Bill 9 received Royal Assent on May 14 and contains a number of changes to Part 3 of the Workers Compensation Act (the Act).
The goal of the changes is to improve workplace health and safety and strengthen the tools that WorkSafeBC uses to enforce the Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.
Highlights of the new legislation
Some of the changes to the Act are effective May 14, 2015, while others will follow later in the year or in 2016. Accordingly, four amendments to the Act are now in effect.
They are as follows:
- Expanded stop work order powers
- Changes to employer incident investigations
- Expanded injunction powers
- Changes to penalty due diligence
Other sections of the new legislation, including a provision that establishes compliance agreements, are expected to come into effect in September 2015. Occupational health and safety citations for employers are expected to be introduced in early 2016.
Resources
The following three documents are provided as high level summaries that provide an introduction and overview of the changes to the Workers Compensation Act:
- Legislative Change: A Primer on Stop Work Orders
- Legislative Change: A Primer on Employer Incident Investigations
- Legislative Change: A Primer on Injunctions and Due Diligence
Occupational health and safety policies regarding the amendments which are in force, are expected to be published on May 27, 2015.
New requirements for employer incident investigations are detailed in the attached overview and flow chart.
Please review the questions and answers on changes to the Workers Compensation Act.
For more information
WorkSafeBC will continue posting additional information, including occupational health and safety policies, guidelines, and other materials here.