Minimum Guidelines
Reporting Accidents

Accidents

You must report all accidents to your supervisor immediately. This includes accidents that result in damage to property or equipment, personal injury, a spill of a hazardous substance, or a "near miss" that could have caused serious injury or death.

Reporting accidents to the WCB

Accidents must be reported by your employer to the WCB without delay when the accident:

  1. Results in death or critical injury with a serious risk of death.

  2. Involves a major structural failure or collapse of a building, bridge, tower crane, hoist, temporary support structure or excavation.

  3. Involves a major release of a toxic or hazardous substance.

  4. Involves a blasting or diving incident.
The 24 hour WCB emergency phone number is 604-273-7711.

Investigating accidents

Your employer must investigate the cause of accidents:

  1. Resulting in death, or critical injury with a serious risk of death.

  2. Involving a major structural failure or collapse of a building, bridge, tower crane, hoist, temporary support structure or excavation.

  3. Involving a major release of a toxic or hazardous substance.

  4. Involving a blasting or diving incident.

  5. Resulting in injury requiring medical treatment.

  6. That did not involve an injury but had the potential for causing serious injury.
For such accidents, a report with recommendations to prevent recurrence must be produced. These recommendations are to be reviewed at the monthly safety meeting and implemented without delay. Copies of the report must be sent to the local WCB Office.

Injuries

If you are injured, you must report it to the supervisor and get first aid treatment without delay. Injuries that seem minor at first can have complications later on. If the injury is not reported, you may not be able to claim compensation.

Reporting injuries to the WCB

Injuries need to be reported to the WCB to process a compensation claim. The following events are to be reported to the WCB within 72 hours of their occurrence:

  • an employee loses consciousness following an injury

  • an employee is transported or directed by a first aid attendant or other representative of the employer to a hospital or other place of medical treatment, or is recommended by such person to go to such place

  • the injury is one that obviously requires medical treatment

  • the employee states that he or she intends to seek medical treatment

  • the employee has received medical treatment for the injury

  • the employee is unable or claims that he or she is unable by reason of the injury to return to his or her usual job function on any working day subsequent to the day of injury

  • the injury or accident resulted or is claimed to have resulted in the breakage of a prosthesis, eye glasses, dentures or a hearing aid

  • the employee or the board has requested that an "Employer 's Report" be sent to the WCB.

These are to be reported using the WCB Form 7, Employer's Report of Injury or Industrial Disease, and may be accompanied by Form 7A, First Aid Report.