Since its inception five years ago, agencies and stakeholders of the Workplace Safety and Insurance System (WSIS) have been working collaboratively to advance the goals and objectives of the system. Improving outcomes for workers and employers; improving service delivery; ensuring effective governance and financial sustainability has been the focus of this collaborative activity.

Stakeholders have identified issue resolution of compensation decisions as an activity that would improve service delivery throughout the system and several initiatives have been created to respond to this objective. However, the system would benefit from a strategy that coordinates and communicates issue resolution activity. This draft document – the WSIS Issue Resolution Strategy Framework - is meant to fulfill that purpose.

This draft strategic framework contains elements identified by stakeholders from previous consultations; and elements identified from the WSIS agency partners. These elements are interconnected and provide possible mechanisms for preventing issues and seeking resolution to issues when they do develop. The draft strategy also outlines how early issue resolution would happen in a less legalistic, or litigious environment.

The draft strategy contains suggested activity for improving decision quality; ensuring that the right decision is made the first time; and exploring opportunities for resolving issues early outside of the formal appeal stream. The end result will be an improved service environment for injured workers and employers; an environment that seeks to resolve issues clearly, respectfully and in a non adversarial way.

A strategy is only as good as the activity that flows from it, resulting in change. That is why the strategy contains a commitment to monitor performance. This will ensure that stakeholders and agency partners of the WSIS are able to gauge if the strategy is attaining the intended outcomes.

We are committed to hearing from stakeholders as this strategy develops. The first step is to illicit feedback on this framework. Throughout this document you will notice a series of questions to assist you in drafting comments.

We would ask that all written submissions be sent not later than January 29, 2010. 

Written submissions can be sent electronically to: wsis@gov.ns.ca

Or by mail to:

WSIS Policy Analyst
WCB of Nova Scotia
PO Box 1150
Halifax NS B3J 2Y2

Once written comments have been submitted, then a small working group will be assembled to assist us in next steps of the process. It is expected this will occur in February 2010.

WSIS Issue Resolution Strategy Framework