WorkSafeBC announces that the average base premium rate for 2016 will remain unchanged at $1.70 per $100 of employers’ assessable payroll.
Lower claims costs, excess investment returns, a $55 million withdrawal from the Capital Adequacy Reserve, and the longstanding practice of capping of rate increases for industries at 20 percent have kept the average rate from increasing next year.
Together with employer groups, we’re working to reduce serious injuries and enhance return-to-work opportunities. In doing this, we can collectively help to prevent injuries, improve return-to-work outcomes, and ultimately lower insurance rates.
How the rates are set
Employers are placed in one of 547 classification units with other similar businesses. These classification units are then placed into one of 46 insurance pools we refer to as rate groups.
Employers in each rate group pay the costs of injuries and diseases that occur to the workers within the group, with the intent that each rate group be self-sufficient with regard to compensation costs. This limits cross-subsidization between industries, maintains relatively stable base premium rates, and limits growth of unfunded liabilities in the rate groups.
Each year, costs in some rate groups go up, some go down, and others stay the same. This year, 58 percent of employers will experience an increase to their industry base premium rate, 33 percent a decrease, and 9 percent will see little or no change.
View the 2016 rates
- View the base rate for a specific classification unit by searching by classification unit name or number.
- View the base rates for all rate groups.
- Browse by industry sector.
Changes to industry classifications
View the changes to the classification structure for 2016 in PDF form (PDF 100kb)
Additional resources
- Find out how WorkSafeBC sets rates and assigns classification units to employers
View the WorkSafeBC average published base rate trend information in table form(PDF 31kb) or in chart form (PDF 60kb)