WorkSafeNB

IAIABC: Please provide an organizational overview (number of employees, years in business, vision)

WorkSafeNB: We’re making New Brunswick the safest place to work. That’s the vision that unites more than 530 employees who support workers and employers across New Brunswick, Canada. For more than 100 years, WorkSafeNB has helped prevent workplace injuries and provided compensation, recovery, and return-to-work support when injuries occur. Today, we are building on that history through significant modernization, including transforming claims management and expanding digital and self-service options. At the heart of this work is our commitment to creating an exceptional client experience by making it easier for workers and employers to get the information, services and support they need. While our services and the way we deliver them continue to evolve, our purpose remains the same: safer workplaces, better recoveries and a strong workers’ compensation system for New Brunswick.

IAIABC: How does your organization serve the workers’ compensation industry?

WorkSafeNB: We want every New Brunswicker to return home safely at the end of the workday. That purpose drives our work with employers, workers, and industry partners to reduce risks, build strong safety cultures, and help prevent workplace injuries. When injuries do occur, we provide compensation and rehabilitation support while helping workers recover and return to meaningful work safely and at the right time. We also work with health care providers and other partners to address barriers to recovery and help prevent long-term disability. Underpinning all of this is our responsibility to maintain a workers’ compensation system that is fair, trusted, and sustainable. Together, these efforts help workers recover, support employers, and create safer workplaces across New Brunswick.

IAIABC: What do you see as some of the major challenges the industry is facing, and how can we as a community address them?

WorkSafeNB: The workers’ compensation industry is being challenged to keep pace with a world of work that is changing quickly. The needs of workers and employers are becoming more complex, expectations for timely and simple service continue to grow, and technology and artificial intelligence are creating new opportunities for how we work and serve clients.

For us, the challenge and the opportunity is to evolve without losing sight of the people at the heart of the system. Technology can make services easier and more accessible, and modernization can help us work differently, but workers’ compensation will always be about people. Workers and employers need to feel heard, supported, and confident in the system when they need it most.

As a workers’ compensation community, we can learn a great deal from one another about how to navigate that change. Sharing what is working, what we are learning, and where we are still figuring things out can help all of us build stronger systems while keeping people at the centre of the decisions we make.

IAIABC: Are there any projects/programs/initiatives going on at your organization that you are particularly excited or enthusiastic about?

WorkSafeNB: What excites us most is not any one project, but how much WorkSafeNB is evolving with the experience of workers and employers at the centre. We are transforming claims management, expanding digital and self-service options, and rethinking how people access information and support. The goal isn’t simply to modernize our systems, but rather, it is to make workers’ compensation easier to navigate, more responsive, and ultimately more helpful to the people who rely on it.

And it isn’t only how we deliver services that need to evolve. The nature of workplace injuries is changing too. Psychological injuries and psychosocial hazards are an increasingly important part of workplace health and safety, requiring us to think differently about prevention, recovery and the supports workers and employers need.

Our new Psychological Health and Safety Resource Centre, workplace grant, and partnerships with organization such as Wounded Warriors Canada are helping us expand that support and bring psychological health and safety more fully into our prevention work.

Together, this work reflects the kind of organization we are working to become - one that evolves as workplaces and the needs of workers and employers change, while always keeping people at the centre.

IAIABC: What's an interesting fact about your organization that most people don't know?

WorkSafeNB: A recent historic moment for WorkSafeNB was returning more than $233 million in performance refunds to assessed employers over two consecutive years, a milestone made possible by the strong financial health of New Brunswick’s workers’ compensation system.  More than a financial milestone, those refunds put money back into the hands of New Brunswick employers, giving them an opportunity to reinvest in their workplaces, their people and in health and safety.

We also host one of Atlantic Canada’s largest annual health and safety conference, now in its 43rd year, bringing workers, employers, leaders, safety professionals and experts together to learn and share ideas. Our 700-seat Health and Safety Conference continues to sell out and is another example of the commitment we see across New Brunswick to safety leadership and creating safer, healthier workplaces.

IAIABC: Why is your organization a member of the IAIABC? What would you tell others about the benefits of membership?

WorkSafeNB: One of the greatest benefits of IAIABC membership is the opportunity for jurisdictions to learn from one another instead of trying to solve the same challenges on their own. Whether we are working through claims modernization, changing client expectations, return to work, psychological health and safety, access to care or emerging technology, there is real value in hearing what others have tried and what they have learned.

 The IAIABC gives us a place to exchange practical ideas, explore leading practices, and build relationships with people who share our commitment to better outcomes for workers and employers. It also gives WorkSafeNB an opportunity to share our experiences and contribute to conversations that can move the industry forward. When jurisdictions share what works, speak openly about what they have learned and tackle common challenges together, we all benefit. That spirit of shared learning is what makes IAIABC membership so valuable.