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 works to reduce the human and financial impact of workplace injury. 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. 
• We work with employers to help prevent workplace injuries and to establish strong return-to-work programs. When injury occurs, we support injured 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.
• With newfound financial sustainability, the WCB’s 2021-2023 Strategic Priorities call for a continued focus on workplace injury prevention, helping workers and employers achieve safe and timely return to work, and ensuring the WCB is appropriately funded to support Nova Scotians into the future. To achieve this, the WCB is fostering an engaged workforce, and an overall organizational culture with a greater focus on diversity and inclusion.
• 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.

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.
• After years of working from a place of financial imbalance, Nova Scotia’s workers’ compensation system is approaching financial sustainability. WCB Nova Scotia is committed to establishing a long-term funding approach that ensures a sustainable system for today and for the future.

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.