During this time, we made many changes — technical, organizational, and strategic — that improved our services to workers and employers in British Columbia.

We changed our name to WorkSafeBC; increased our focus on issues like occupational disease, young and new workers, and training for the forestry industry; and implemented new initiatives to help us provide better service to workers and employers.

Some of our initiatives – environmental tobacco smoke, bullying and harassment, and mental health – challenged social norms and lead to positive societal changes.

These are just some of the developments that helped us to become one of the best-run workers’ compensation systems in the world.

Learn more: Watch a video of highlights from 1992-2017

Highlights

1993 After 75 years of controversy, domestic servants and farm workers come under our umbrella.

1995 Our Panel of Administrators is appointed to govern our organization. It consists of a chair and three other members.

1996 The fourth Royal Commission on workers' compensation issues is appointed, chaired by Judge Gurmail Singh Gill.

1998 Ralph McGinn is appointed as WorkSafeBC president and CEO. Mr. McGinn was our vice-president, Prevention, from 1993 to 1998.

1998 Our 17 B.C. offices now serve 161,770 registered employers and 1.7 million workers.

1998 Bill 14, Workers Compensation (Occupational Health and Safety) Amendment Act, 1998, generally came into force on October 1, 1999. It replaced the occupational health and safety provisions in the Workers Compensation Act with a new Part 3 — Occupational Health and Safety.

1999 Each week in B.C., three workers lose their lives and another 70 sustain permanent injuries. Yet it's a 30 percent improvement over the beginning of the decade.

2000 A new insurance program rolls out for B.C. employers, with all-new classification, rate making, and experience rating plans.

2000 A new online service for employers wishing to apply for workers' compensation coverage debuts. This online registration breaks new ground in service delivery to B.C. employers.

2001 We launch the online Health and Safety Centre, a self-serve resource for workplace health and safety information.

2001 Safety Rules, a campaign focused on young worker safety, launches. The campaign addresses the dangers young workers face. Every 11 minutes of every working day, one young worker will be injured on the job.

2002 The provincial government passes Bill 49 to amend the Workers Compensation Act. The legislation primarily deals with some benefit amounts for injured workers and establishes a new model for our governance.

2002 The provincial government proclaims Bill 63, Amendments to the Workers Compensation Act (No. 2), 2002 that establishes a new Review Division and a new external appeal tribunal called the Workers' Compensation Appeal Tribunal, or WCAT.

2003 The Board of Directors replaces the Panel of Administrators as WorkSafeBC's governing body. The Board of Directors is composed of a chair, one worker representative, one employer representative, a professional who provides health care or rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities, an actuary, and two directors who represent the public interest.

2003 Bill 37,the Skills Development and Labour Statutes Amendment Act, 2003 passes third reading in the provincial legislature on October 8, 2003 and takes effect on December 31, 2003. The legislation amends policies for: survivor's benefits calculations; who can diagnose a worker's mental stress condition; and who can represent a worker in a worker's compensation matter.

2003 Ralph McGinn retires and David Anderson is appointed as WorkSafeBC's president and CEO, effective December 15, 2003. Mr. Anderson was previously our vice-president, Compensation Services, from 1999 to 2003.

2004 Bill 20, the Railway Safety Act, results in the transfer of occupational health and safety jurisdiction to us. Previously it was under the jurisdiction of the provincial government.

2004 Bill 18, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act 2004, provides the authority to delegate the Chief Review Officer's powers and duties, and extends appeal rights for the fishing industry.

2004 April 28, 2004 marked the 20th anniversary of the Day of Mourning in Canada. WorkSafeBC, along with the BC Federation of Labour and the Business Council of B.C., hosts a public ceremony each year to remember workers who lost their lives as a result of work-related accidents or occupational diseases.

2005 The Workers' Compensation Board becomes known as WorkSafeBC. The new name more accurately reflects our focus on prevention, customer service, and return to work. While Workers’ Compensation Board remains our legal name, WorkSafeBC is now the name we use on a daily basis.

2007 Teleclaim launches province wide. Our new contact centre makes it easy for workers to call us for personal assistance if they have a work-related injury or illness.

2008 Amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation improve the health and safety of workers who are working alone or in isolation. The amendments, effective February 1, 2008, require mandatory pre-payment of fuel at gas stations throughout B.C. and specify measures to better protect workers in late night retail premises.

2009 Our new Claims Management Systems (CMS) launches to streamline and manage the claims process more effectively, and improve service to customers. CMS manages all data related to previous, current, and future claims, allowing us to more effectively help workers and employers.

2011 Bill 14, the Workers Compensation Amendment Act, 2011, enacts key legislative changes including compensation for mental disorders, calculation of long-term average earnings for apprentices or learners, and Consumer Price Index adjustments to the dollar values in the Act.

2014 David Anderson retires as president and CEO and is succeeded, effective December 9, 2014 by Diana Miles. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Miles had been our senior vice-president of Worker and Employer Services since 2004.

2015 Bill 9, the Workers Compensation Amendment Act, 2015, makes changes to improve workplace health and safety and strengthen the tools that WorkSafeBC uses to enforce the Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.

2015 Bill 35, the Workers Compensation Amendment Act (No. 2), 2015, builds on the legislative changes made under Bill 9, with a focus on enhancing the ability of joint occupational health and safety committees to play a positive role in creating safer workplaces.