In 2022, a team of advocates and researchers embarked on a project to investigate workplace injury reporting. They wanted to assess the accuracy of Ontario’s safety records — and whether injured workers were getting the support they were entitled to.
But as they analyzed the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board data, the team came across something that surprised them.
The figures showed tens of thousands of possible workplace injuries sitting in limbo, despite being flagged to the WSIB by health-care providers.
“We were pretty shocked,” said Stéphanie Premji, who is part of the research team and an assistant professor in the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University.
Between 2019 and 2023, health-care professionals filed around 191,000 reports for treating workplace accident victims where neither the employer or worker filed corresponding documentation.
That means the WSIB cannot register a compensation claim, and the injury remains invisible in provincial safety records.
“It creates a false sense that workplaces are way safer than they actually are,” said Steve Mantis of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Group (ONIWIG), who participated in the team’s research.
Researchers worry it indicates a deeper problem: that some accident victims face undue pressure from bosses not to file compensation claims, hindering their ability to access crucial supports.
In a statement, the WSIB said an internal review of the issue found these incidents are being treated appropriately. When employers or workers don’t file documentation to back up health professionals’ accident reports, it is usually because the injury was minor and the worker didn’t follow up — or because their employer isn’t covered by worker compensation laws, said spokesperson Christine Arnott.
“If any advocate knows of someone or anyone reading this story believes a form was submitted on their behalf but never heard from us, we encourage them to call us today,” she said.
Employers are supposed to report workplace injuries
In Ontario, employers must report workplace injuries and illnesses within three days. These reports form the basis of most compensation claims registered in the province.
Health-care providers are also required to submit a report to the WSIB when they’ve treated someone with a workplace injury or illness. Known as Form 8s, the reports provide the WSIB with clinical information about the injury, describe how the accident occurred, and lay out a treatment plan.
The board receives over 250,000 Form 8s a year, said WSIB spokesperson Christine Arnott. The vast majority, around 85 per cent, match up to reports filed by employers or workers. This allows the board to register a compensation claim and decide on workers’ entitlements.
In the 15 per cent of cases where there is no matching filing from an employer or worker, the injuries are logged as “incidents” until the WSIB can “gather the information required to convert them to new claims,” Arnott said.
Currently, however, this conversation rate is just 2 per cent, according to internal board data obtained by the Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic (IWC) and shared with the Star.
That means tens of thousands of possible workplace accidents remain “lost in the abyss” every year, said Chris Grawey, a community legal worker with IWC.
The legal clinic team said they approached the WSIB earlier this year to ask how the board follows up on these incidents.
In response, board officials said they sent letters to the injured patients encouraging them to report the accident to their employer and the WSIB, according to emails reviewed by the Star. If neither party files an injury claim, then “no further action is taken,” the board’s response said.
The WSIB also says it may receive multiple Form 8s for the same injury or person.
As part of a broader review last year of reports filed by health-care providers, Arnott said the WSIB looked into around 750 cases where there was no matching evidence from workers and employers.
In these cases, the board found that one third of workers did not wish to file a claim. Around 28 per cent of workers said they intended to file a claim, but never did. In roughly the same proportion of cases, the health-care professional’s report was incomplete, preventing the board from following up.
Arnott said the review shows “incidents are being properly treated and registered as claims where appropriate.”
Cases could be an ‘indicator of claim suppression’
To McMaster’s Premji, the results raise critical questions about why workers were reluctant to file claims — and whether their decision was influenced by their employers. She believes dormant Form 8s “could be an indicator of claim suppression,” referring to the illegal practice of employers pressuring workers to not report accidents.
“If (the WSIB is) serious about investigating claim suppression, it seems like that would be a great place to start,” she said.
Other issues, such as the number of incomplete Form 8s, suggest the need to educate health-care providers about reporting obligations, Premji added.
The WSIB did not respond to questions about whether its review prompted any specific changes to how it deals with dormant Form 8s. However, the board said it uses all means available to contact patients, and that intentionally discouraging workers from filing claims could lead to an “investigation as part of our compliance strategy.”
The WSIB has conducted compliance audits at just over 1,100 of its 330,000 employer members since 2020, board data provided to the legal clinic shows. These investigations uncovered 671 unreported injuries that the board ultimately ruled were work-related.
“That’s good news and should be seen as proof that we are finding the right employers to audit,” said spokesperson Arnott.
Grawey said the number of unreported injuries identified was startling, pointing to the need for significantly more audits — and more robust follow up when health-care providers flag injuries. That, he said, should include routinely contacting employers where incidents occurred.
Sending letters to workers, who may be in precarious jobs, migrant labourers, or not fluent in English, is “definitely insufficient,” he said.
A disconnect between health-care system and WSIB
In 2022, a study by the Ontario-based Institute for Work & Health (IWH) also found a disconnect between the health-care system and provincial compensation board. The research, which looked at over a decade’s worth of emergency department records, found at least 35 per cent of visits for workplace injuries and illnesses did not show up as WSIB claims.
The report noted that the gap may be partly explained by the fact that around one quarter of the province’s workers aren’t covered by compensation laws. It also noted a significant change in injury reporting habits around the time of the 2008 financial crisis: young workers admitted to emergency departments began filing fewer compensation claims, which the researchers said could be related to a growing reliance on precarious gig work rather than traditional employment.
The WSIB said it was aware of the study and was advised by the IWH that most injury under-reporting is “due to a lack of severity in the injury.”
Premji said it is important to register claims even for injuries that are minor or don’t require time off work. That is because many common workplace ailments, such as soft tissue injuries, start off as minor and worsen with time.
“It’s a misunderstanding of … the potential repercussions these injuries and illnesses can have, and all of the support that workers might need,” she said.
Accurate injury reporting, said ONIWIG’s Mantis, is also crucial because it informs how the province — and employers — tackle workplace risks.
“It’s really the impact on the health and safety side,” he said. “If (an accident) doesn’t cost you anything, how much attention are you going to pay to prevention?”
