Improving mental health supports

This week includes the National Day of Mourning, a day that is observed every year to remember and honour workers who have been injured, suffered illness or lost their lives due to workplace hazards.

It is a day to think of loved ones, friends and co-workers who we have lost and those who have had their lives permanently altered because of their jobs. It is also a day to recommit ourselves to continuing to make workplaces safer and free of hazards so that all workers come home safe and whole at the end of every shift and workday.

In Manitoba, our workers compensation system is built upon the foundational principle that when a worker is injured on the job, they are entitled to supports to help them recover from their injury, replace lost employment income and safely return to work.

The Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba was set up over a century ago at a time when work, and our understanding of the effects of work, were a lot different than they are today. Understandably, much of the laws and rules that the WCB is based upon were set up to help workers with physical workplace injuries, because for a long time that was our society’s common understanding of the types of injuries that people could suffer at work.

But I think we all recognize that view is outdated.

Increasingly, we know just how much work can impact our minds as well as our bodies. And mental health injuries suffered at work are also workplace injuries worthy of the same support from WCB to help workers heal.

While the staff of the WCB work hard to provide the best support they can to injured workers, current provincial legislation and WCB policies exclude many psychological injuries from WCB coverage, preventing workers from getting the support they need to recover and return to work safely.

While all physical workplace injuries are covered under the WCB Act, only certain types of psychological injuries, primarily those resulting from traumatic events, qualify for WCB support. However, workplace injuries resulting from chronic psychological stressors do not qualify for WCB coverage.

Limiting the kinds of workplace psychological injuries that are deserving of WCB support creates a clear double standard in coverage.

For example, it leaves out the types of psychological injuries workers can sustain due to things such as burnout and extreme stress, injuries that accumulate over time due to repetitive strain on the mind instead of injuries that can be attributed to specific, restricted kinds of traumatic events.

It should not matter if a workplace injury hurts a worker’s body or mind. If you get hurt at work, you should be covered by WCB.

If we want to ensure that workers stay healthy at work and receive support when they are injured, our WCB system must start taking workplace mental health injuries more seriously, starting with the WCB Act itself, which is currently being reviewed by a committee appointed by the provincial government.

We hope that the review will lead to a removal of the arbitrary restrictions on coverage for workplace psychological injuries, so that when a Manitoba worker is suffering from a mental health injury caused by their work, their WCB claim is accepted and they get the wage-loss benefits, health care and other supports they need and deserve.

Contrary to how the Act is worded currently, it should contain specific provisions to provide coverage for both chronic and traumatic stress injuries. Several other Canadian jurisdictions have already made the change, meaning Manitoba is now lagging behind.

The provincial government has recently amended the Workplace Safety and Health Act to require employers to identify and remove psychological hazards in the workplace.

Having formally recognized the impact of work on mental health, it is now time to take the next step and bring our WCB system into the 21st century when it comes to recognizing the need to support all workers who suffer workplace mental health injuries.

Kevin Rebeck is the president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour.