HALIFAX, NS - WCB Nova Scotia’s latest community report portrays an organization doing business differently, in order to better protect the Nova Scotia workforce from the impact of both physical and psychological workplace injury

Detailed in WCB’s latest Report to the Community, the WCB spent the second quarter of 2024 getting ready to support workers and employers who experience a gradual onset psychological injury – which usually means someone is being bullied or harassed at work.

Among other improvements, an enhanced service model aligns with new service level agreements under the Protect More Strategic Plan, holding the WCB accountable to providing exceptional service, returning calls quickly, and better decisions issued faster.

“The review report was clear about the opportunities to improve our service. We were already on a path to improvement, and those improvements will continue,” says Karen Adams, WCB Chief Executive Officer.

In the first two quarters of 2024:

WCB exceeded its goal for quicker claims decisions, with 64 per cent of decisions made within seven days, outpacing the 60 per cent target at year’s end. All of the WCB’s service metrics are significantly above year-end 2023, and tracking to target for 2024.
Injury prevention progress also continued its decline, ending the second quarter at 1.39 injuries per 100 covered workers. While still too many, that number was 3.0 Nova Scotians injured per 100 covered workers when the WCB first became responsible for injury prevention.
Return to work outcomes were not met. Time-loss days per 100 covered workers increased by two days from the previous quarter, from 259 to 261, moving away from the target of 235 per 100 covered workers by the end of 2024.

While there has been progress in prevention, when people are hurt, they are off work due to injury in Nova Scotia far longer than anywhere else in Canada.

“This is the problem in Nova Scotia – too many people are off work for too long, and too many of them go on to receive long-term benefits, often for life,” says Adams. “We all want the same thing. We want Nova Scotians working.”

Most workplace injuries in Nova Scotia are sprains or strains, and that’s why WCB is focused on the first 30 days after those physical injuries – the most critical period in determining return-to-work outcomes.

As part of that, the WCB is also increasing its oversight of service provider contracts, and ensuring employers do their part in bringing workers back to work wherever possible.

The new duty to cooperate requirement recently introduced under the legislative changes, effective next year, will also be a big step forward, Adams says.

“We’re changing how we show up for Nova Scotians, and we’re doing it now.” Adams says. “That’s what the workforce of tomorrow needs from all of us.”

WCB of Nova Scotia: New service for a new type of workplace injury

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