Report an injury or illness

If you are injured or become ill at work, or have an  employee who is injured or ill on the job, we are here to help and provide you  with resources and support you need.

When to report an injury or illness to the WSIB

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Act outlines when to report an injury or illness to the WSIB.

If you are injured or become ill on the job If your employee is ill or injured at work

Report an injury or illness (Form 6)

 

  • Tell your employer right away.
  • Your employer needs to report your injury or illness to us so you can claim benefits if:
  • You aren’t able to go to work. For example, if you aren’t feeling well the day after your injury or illness and choose to stay at home
  • You have six months from the date of the injury to claim benefits. For a workplace illness, you have six months from date of your diagnosis.
  • If your dentures, glasses and/or artificial appliances are damaged in a workplace accident, you are eligible to claim benefits for repairing/replacing these devices, even if you have no other injury.
  • You do not have to report your injury or illness to us if all three of the following apply:
    • only first aid treatment was needed
    • you did not take any time off work
    • your pay was not affected

Report an injury or illness (Form 7)

 

  • you need to report a workplace injury or illness within three days of learning about your employee’s workplace injury or illness if they:
  • need treatment from a health professional (beyond first aid),

OR

  • are absent from or leave work because of the injury or illness,

OR

  • earn less than regular pay (e.g., working fewer hours or being paid less per hour).
  • Even if your employee doesn’t need health care, you must report their injury or illness if they need modified work – any change in their regular job while recovering from an injury or illness, like being assigned different duties for more than seven days (at regular pay).

In this case, you must report on  the eighth day of modified work.

Reporting rights and responsibilities

If you are not sure whether the injury or illness is work-related, you should still report it to us. We make the decision whether an injury or illness is work-related or not.

If you were injured or become ill because of your job If your employee was ill or injured at work
  • You should report your workplace injury or illness even if:
    • your supervisor or manager tells you not to report it, or that you will lose your job if you report it;
    • your employer tells you that your injury or illness is not covered by the WSIB;
    • your employer tells you to use sick days to recover from a workplace injury or illness, rather than report it.
  • You have options for choosing a health professional.
  • If your employee tells you about a workplace injury or illness, you must investigate it.
  • If more health care treatment is needed beyond first aid on the day of the injury or illness, you must provide and pay for your employee’s transportation. You may need to accompany them or call an ambulance.
  • You have to pay the person’s full day of wages on the day of the accident. If they lose wages , their loss of earnings benefits start the working day after the injury or illness happens.
  • You must report all cases of a needle stick injury, unless you have a surveillance protocol in place – that is a  formal process to test and monitor a person exposed to an infectious disease.
  • It is against the law to discourage an employee from reporting a workplace injury or illness. If you do, you could face a financial penalty as well as prosecution.

Workplace fatality or critical incident

  • If you have a family member or employee that has been involved in a fatality or critical incident, call us at 1-800-387-0750, Monday to Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. We can provide a Crisis Intervention Counsellor to help. We are here to support you.

If someone – whether they are an employee or not – is critically injured or killed at a workplace, businesses must notify the Ministry of Labour.