In 2000, the Description of Disease column of Schedule B of the Workers Compensation Act was amended to list specific forms of bursitis, tendinitis and tenosynovitis instead of listing each of these diseases generally.

This change unintentionally created an omission because bursitis, tendinitis and tenosynovitis were no longer listed generally as recognized occupational diseases, in legislation or policy. Therefore, each time a worker made a claim for one of these diseases in respect of a body part not listed in Schedule B, the disease had to be recognized as an occupational disease by order in a specific case before adjudication of entitlement could proceed.

This was a problem because the order in a specific case method of occupational disease recognition was typically limited to claims involving rarely encountered or unique conditions. It required a process that was cumbersome and administratively inefficient for handling claims in respect of commonly recognized occupational diseases such as bursitis, tendinitis and tenosynovitis.

The proposed amendments in the discussion paper were intended to address the problem that unintentionally resulted from the changes to Schedule B in 2000.

Consultation closed February 14, 2007.