St. John’s, NL – WorkplaceNL remained fully-funded at December 31, 2022 and met all of its strategic objectives in the areas of client service, leadership in workplace injury prevention, financial sustainability and claims management. Its 2022 Annual Performance Report is now available.
Throughout the year, WorkplaceNL announced the 2023-28 workplace injury prevention strategy, expanded digital services for injured workers and employers, launched a Traumatic Psychological Injury Program for workers, helped high-risk employers develop safe work practices, and began to inform small employers about changes to the PRIME program.
WorkplaceNL developed key performance indicators of the supports provided to workers as they transition back to the workforce – 2018-22 Labour Market Re-entry Activity results are now online.
The Injury Fund was 116.2 per cent funded at December 31, 2022, which means it can cover the future costs of all claims in the system. This is down from 132.3 per cent in 2021 primarily due to investment losses from financial market volatility.
Also, a $0.21 discount on the average assessment rate paid by employers contributed to reducing the surplus in the fund. The discount was added in 2019 per the stakeholder-agreed funding policy as a way to bring the fund to its targeted 110 per cent funded position over 15 years. Volatility in the financial markets may result in the discount being removed earlier than expected.
In 2022, the number of new claims increased to 4,760 (2021: 4,407), primarily due to an increase in COVID-19 claims. Claims costs increased to $195.0 million (2021: $177.8 million). Short-term claim duration decreased to 42 days (2021: 50 days).
“Our Board of Directors commit to ensuring that the employer-funded, no-fault workplace injury compensation system can provide benefits to injured workers for years to come,” said John Peddle, Chair, WorkplaceNL Board of Directors. “Our continued efforts to support injured workers as they return to, or recover at work where medically possible, is helping mitigate the impact of rising claims costs on the system and helping workers get back to doing the things they enjoy.”
Peddle continued, “I thank all workers, employers and stakeholders for their contributions to build a strong safety culture in our province. The lost-time injury rate remained at 1.5 per 100 workers – one of the lowest in Canada. I look forward to our collaboration to bring the rate even lower and more workers safely home.”
More info: WorkplaceNL
