Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB): Special Edition

IAIABC: Please provide an organizational overview (number of employees, years in business, vision)

Alexa Nielsen, Senior Director, Mental Stress Injuries Program, WSIB: Since 1914, we’ve been supporting people and businesses when a workplace injury or illness occurs. The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) provides wage-loss benefits, medical coverage and support to help people return to work after a work-related injury or illness.

We are funded by premiums paid by Ontario businesses. We provide no-fault collective liability insurance and access to industry-specific health and safety information.

With approximately 4,000 employees, we are one of the largest insurance organizations in North America, covering over five million people in more than 300,000 workplaces across Ontario.

IAIABC: How does your organization serve the workers’ compensation industry? 

AN: Our mission is to reduce the impact of workplace illness and injury on people and businesses in Ontario. We achieve this by supporting people’s recoveries and planning their safe and sustainable returns to work. We are committed to improving the experience of those we serve by making it surprisingly simple to work with us.

IAIABC: The WSIB will host The IAIABC 110th Convention in September. What would you like to highlight about Toronto that would encourage IAIABC members to attend?

AN While many think of Toronto as an international centre of business; it’s also home to some of the best restaurants, offering everything from fine dining to diverse community eats. The city has something for everyone – parks, museums, galleries, shopping, theatres, stadiums, you name it. 

IAIABC: What do you see as some of the major challenges the industry is facing, and how can we as a community address them? 

AN: Mental stress injuries have become one of the most significant challenges facing the industry in recent years. Unlike with physical injuries, recovery is rarely linear. 

Facilitating recovery and return to work in mental stress injuries can be challenging, especially when the person’s job caused the injury. We know that the longer someone is away from work, the less likely they are to return, which can have devastating impacts on people’s lives. Mental stress injury claims tend to have longer durations, as they take longer to treat and recover from.

We’ve also seen a steady and continuous increase in the number of mental stress injury claims over the last decade, which is consistent across other workers’ compensation boards and private insurers. Data from larger insurers also shows that 70 per cent of active claims are mental health claims.

By sharing information and outcomes, we can provide better support for those who are suffering from these injuries and move towards a future where better outcomes are the norm. To encourage this type of collaboration, the WSIB has recently started an Interjurisdictional Roundtable for Workers’ Compensation Boards on Mental Stress Injuries. The goal is to create a platform for different compensation boards to come together and collaboratively discuss strategies, best practices, challenges, and innovations related to the management of mental stress injury claims.

IAIABC: Are there any projects/programs/initiatives since the IAIABC last talked with you in 2020 that you would like to highlight or are particularly excited about?

AN: We are thrilled to announce that the WSIB has started a comprehensive review and redesign of our Mental Stress Injuries Program. We recognize the challenges that mental stress injuries create for injured people and businesses. As a result, we are shifting our focus and resources to implement our new MSIP Strategy.

The goal of our Mental Stress Injuries Program strategy is to reduce the impact of mental stress injuries with a timely and integrated return-to-work and recovery approach. The MSIP strategy consists of three main pillars: 

1. Improving the service experience of our customers to ensure a consistent and proactive approach focused on psychological injuries, including:
   • Updating our forms, tools, and processes to ensure they support this vulnerable population better.
   • Making it easier for people with injuries and their employers to work with us, by creating new communication tools (e.g., handbooks and educational materials), so they know what to expect and are empowered in their recovery. 
2. Enabling our workforce to ensure our internal teams are coordinated in their delivery, including:
   • Training opportunities for Mental Stress Injuries Program employees with a focus on mental stress injuries, communication, and occupational awareness.
3. Integrating our approach to recovery and return-to-work to ensure a more holistic view of these claims, including:
   • Faster access to Return-to-Work Specialists and clinical experts
   • Building out more customer-centric return-to-work plans that involve building skills early while recovery is occurring.

Additionally, we’ll continue to engage with key stakeholders to influence the broader system including opportunities to evolve the health care landscape, and better leverage new and current partnerships and centres of expertise. 

IAIABC: What's an interesting fact about your organization that most people don't know?

AN: We are one of the largest insurance organizations in North America with $40 billion (2023 estimate) in investment assets, $5.6 billion in revenue, 330,000 employer members and 5.6 million insured employees. 

IAIABC: What are your favorite benefits of membership?

AN: We value collaboration and idea-sharing with members across the industry. IAIABC membership offers a unique opportunity to connect with a diverse group of stakeholders from the workers’ compensation community through online forums, committee meetings, and conferences. We look forward to continuing our educational journey to better serve Ontario’s people and businesses.