The services offered on this site (the “Online Services”) are operated and provided by the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia (the “Board”).  The following terms and conditions govern the use of Online Services by all users which may include, without limitation, (i) individual workers with a claim, (ii) registered employers, and (iii) contracted tiered health service providers (collectively, “Users” or “You”).  Please review these conditions carefully.  If you or your organization does not agree to abide by these Terms of Use, You will not be permitted to use the Online Services.  Except for contracted tiered service providers, Users may still request access to or obtain information by mail or phone.

Access

By registering, accessing or using the Online Services, You are signifying your acknowledgement and agreement to these Terms of Use. Any information, data or other materials which you receive or to which You have access via this site is to be used for authorized purposes only. Your access and use of the Online Services is subject to periodic audit by the Board to monitor compliance.

All Users

1. You are solely responsible and accountable for protecting the security of your account. If You have any reason to believe that unauthorized access to your account has occurred, You must immediately notify the Board and provide any and all information relevant to the incident(s) in question.
2. Changing information using the Online Services will change the information on the Board’s central system of record. If You save inaccurate changes to your Online Services account, this may impact the timeliness and/or relevance of correspondence to You from the Board.
3. Once You have received confirmation of successful registration, You agree to receive administrative notifications from the Board through the Online Services to your registered email address associated with Your account.
4. If You wish to deactivate your account at any time, You must contact the Board via your Online Services account with a clear request for account deactivation.  
5. You shall ensure all communications using the Online Services take place in a respectful, polite and professional manner and do not contain offensive, legally objectionable content.  Failure to adhere to this condition may result in deactivation of your account by the Board, in its sole discretion, without notice.
6. If You receive information via the Online Services that you believe is inaccurate, incomplete, corrupted in transmission or not intended for You, You must immediately notify the Board for clarification.  Further, if the Board determines there is a need for corrective action, You agree to cooperate fully until the matter is resolved to the satisfaction of the Board.

Organizations (Registered Employers or Contracted Tiered Service Providers)

Organizations may (through a designated Online Services Account Administrator) delegate and authorize access to the Online Services to additional Users within the organization only where it is reasonable and necessary for it to fulfill its duties and obligations under the Workers’ Compensation Act or under contract with the Board.

The Board is not responsible for the inappropriate use or disclosure of information made available through the Online Services, including information about You, or with respect to any third party, by any User given access to Online Services. 

Use of the Online Services is mandatory for tiered service providers under contract with the Board.  The contracted tiered service provider’s designated contact person will be set up as the initial Online Services Account Administrator.

If you are an Online Services Account Administrator for your organization, You are also responsible for providing and administering authorized use of Online Services by Users in your organization. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, You are responsible for terminating the access credentials of any User immediately upon (i) such individual ceasing to be employed by your organization or (ii) such individual ceasing to perform any duties directly related to workers’ compensation claims or account management.

As an Online Services Account Administrator, You acknowledge and agree that:

1. You are solely responsible and accountable for managing access privileges for all Users within your organization and furthermore, You must ensure that all Users protect the security of user ID’s and passwords at all times.
2. Each account user must be made aware of and agree to these Terms of Use before granted access to the Online Services.

Security

The Board is committed to maintaining the security of information it holds and we will use physical, electronic and organizational safeguards to help protect your information as appropriate.  Examples of safeguards include: limited access to relevant information by authorized employees of the Board only and use of firewalls for electronically stored and transmitted information.

While the Board makes every effort to ensure the safety and integrity of the Online Services, the Board is only responsible for the information You send using the Online Services after it has been transmitted and received.  As such, You should take steps to keep your system safe.  These steps may include the following precautions:

• keep confidential all passwords and any password reset questions and answers;  
• use and update anti-virus, firewall and anti-spyware software; 
• keep your browser and operating system up to date with the most current patches and security updates;
• when logged into the Online Services, never leave your computer unattended;
• log off your system whenever activity in the Online Services is completed;
• clear/close your browser cache after logging off from the Online Services.

Regarding password secrecy, it is important to remember that other than the initial Online Services login page and password reset page (should you opt to reset your password), the Board will never request a user password while Users are interacting with the Online Services. 

Although the information provided to us via the Online Services is secure, the Board cannot guarantee the security of information sent to Board’s standard e-mail address while in transit.  As such, it is not recommended that you transmit sensitive, confidential, privileged or personal information to the Board via our standard e-mail system at this time.  For all such matters, please contact us by secure online message, telephone, facsimile or regular letter mail.

WCB Nova Scotia Email Policy

On a limited basis, from time to time, WCB Nova Scotia will email subscribers to online channels via their personal email addresses submitted during the registration process.

These emails will be used to update workers, employers and service providers about issues and/or updates related to our online services and relevant operational/organizational updates. This may include, but is not limited to: 

• Upcoming periods of extended, planned downtime for online channels
• Communication during periods of extended downtime, related to the issue, work to resolve it, and other information users may need to know
• Availability of significantly new features on online channels
• Need to know account maintenance or password-related information
• Any urgent or security-related information
• Updates on the WCB’s services and operations, including those administrative in nature 
• The promotion of applicable resources such as those relating to workplace health and safety, claim and injury management, and return-to-work content

These email communications, on these user lists, will NOT be used to:

• Share any confidential or private claim, policy, or business-related information

These are email messages managed via a third-party provider, and are separate and distinct from secure messages.
Email messages will conform to the requirements of CASL, which means that they must include clear information on the sender, and, the opportunity to unsubscribe from future communications.

