Hello again, and welcome to Goodman Elbassiouni LLP’s blog! Last time we discussed what steps you should take immediately after you become injured or ill from your work, so this time we thought we would talk about how to file a claim with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). If you haven’t already read our last post, we encourage you to do so now, because there is a lot of important information you will need as well!
When an incident occurs at your workplace causing an employee to lose work from the resulting illness or injury, then three claim forms need to be filed with the WSIB: form 6, form 7, and form 8. You are in charge of filing form 6, your employer is in charge of filing form 7, and the physician that treats you for the incident is in charge of filling out form 8. These forms are available on the WSIB website (www.wsib.on.ca), but you can also contact the board directly and have them send it to you. Each of these forms have a specific timeframe in which they must be received by the WSIB for them to be valid, so it is important to be diligent in ensuring each form is filled, sent, and received well before the due date. Generally, the WSIB needs to receive a claim form within 6 months of the incident, or if the illness/injury occurred gradually, within 6 months of you finding out that your injury was workplace related.
Since you don’t personally have to fill out form 7 or form 8, we are going to start with form 6, the “Worker’s Report of Injury/Disease form”. If you have difficulty downloading the Worker’s Report of Injury/Disease form from the WSIB’s website, you can call them at 1-800-387-0750 to have them send you a copy. Or, if you have decided to work with us in your claim, we can help you get a copy and can coach you through the process one-on-one.
Fill out the form 6 as instructed, taking care to provide as many accurate details as you can about the incident. For example, if you injured your arm opening a door, talk about the events leading up to the incident (your surroundings, were there any witnesses nearby), what caused it (ex. the door was blocked and resisted when you went to open it), how it happened (ex. you twisted your right arm from the force of trying to open the door), what happened as a result and which part of you was hurt (ex. you broke your right arm, but Suzy came to help you right away) and any other details you can remember. This is where your detailed records from the day of the incident will pay off!
Once your form is complete, make two copies: one for you, and one to give to your employer, then submit the original to the WSIB. Your employer is obligated by law to give you a copy of their report as well, so you might want to check with them to ensure they do this. If not, you can also receive a copy of their report from the WSIB. Next time we’ll be discussing your doctor and your employer’s report, so be sure to watch out for the next exciting installment in our workplace injury blog series!
