychological injuries.

THE PUSH CONTINUES

Today, it is more important than ever that the New Directions recommendations be enacted. To this end, BCNU's senior leaders met with Labour Minister Harry Bains this April to reaffirm the union's position that workers be listened to and that the report recommendations be enacted.

 During the meeting, Grewal brought the perspective of both a union president and a worker with a disability who is committed to speaking for others who don't have the platform to bring about change.

"It's very difficult having to jump through all the hoops you have to go through to fight for yourself, when you are already injured," says Grewal. "I realized that there must be thousands of nurses that have gone through the same thing, so I'm sharing my story with the hope that government will listen, and things will change."

Grewal has a simple message for those injured nurses who are dreaming of one day returning to the job they love – but are currently wading through a WorkSafeBC process that lacks empathy.

"Involve BCNU as much as you can and just advocate, advocate, advocate." •

UPDATE (Spring 2022)