Sixteen-year-old Eric Olivieri was working at a summer job when a 10-tonne piece of steel became unhooked from the crane overhead. It sliced into his arm, elbow, leg, knee and pelvis and pinned him across his lap. Emergency crew didn’t know if Eric would survive the accident. When he was rushed to the hospital, blood had pooled in his right leg and he heard he might lose it: “When I woke up after the surgery, I asked if I still had my leg and they said yes.”

Everything changed that day for Eric and his family, but the events to follow were fairly typical of what happens after a workplace injury: a visit from a worker adviser two days later, who explained to Eric’s parents what to expect in the days and weeks to come; the subsequent accident investigation; visits from the Ministry of Labour and Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB); paperwork.

As far as injury claims go, Eric’s was fairly straightforward. The WSIB has paid for all his medication and other necessities, including a wheelchair and bed. His mother was surprised, however, to find out how profoundly the accident would affect the family.

Carlene Olivieri says hospital staff either didn’t seem to know or gave conflicting answers. There was talk of a social worker who was supposed to provide information and support but never materialized. Leaving Eric’s side was out of the question, so Carlene had to leave her fairly new job, where she had no seniority. The family was financially in a panic and hospital expenses were adding up, with parking and meals.

A WSIB nurse case manager helped. “She explained things to us,” says Carlene, “but we were in such a daze I probably didn’t ask the right questions.”

As time wore on, Carlene found out what kinds of assistance she was eligible for. Every step required research and patience – how to apply for employment insurance, how to find out if she was eligible for a caregiver’s allowance to hire a VON for Eric, and so on. The WSIB web site contains great information about compensation, but Carlene found much of it herself through a lot of digging.

“Someone needs to do a better job at getting people the information,” she says. “What about immigrants, or other people who don’t know how it works? How do they find out what’s available? They probably miss out.”


What’s supposed to happen
After an incident, the workers’ compensation system can provide benefits to cover both loss of function and loss of earnings. Getting there involves a barrage of paperwork and several pre-set formalities. Injured workers must get proper medical treatment immediately after the incident, and report it to the employer as soon as possible. They must report any significant change in their condition or income that may affect their benefits, and are expected to cooperate with the employer and the board in their early and safe return to work.

Employers, too, have responsibilities after an injury. They must report the incident to the board, stay in contact with the employee, and do what they can to get the employee back to work.

Ontario’s WSIB processes about 360,000 claims a year. That’s 40 claims every hour, 24/7. The board reports that within the first month after an accident, 83 per cent of claims go through without a dispute. Ninety-seven per cent of all claims are processed, and disputes resolved, within the first three months. The remaining three per cent  – an estimated 10,800 cases in Ontario alone – are problematic.

Andy Emmink is a claims adjudicator, investigator and decision review specialist who has held a variety of positions with what was then called the Ontario Workers Compensation Board, and a series of management positions in the WSIB's Appeals Branch. Emmink represented employers for the 10 years of his consulting practice but has spent the rest of his career representing injured workers. He has concerns – namely that current prevention efforts often obscure the interests of the workers who do get hurt.

“I think there has to be a renewed emphasis on the interests and rights of the people for whom prevention has failed.”

Robert Lindsay hears similar accounts from injured workers all over Canada. A spokesperson for the Canadian Injured Worker Alliance, he says they often feel left out of the loop when it comes to important decisions affecting their own future.

An injured worker himself, Lindsay was caught in a blast in a coal mine in 1994 and burnt his lungs. Afterwards, hospital staff wanted to do a lung biopsy but took it from the wrong lung. Today he has chronic pain, reactive airway dysfunction, asthma and RSD reflex. He never went back to work.

Lindsay receives workers’ compensation from the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board, but says the process wasn’t easy. “Going through it was probably one of the most stressful things I’ve ever done in my life.”