Our operational policy year in review: 2025
What did we accomplish?
In 2025, we continued to make our policies easier to understand and apply, consistent with the and the Occupational Disease Policy Framework.
Highlights of 2025
Last year, we worked with the provincial government on changes to section 15.1 of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 (WSIA). These changes expand presumptive coverage for firefighters and fire investigators diagnosed with primary-site skin cancer, primary-site kidney cancer and primary-site colorectal cancer. These amendments took effect in December 2024 and July 2025. On September 22, 2025, we updated our operational policy, Cancers in Firefighters and Fire Investigators (23-02-01), to reflect these changes.
As part of our new foreign agricultural worker strategy, we revised another operational policy, Foreign Agricultural Workers (12-04-08), to support our new interpretation of suitable and available work for participants of the federal Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program. The revisions will ensure program participants are treated fairly if they can’t return to agricultural work in Ontario because of a work-related injury or illness.
We launched a consultation related to occupational noise-induced hearing loss, seeking feedback on the draft of the operational policy, Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (16-01-04). The consultation ran from November 10, 2025 to January 30, 2026.
The Operational Policy Manual (OPM) Archive was added as part of the OPM on our website in December 2024 to support customers and workplace parties who may need archived policies to support older claims or accounts issues. It appears after the current chapters in the left navigation menu and matches the chapters and sections in the main OPM. In 2025, 374 archived policies were added to the archive, including French versions, going back to 2014.
We helped launch our new business registration service, which makes it easier for contractors to register, get clearances and work with us. The service also allows business representatives to sign up their clients online. We made this possible by changing four operational policies, effective September 22, 2025.
The Scientific Advisory Table on Occupational Disease provides advice on the review and interpretation of scientific evidence to support occupational disease policy development. In 2025, we welcomed two new members to the table and met four times. Refer to occupational disease policy to learn more about our work in progress.
Policy statistics at a glance
9 operational policies were revised in 2025, including:
Policy on cancers in firefighters and fire investigators
Revisions to support our foreign agricultural worker strategy
Updated policies to support the new business registration service implementation
Updated benefit amounts in Table of Rates and Benefit Dollar Amounts policies
350+ policy-related questions were answered in 2025
1 public consultation was launched related to noise-induced hearing loss
374 archived policies were added to the online Operational Policy Manual, in both English and French, going back to 2014
Our annual policy agenda
Our and the Occupational Disease Policy Framework both describe how we keep our Operational Policy Manual up to date and clear, and provide appropriate guidance about how we apply policies. These frameworks also describe our approach to engaging the public in policy development. As part of that approach, each year we publish a policy agenda describing the items that we plan to review in the upcoming year.
The operational policy agenda gives our partners advance notice of anticipated items that may involve engagement with them. In line with our commitment to open communication, the policy agenda may also include items that do not involve public engagement. We post all policy changes on our policy updates and clarifications page.
Here’s what’s shaping our 2026 policy agenda:
- We’re moving forward with our strategic plan to make things better, easier and faster for our customers. Our policy team gives us the advice and support we need to reach these goals.
- We’re modernizing our services and need policy support to deliver the best results for our customers.
- Some projects from past years are still in progress and need ongoing policy leadership and expertise.
- We’re keeping up with new scientific developments to help us make decisions based on the best available evidence. We will also keep supporting research grants for scientific reviews through the WorkSafe Ontario Fund.
- We’ll strive to gather feedback, while recognizing the finite capacity and resources of the WSIB and our partners.
Policy agenda 2026
In 2026, our top priority will be to help the organization implement Bill 105, Protecting Ontario’s Workers and Economic Resilience Act, 2026, if the legislature passes it. This bill includes a number of significant changes to the WSIA and the worker’s compensation system.
Already in 2026, we’ve posted policy changes to put into action legislative amendments to section 14 of the WSIA. These changes extend presumptive coverage for post-traumatic stress disorder to include wildland firefighters and investigators.
In January 2026, we finished our consultation on noise-induced hearing loss. We will consider the feedback we received as part of updating the related policies later this year.
Throughout 2026, prior versions of operational policies going as far back as 2004 will be added to the online Operational Policy Manual Archive to support customers and workplace parties who may need archived policies to support older claims or accounts issues. As policies change, we’ll continue to update the archive for our customers.
In 2022 and 2024, we engaged our partners on proposed revisions to the independent living policy suite as part of our response to recommendations in the value-for-money audit of the serious injury program. We’ll publish seven revised policies, two new policies, approximately nine consequentially revised policies and the phase two consultation report in 2026.
We’ll also be supporting the implementation of Bill 30, Working for Workers Seven Act, 2025, which received Royal Assent on November 27, 2025. The legislation amended the WSIA by creating one new offence and four new administrative penalties that will be reflected in our operational policies.
Throughout 2026 we will continue working on ongoing occupational disease initiatives, including:
- research and analysis on the association between benzene and acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
- research and analysis on the final reports on occupational asbestos exposure and lung cancer, and silica exposure and lung cancer
- continuing to work with the external research team on the grant in progress investigating the relationship between diesel engine exhaust and lung and bladder cancers
- continuing to work closely and consult with the Scientific Advisory Table on Occupational Disease to identify occupational disease issues, develop new research grants and support policy development and scheduling with the best available scientific evidence
We’ll also continue to support:
- the implementation of our Foreign Agricultural Worker Strategy
- making it easier for people with claims and businesses to work with us through operational and accounts transformation initiatives
- updating our approach to the in-year rate adjustment process
- responding to the second injury and enhancement fund value-for-money audit
This year, our goal is to meet the changing needs and expectations of our customers and to be ready to implement Bill 105, if it passes.
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