WCB Overview

WCB Nova Scotia is the province’s provider of workplace injury insurance.

  • Pursuant to the Workers’ Compensation Act, the Workers’ Compensation Board provides workplace injury insurance to workers and employers in Nova Scotia. WCB Nova Scotia protects the Nova Scotia workforce. We inform and inspire Nova Scotians in the prevention of workplace injury, but when it occurs, we provide security from its impact to workers and their families, in support of healthy and safe return to work. 
  • Our work keeps people working. We work with employers to help prevent workplace injuries and to establish strong return-to-work programs. When injury occurs, we support workers to return to work in a safe and timely manner. We provide income replacement benefits, supporting rehabilitation and offering return-to-work assistance. We also provide extended benefits in cases where a worker is no longer able to work due to their workplace injury, and we support families in the wake of workplace tragedy.
  • WCB’s Strategic Plan sets a bold vision to protect more workers and employers from the impact of workplace injury by 2030. The Strategic Plan delivers a shared vision for a safer province, and a system that ensures Nova Scotians who are hurt at work are safe and supported to get back to their jobs, and their lives, sooner. It’s a plan for a better organization, a better system, and a better province. 
  • We are a leader in Nova Scotia’s growing workplace safety culture. Our social marketing campaigns spark important conversations and behaviour changes related to workplace safety.

Land Acknowledgment

At the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia, we acknowledge that we are in Mi’kma’ki, the traditional unceded and current territory of the Mi’kmaq. We are all treaty people who benefit greatly from the shared resources of this land, covered by the treaties of Peace and Friendship. As the province’s provider of workplace injury insurance, we are grateful to work on this land. We are committed to building trusted relationships with Indigenous peoples — to learn about their community, to better understand their history from their perspectives, and to help us provide exceptional service to all Nova Scotians, as we work toward reconciliation and equity within our community.

Our Partners

WCB Nova Scotia’s work in our province is important, but the progress in reducing the impact of workplace injury in recent years doesn’t happen alone. Workers, employers, health service providers, government, and a wide range of partner organizations work together to protect our province’s people, every single day. Learn more about our partnerships.

WCB Facts and Figures

  • We provide insurance to 20,600 employers in Nova Scotia and insure 353,000 workers.
  • In any given year, about 50,000 claims receive a payment of some kind with the WCB, a number relatively unchanged in several years.
  • More than 9 of 10 injured workers are able to return to work at their full pre-injury earnings.

Our History

The workers’ compensation system in Nova Scotia is founded on The Meredith Principles, developed in 1913. These principles anchor workers’ compensation in Canada. At their core is a simple idea: compromise. Based on the Meredith Principles, workers were eligible for benefits when injury occurred, but in exchange, employers could not be sued. These principles were adopted to form the basis of the Canadian workplace injury insurance, and still guide our work today. In 1915, Nova Scotia’s first Workers’ Compensation Act was proclaimed and, on January 1, 1917, the Workers' Compensation Board of Nova Scotia first opened its doors for business. While the work and progress in supporting injury prevention and return to work has evolved over the last 100+ years, the core principles that underline and guide our work have not. To learn more about the history of workers’ compensation in Canada, visit the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada.