Opportunities & Challenges

WorkplaceNL will support injured workers and their employers by creating awareness and managing policies to address complex injuries and illnesses, including occupational disease, and to focus on facilitating the workers’ early and safe return to work.

1.8 {1.6 1.6 1.6 RATE PLATEAU 1.5}

per 100 workers

232K 241K 243K 239K 236K

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Annual Average Employment (thousands)

Lost-time incidence rate

Reducing injuries and illnesses

The lost-time incidence rate decreased to an all-time low of 1.5 per 100 workers in 2015, after remaining stagnant at 1.6 for three years prior. WorkplaceNL recognizes that further reductions in the injury rate will be increasingly challenging to achieve.

The extent to which the injury rate can be reduced, or to avoid an upward swing, depends on WorkplaceNL refreshing its focus on educating and creating awareness of how to prevent workplace injuries by targeting areas of greatest risk. We will emphasize our safety culture for ongoing reductions in soft-tissue injuries, injuries from assaults and violent acts, and occupational illnesses.

There remains opportunity for WorkplaceNL to engage workplace parties through partnerships with safety associations, employers and workers to improve safety performance at workplaces, within an industry and on a provincial scale. Our province’s safety culture will benefit from new approaches, innovation and continuous monitoring and identification of risk areas.

Return to work

WorkplaceNL recognizes that early intervention on an injured worker’s claim contributes to their recovery and supports planning for early and safe return to work (ESRTW). It also helps manage claims costs while maintaining benefits to which injured workers are entitled. Ultimately, early intervention reduces the amount of time a worker is away from his/her workplace.

Success in ESRTW depends on the worker, the employer and the health care provider. WorkplaceNL sees opportunity to engage all parties early in the process to help them understand their roles and responsibilities, with a focus on the workers’ return to work as soon as it is safe to do so.

Mental health in the workplace

There is a growing awareness of mental health and wellness in society and in the workplace. Recent province-wide awareness campaigns have been aimed at improving knowledge of the continuum of mental health and reducing the stigma associated with mental illnesses and addictions.

Mental health affects us all with one in five people experiencing mental illness or addiction in a particular year. WorkplaceNL recognizes that there is an opportunity to improve our client service by training our staff on how to recognize and respond to clients, co-workers or the public who may be experiencing a mental illness or addiction.

In partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, over 160 of our front-line staff have completed The Changing Minds training. More training is planned in 2016 to be more responsive to an individual’s mental health, to help employees recognize the effects of mental health stigma and to reduce its impacts in the workplace. This will ultimately support the mental health and well-being of employees.

Health care costs and access to services

There remain ongoing challenges with timely access to health care services, and rising health care costs. WorkplaceNL has negotiated memorandums of agreement with all major health care provider groups, and continues its focus on early intervention and proactive case management. This provides for earlier and more effective medical management of claims. As well, WorkplaceNL procures medical and health care items and services through the public tendering process and adheres to the provincial generic drug pricing policy in order to control costs.

Last five years 75%

of fatality claims were the result of occupational diseases.

Occupational disease

Occupational disease prevention continues to be a priority as occupational health hazards are the leading cause of premature death in workers in Newfoundland and Labrador. Over the past five years, 75 per cent of fatality claims were the result of occupational diseases. Given the latency periods involved with some known occupational diseases, including cancers and respiratory illnesses, this will be a challenge for many years to come.

WorkplaceNL understands that dealing with a life- threatening disease is a very difficult time for a worker, their family and their community. That is why WorkplaceNL continues to seek out and rely on the best medical and scientific information available when adjudicating claims for occupational disease.

There are opportunities to prevent today’s workers from being exposed to substances which lead to future occupational diseases. WorkplaceNL will continue its focus on education and awareness for preventing known occupational diseases.