Copyright

Copyright of the content of the site and the Online Services is owned by the Board and is protected by copyright law.  Copying, republishing or reproducing this material wholly or in part is expressly forbidden without the advance, written consent of the Board.

Trademark or Logos

All trademarks or logos appearing on this site or the Online Services relating to the Board are trademarks or logos of the Board. Use or reproduction of these is strictly prohibited without prior written permission of the Board.

All other product and company names mentioned in the Online Services are the trademarks of their respective owners.  It may be necessary for You to seek permission from the owner prior to use.

Links to other Websites

Some of pages contained on this site may contain links to other websites not under the Board’s control.  The Board does not control the contents of these other websites and is not responsible for the accuracy, currency, reliability or content of these websites.  Further, the Board does not confirm the information provided or endorse the views, products, or services of those organizations.

Privacy

The Board recognizes and seeks to protect the privacy rights of any of its authorized users of the Online Services.  In the course of operating the Online Services, we may collect two types of information: Personal Information and Anonymous Information.  

The Board may collect some or all of the following information (“Personal Information”) about each User of the Online Services:

• first name; 
• last name;
• address;
• phone and/or fax number(s);
• position title or professional designation;
• email address; and
•  a password reset question and answer.

This information is collected for the purposes of registration for and the administration of the Online Services.  This information may also be used or disclosed in order to track unauthorized access to the Online Services. By providing this information, You consent to its collection, use and disclosure for these purposes or a use consistent with these purposes. 

Personal Information may also be collected when You complete and submit forms to the Board via Online Services.   By completing and transmitting these forms You consent to the collection, use and disclosure of any Personal Information that may be contained in said form(s) and confirm you are authorized to share any personal information respecting third parties for the purpose for which the form(s) is submitted or for a use consistent with that purpose.  Personal Information contained on these forms may also be used and disclosed where permitted or required by law, including pursuant to the provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Workers’ Compensation Act and other applicable laws.    

"Anonymous Information" is information of an anonymous nature such as an Internet Protocol Address ("IP Address"), the domain used to access the Online Services, the date and time of your visit, the web pages or services accessed using the Online Services and the type and version of browser or operating system being used. Aggregate information, such as demographic statistics of Users (e.g. geographic location), number of visitors and average time spent logged in to the Online Services is also considered Anonymous Information.

The Board’s web servers automatically collect and record Anonymous Information.  This information will be used for statistical purposes in order to assess what services are of most interest to Users, and to identify problems in the system.  It is also used in order to identify unauthorized interference.  This information is not linked to other data in a way that would enable the Board to identify individual visitors with the following exception: this information may be linked to identifying information (e.g., the Business Number of a registered employer or the Personal Information of the account holder) in order to identify interference and/or unauthorized access to the Online Services.  

By agreeing to these Terms of Use, you agree to the use and disclosure of Personal Information for these purposes or for a use consistent with these purposes.   

The Board’s web servers use session cookies, which expire when the user closes the browser and are not stored on your hard-drive. These session cookies do not contain any personally identifying information.  If you disable these cookies, the Online Services will be inoperable.  

Access or Storage of Personally Identifying Information Outside of Canada 

The Board adheres to terms and conditions pursuant to the Personal Information International Disclosure Protection Act (PIIDPA) and access to the Online Services is, therefore, only permitted within Canada.  You agree that in no event will You or any User within your organization access the Online Services or store, transmit or otherwise make available any information contained in on this site or obtained using the Online Services outside Canada.  Failure to adhere to this condition will result in immediate termination of your services with the Board and/or deactivation of your Online Services account, and may also be an offence that You are subject to a fine for under PIIDPA.   

Limitation of Liability

Use of the Online Services is at your own risk.

In no event shall the Board be liable for any damages of any type resulting from any cause whatsoever, whether arising in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, in relation to the use of, delivery of, or reliance upon the Online Services.

Without restricting the generality of the foregoing, to the full extent permissible by law the Board disclaims all liability for any claim in relation to:

• any matters or factors outside of its control, including the availability or unavailability of the Internet, or telecommunications or other infrastructure systems; 
• the availability or unavailability of the Internet, or telecommunications or other infrastructure systems due to routine or other systems maintenance;
• the availability or unavailability of the Online Services for any reason; 
• any illegal or fraudulent use of the Online Services; 
• any loss or damage suffered as a result of unauthorized access to the Online Services.

The Board makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the security of any data or information transmitted via the Online Services or accuracy of any information contained therein and shall not be responsible for any data transmitted, or which you attempt to transmit, to the Board which is lost or corrupted.

External Service Providers

The Board may procure the services of external service providers in order to effectively operate, administer and audit the use of the Online Services.  Such service providers enter into agreements with the Board wherein they are required to keep confidential all information they may be exposed to in the provision of services in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

Revisions of these Terms of Use

The Board may at any time revise/update any of the Terms of Use conditions set out herein without notice to you.  All Users are bound by these conditions and should, therefore, periodically visit this Terms of Use page to review any changes to these requirements.

General

These Terms of Use are governed by the laws of the Province of Nova Scotia and applicable laws of Canada; by accessing the site you agree to irrevocably submit to the authority of the jurisdiction of the Courts of Nova Scotia.