Incident and Injury Reporting and Investigation

• If the worker has a work-related injury or disease that requires medical treatment beyond first aid in the workplace, from a doctor or other qualified practitioner, the employer must report the incident to WorkSafeBC within three (3) days of the incident.
• If the worker missed time from work or got medical attention beyond first aid in the workplace, due to, or claimed to be due to, a work-related injury or disease, employers must report the incident to WorkSafeBC within three (3) days of the incident, even if they disagree with the claim.
• Employers must also report to WorkSafeBC within three (3) days after receiving information regarding a disabling occupational disease of a worker.

Employers must immediately report serious incidents and fatalities by calling the Prevention Information Line at 1-888-621-7233 (24/7).

The employer must complete the Employer’s Report of Injury or Occupational Disease Form and submit it to WorkSafeBC within 3 days of the incident.

Employer’s Report of Injury or Occupational Disease (form 7) pdf

Submissions should be made online but can be sent by fax or mail.

• Online: Login to your WorkSafeBC account or select “Report a Workplace Injury” on WorkSafeBC website
• Fax: 604-233-9777
• Mail: WorkSafeBC, PO Box 4700 Stn Terminal, Vancouver BC V6B 1J1

If the worker wants to report the incident directly to WorkSafeBC and request compensation, they can use the Employee’s Application for Compensation and Report Form.

Employee’s Application for Compensation and Report of Injury or Occupational Disease (form 6) pdf

Employers are legally responsible for conducting investigations related to any of the above reportable incidents that happen in their workplaces and submitting employer incident investigation reports to WorkSafeBC.

The investigation must be conducted by someone knowledgeable about the type of work involved and, if reasonably available, include the participation of both employer and worker representatives.

After an incident, the employer must immediately undertake a preliminary investigation to identify any unsafe conditions, acts, or procedures that significantly contributed to it. The employer must prepare a preliminary investigation report within 48 hours of the incident, which should be submitted to WorkSafeBC only if requested.

Following the preliminary investigation, the employer must conduct a full investigation to determine the causes of the incident.

A report of the full investigation must be prepared and submitted to WorkSafeBC within 30 days of the incident.

Following both preliminary and full investigations, the employer must promptly take any necessary corrective action to prevent similar incidents.

The investigation and corrective action reports should be made available to the joint occupational health and safety committee or worker representative or posted in the workplace.