Workplace Injuries

Workplace injuries generally must occur while a worker is at work, on company premises or on company business to be covered by workers' compensation.

While it is relatively easy to determine if someone is physically injured, psychological injuries can take many forms, only some of which are covered by workers' compensation. To be covered by workers' compensation the psychological injury must meet the criteria for an acute or chronic psychological injury set out in workers' compensation legislation and policy.

An acute psychological injury is one that is caused by a single event that a worker is involved in or witnessed. These types of traumatic events must be shocking, horrific or involve a risk of harm to the worker or others. Generally the symptoms of the psychological injury will appear immediately after the event.

Workplace sexual harassment that involves a sexual assault could be an event that causes an acute psychological injury depending on what happened and the person's reaction to it.

Some psychological injuries are the result of a series of events not one specific event. In these cases it is the cumulative effect of these events that causes the injury. Generally the injury occurs gradually over time.

Some jobs involve dealing with events on a regular basis that the general public would consider traumatic. Firefighters, police and ambulance drivers are examples of these types of jobs. Over time dealing with these situations can cause a psychological injury.

For jobs that do not themselves involve dealing with traumatic events, psychological injury can occur based on events that are not typically expected in the workplace or in workplace relationships between workers or their employers or customers.

Generally, these events involve one of the following…

• death or threatened death or serious injury to the worker or others
• an event or series of unusually shocking or horrific events
• an excessive or unusual workload
• interpersonal conflicts that go beyond the tensions and pressure of normal employment

Instances of workplace sexual harassment can result in a psychological injury.

It’s important to note that while the WCB can consider claims related to workload or those that involve work-related interpersonal incidents, these incidents must “show highly aggressive, threatening or discriminatory behaviour over an extended period of time”.

Generally speaking to support a claim of a psychological injury caused by a series of events there must be:

• objective facts to support what happened
• a Mental Health Assessment including a DSM IV diagnosis by a doctoral psychologist or psychiatrist

The events must also be the main cause of the injury. As the cause of a psychological injury brought on by a single traumatic event is usually more evident, a DSM diagnosis may not be required to accept a claim.