In May 2007, the Board of Directors' approved changes to the Assessment Manual’s policies on the determination of workplace status.  The key changes included:

• the elimination of the labour contractor category, and
• the adoption of principles to be applied to distinguish between a worker and an independent operator.

These policy changes were scheduled to come into effect on January 1, 2010.  Since the policies were approved, WorkSafeBC continued to hear ongoing concerns from employers regarding the significant impact of the policy changes on business relationships and activities.  In addition, concerns were raised that Assessment policy is not well positioned to address issues regarding the roles and responsibilities of workplace parties from a health and safety perspective.

On September 16, 2009 the Board of Directors' rescinded the October 2007 policy changes.  The Board of Directors also directed the Policy and Research Division and the Assessment Department to undertake additional analysis on the issues and develop a discussion paper with options and draft policy which focuses on addressing the outstanding assessment issues.