In October 2007 the Board of Directors approved changes to policy in Chapter 3 of the Rehabilitation Services & Claims Manual, Volume II. These policies provide direction on the determination of whether a worker’s personal injury or death arises out of and in the course of employment. WorkSafeBC consulted extensively on draft policies, and the Board of Directors considered all the responses received from stakeholders before reaching a decision.

The result is the replacement of policy items #12.00 through #24.00 inclusively, with Items C3-12.00 through C3-23.30 and policy item #34.55. The new policies are consistent in content, formatting, and style, and remove misleading and outdated examples. They provide clearer direction on how to determine if a claim for personal injury or death will be accepted, and emphasize the importance of new Item C3-14.00, Arising Out of and In the Course of the Employment, in making this decision.

The changes were originally scheduled to come into effect January 1, 2009. You may examine the complete resolution (PDF 982kb).

The Board of Directors revised the effective date for the Chapter 3 policy changes to January 1, 2010. You may examine the complete resolution on these revised effective dates here (PDF 131kb).

At the September 2009 meeting, the effective date was further postponed to July 1, 2010 to ensure that there would be sufficient resources available to successfully implement the changes.

You may also examine the complete resolution for these revised effective dates (PDF 173kb).

For further information on this issue, please contact Susan Hynes at 604-276-5160.