Accident Reporting

• this applies to all UofA employees, graduate students, and undergraduate students (if they become injured in a course-related activity)

The WCB-Alberta is a mutual insurance organization that is funded by employers in the province. Its role is to provide workplace liability and disability insurance for it's members. All University of Alberta employees are covered under the WCB if they are injured while doing their work but in addition, students are also covered if they are injured while engaged in activities related to their educational program (i.e. in a laboratory or while on a field trip).
If a university employee is injured at work, the WCB may reimburse the university for the employee's wages while recovering. For students injured while engaged in some aspect of their program, the WCB (or the employer) may reimburse them for wages lost because they could not continue a part-time job, for an ambulance or for prescription drugs (this coverage for students is paid for by the Alberta Government, not the University of Alberta since students enrolled in a degree program are considered employees of the Government for WCB purposes).

The Workers' Compensation Board requires notification of all worker accidents in which:

• a worker requires medical attention at a medical facility, or
• a worker cannot continue working on the day after the injury

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For the worker: A Worker's Report Form (PDF, 808kb) is availablefor download. DO NOT COMPLETE THE ONLINE VERSION. Print and complete all relevant areas of the form. Forward this to your supervisor or the Safety Officer.

For the supervisor: An Employer's Report Form (PDF, 724kb) will be completed and processed in the same manner. The supervisor should contact Lori Damman who will submit an Online Notification (OLN) form to Organizational Health and Effectiveness.

If medical attention is required, inform the doctor that the accident/injury occurred at work so that a Physician report can be prepared.

Plan B: If you cannot fax the Worker's Report immediately, then email or telephone the information to one of the departmental contacts listed below and they will start the reporting process. Minimum information needed: Name of injured person(s), SIN, date and time of injury, location and home address.

Volunteers and Collaborators:
We frequently have people who are not employed by the University of Alberta working on projects conducted by UofA employees. This may be in a laboratory, at a field site or while traveling in a UofA vehicle. Since they are not our employees, WCB reports do not need to be submitted to the University of Alberta if they are injured during their work. However, because they are not employees and not covered by our WCB plan, there are some very important potential legal consequences if they do get injured during work.

Read more about Volunteer waivers here.

Alberta Workplace Health and Safety Reporting:
The Government of Alberta office that is responsible for worker safety must be notified in the event of certain major incidents such as a building collapse or the failure of a crane. Of more relevance to us, they must be informed if a worker is hospitalized or if there is a death resulting from an injury.