LAWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

COVID-19

BC confirmed that a case of the BA.2.86 variant of the Omicron strain of COVID-19 has been reported in the Fraser Health region in a patient who hasn’t travelled outside the province. This is the first reported case of BA.2.86 in Canada.

Action Point: Use the OHSI Infection Exposure Control Plan template to prevent infectious illnesses at your workplace

Airborne Contaminants

WorkSafeBC began accepting applications for asbestos abatement licences ahead of the new OHS regulations requiring asbestos abatement contractors to be licensed by January 1, 2024.

Action Point: Implement an Asbestos Exposure Control Plan at your workplace

Workplace Violence

From now through October 30, WorkSafeBC will hold public consultations on proposed changes to OHS workplace violence and harassment regulations. Highlights:

• New combined definition of violence and harassment as conduct reasonably expected to intimidate, humiliate, offend or cause physical or psychological harm to a worker
• New employer duty to implement a violence and harassment prevention program
• New process to resolve incidents without an investigation when the accused is somebody from within the organization
• New incident investigation requirements.

Action Point: Use the extensive resources on the OHSI Workplace Violence Compliance Center to protect your workers from violence and harassment

Workers Comp

That’s the deadline to comment on an MOL proposal to add new “gig worker” protections to the BC Employment Standards Act covering app-based ride-hailing and food delivery workers, including with regard to workers comp coverage, as well as fair pay, destination transparency and the termination process.

Mental Stress

That’s the deadline to comment on WorkSafeBC proposed policy changes clarifying how it will determine if work-related stressors count as mental stress covered by workers comp. While workers’ subjective beliefs count, the standard will also consider whether a reasonable person in the worker’s situation would expect to find the event traumatic or the work-related stressor significant.

Action Point: Find out about workers comp coverage of PTSD and mental stress

Workers Comp

That’s the last day to comment on proposed changes to WorkSafeBC policies governing when cancer may be considered a “compensable consequence” of a traumatic injury covered by workers comp based on new medical studies about the disease and its link to traumatic injuries.

CASES

Workplace Violence: Hospital’s Failure to Protect Doctor from Patient Attack Is Not Negligence

A psychiatrist who suffered devastating injuries as a result of being attacked by an inpatient at a mental health hospital sued the facility’s operator for negligently failing to address the risk of violence by patients citing, among other things, its failure to perform a workplace violence risk assessment. The trial court was unimpressed finding that a hazard assessment wouldn’t have made any difference and that the psychiatrist knew the patient was violent and voluntarily assumed the risk by agreeing to meet with him alone. Faulting the hospital for not adopting a policy banning doctors from visiting violent patients without accompaniment would potentially interfere with proper psychiatric care, the court reasoned. The BC Court of Appeal found the lower court’s reluctance to author a new standard of care for psychiatric treatment without expert evidence reasonable and refused to overturn it [Sheoran v. Interior Health Authority, 2023 BCCA 318 (CanLII), August 8, 2023].

Action Point: Implement a workplace violence and harassment compliance game plan at your site

Ergonomics: Court Second Guesses WCB for Denying Nurse’s Tendonitis Claim

A registered nurse appealed the WCB’s decision to deny her benefits for wrist tendonitis she said she suffered as a result of having to use a keyboard, mouse and telephone in an unsuitably-configured work station. The WCAT nixed the appeal on the basis of a video the nurse was asked to make demonstrating the postures she used while doing the work. But the nurse got the last laugh when the BC court ruled that it was “patently unreasonable” to rely on a video that didn’t simulate any of her real work conditions, especially since the WCB medical didn’t conduct his own assessment of the nurse [Rear v British Columbia (Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal), 2023 BCSC 1513 (CanLII), August 28, 2023].

Action Point: Use the resources on the OHSI Ergonomics Compliance Centre to prevent MSIs at your workplace

Airborne Contaminants: Contractor Fined Nearly $300,000 for Not Minimizing Workers’ Exposure to CO

A construction worker using a gas-powered pressure washer in the parkade of a high-rise building suffered serious injuries from exposure to carbon monoxide (CO). WorkSafeBC inspectors determined that the parkade’s gas detection and ventilation system failed to turn on in response to the elevated levels of CO. As a result, it issued a $297,647 administrative monetary penalty against the contractor for a series of high-risk OHS violations, including failing to implement an exposure control plan to minimize workers’ exposure to hazardous substances [Beedie Construction Ltd., June 6, 2023].

Action Point: Take measures to protect your workers against carbon monoxide poisoning at work and at home