Return to Work
A SHARED ACCOUNTABILITY
Focus On the First 30 Days
Time matters. The faster we respond to a claim, connect the worker to the right treatment, and help them get back to work, the better. Our focus has been on the critical first 30 days after an injury, and it’s making a difference. With the right support at the right time, more people are getting back to work sooner. Because we all want the same thing – Nova Scotians working.
Service
Excellence.
Faster Response.
Providing efficient and effective service is at the heart of how we’re improving outcomes. We’ve set new service level standards for the first 30 days.
Timely contact in 2 days
Decisions in 7 days
Payment in 15 days
Response in 2 days
Return to work starts with accountability
When someone is injured at work, it takes the worker, their employer, and WCB all doing their part to support recovery and return to work.
We know workers want to get back to their lives, and employers want a strong, stable workforce.
WCB is on a path to hold ourselves, workers, and employers accountable to the process so that workers have a clear, supported path to recovery and return to work.
Play Video
These words from Brandon Gallant, one of our Return-to-Work Specialists, speak to the heart behind what drives our purpose.
“A big part of the Return-to-Work Specialist role is helping people understand what value they bring to the recovery process,” says Brandon. “At the end of the day, the worker is the captain of the ship. We’re the support team. Your physio, your casework team, your employer – we’re the supports.”
When workers believe they can do something and have the right support system around them, amazing things happen. Learn more about how we help facilitate timely and safe return to work for Nova Scotians.
We protect the Nova Scotia workforce. And it starts with our people.
Return to work is not just return to work, it's return to life
Play Video
Working Together to Keep Nova Scotians Safely Working
Strong return-to-work partnerships are built on trust, open dialogue, and accountability. WCB, workers, and employers are leading the way in helping more people recover safely and return to work sooner.
Watch how WCB is working with employers like Home Hardware on a new partnership model designed to strengthen our collaboration, enhance return-to-work outcomes, and drive system improvement that helps more Nova Scotians get back to work.
Play Video
Jim MacDonald had never missed a day of work. Like for so many of us, work was more than just a paycheque.
It was meaningful. Enriching. It gave a sense of purpose and contributed significantly to his overall wellbeing.
Until one fateful day in the spring of 2023 when Jim, an appliance salesperson at a Dartmouth hardware store, went to move a heavy box. This was a routine task he’d done hundreds of times before but like the dryer that suddenly collapsed out of it, so too did Jim’s life change in an instant.
A hospital visit the next day revealed a shattered pelvis and torn rotator cuff.
Injuries in the workplace are unexpected, unpredictable and far too often, a shocking upheaval in a person’s daily life.
The Impact We Can Make
Play Video
Protecting More People from More Kinds of Injury
In 2024, we expanded coverage to include gradual onset psychological injury. This promotes psychologically safe workplaces and helps workers get back to work sooner.
