Registration FAQs

By law, most businesses need to register with the WSIB within 10 calendar days of hiring their first employee. If you own or operate a business in construction, your registration obligation may be different. You can learn more about expanded compulsory coverage in the construction industry.

If you’re not registered with us, and should be, you can voluntarily register your business for the first time. In most cases, you’ll get your WSIB account number immediately after submitting your information. After your account is created, you’ll get an email welcoming you to the WSIB, a letter with information about the premium rate for your business activity, as well as instant access to our online services. You’ll also receive a safety poster by mail that you must display in your workplace.

Not registering may result in penalties, investigation and provincial offences charges or having to repay retroactive premiums. See our policy on voluntary registration to learn more.

You can register your business before you hire employees, but it’s not required. If you choose to do so and your business activity requires mandatory coverage, your account will be registered the date you submit your registration and your coverage will begin once your first employee starts working. You must contact us within 10 calendar days if a material change in circumstance occurs (for example, you don’t end up hiring employees or your business activity changes).

If you own or operate a business in construction without employees, you may be able to register the date your business starts performing construction work or the date you meet the criteria of an independent operator in construction. Please see our policy on workers and independent operators for more information. You can also learn more about expanded compulsory coverage in the construction industry.

Businesses have an obligation to find out if they should register in Ontario when either hiring:

• Ontario resident employees to work in Ontario, or
• employees from outside of Ontario to work in Ontario

Businesses that don’t operate in Ontario can employ “resident workers” (people who live in Ontario) or “non-resident workers” (people whose permanent residence is outside of Ontario) to perform work in Ontario. There are special rules for non-resident employees who occasionally work in Ontario. Please see our policy on non-resident workers for more information.

You can register your business quickly and easily by:

1. Gathering some information about your business
2. Answering a few questions about your business and selecting your business activity for the new account

You’ll be able to include any prior and/or existing account(s) you’ve had with us. We’ll review the information and decide if you’re eligible for a new account or if we should reactivate your prior account(s). We’ll contact you if we have any questions.

You can register a new account by:

1. Gathering some information about the business
2. Answering a few questions about your business and selecting your business activity for the new account

We’ll review the information and decide if you should create a new account. We’ll contact you if we have any questions.

It’s free and easy to register with us. However, some third-party companies charge a fee to register your business with us on your behalf. If you use an intermediary to help you register, make sure to do your due diligence to avoid any potential fraud risk.

Please note, there are costs associated with WSIB coverage, primarily premiums you pay based on the type of work your business does and your insurable earnings.

You can get a clearance quickly and easily through our online services if you need one immediately after registering your business and your account is “in good standing.” Having an account “in good standing” means you have an active account with us and you’ve met your WSIB obligations, including reporting and paying your WSIB premiums.

Registering your business is quick and easy – it only takes 10 minutes!

You can register by:

1. Gathering some information about your business
2. Answering a few questions about your business and selecting your business activity

We’ll confirm if you need to register based on your answers and business activity. You’ll then need to sign up or log in to our online services to proceed.

After you are logged in, you’ll provide more specific information about your business such as your business’s legal name, address, phone number and email address.

In most cases, you’ll get your WSIB account number immediately after submitting your information. After your account is created, you’ll get an email welcoming you to the WSIB and a letter with information about the premium rate for your business activity, as well as instant access to our online services. You’ll also receive a safety poster by mail that you must display in your workplace.

Our online services are the easiest and most convenient way to manage your WSIB account, from viewing your statement, to reporting and paying premiums, accessing your account details, finding or obtaining a clearance, submitting a claim-related document and much more.

If you can’t register online, you can register by phone or mail. Contact us to find out more. 

Yes. They’ll be asked to confirm they’re authorized to submit the registration on behalf of the business.

Yes. Once you’ve answered questions about your business and selected your business activity, you can save your progress and come back to it later.

In most cases, you’ll get your WSIB account number immediately after submitting your information online. After your account is created, you’ll get an email welcoming you to the WSIB and a letter with information about the premium rate for your business activity, as well as instant access to our online services. You’ll also receive a safety poster by mail that you must display in your workplace.

In most cases, your account will be registered immediately after you submit your information. In more complex cases, it may take longer for us to process your registration. We’ll contact you if we need any additional information. You’ll receive an email with your WSIB account number once your account is activated.

A registration email is sent to the email address that you provided.

You won’t receive the email if the email address provided was invalid or incomplete. Check to see if your email is filtered to exclude email from unknown senders. Please check your junk folder as it may have been marked as spam.

Even if you don’t receive an email, if you clicked “submit” and see a page that says, “You’ve successfully submitted your registration,” then we have your registration and will contact you with your account information.

You can’t revise a registration submission once you've created it and arrived at a page that says, “You’ve successfully submitted your registration.” Please email [email protected] or call 1-800-387-0750, Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., to tell us about any changes you need to make.

You were inactive in the session for over 30 minutes. To avoid this, please navigate to another page in the registration service before 30 minutes has elapsed.

Please email [email protected] or call 1-800-387-0750, Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., if you have any questions related to registration.