Participatory Research by Injured Workers: From Reflection to Action on Compensation and Return to Work Issues
| Principal investigator(s): | Bonnie Kirsh (University of Toronto) |
| Co-investigator(s): | Barbara Beardwood (York University); Lynn Cockburn, Pat McKee(University of Toronto); Michael Polanyi (Institute for Work and Health); Karl Crever (Ontario Network of Injured Workers); Costanza Duran (Injured Workers' consultants); Catherine Fenech (Injured worker); Alfred Jean-Baptiste (East End Literacy); Gerry LeBlanc (United Steelworkers of America) |
| Institution: | University of Toronto |
Results
The key finding of this study is that the compensation system and return-to-work process is perceived as problematic and unsatisfactory by a large proportion of injured workers in southern Ontario. For example, less than half of injured workers in the WSIB sample (49%) were satisfied with the claims process, despite the fact that they experienced a high claims acceptance rate (78%) and returned to work promptly. A significant proportion of these workers felt they had to fight for their rights (37%) and felt stressed out by the claims process (45%). Only 32% found their benefits to be adequate to meet their family’s needs. In the occupational health clinic sample of injured workers who had encountered more problems getting their claims accepted, only 14% were satisfied with the claims process, and the proportion who felt stressed by the process was very high (70%).
It is likely that these findings apply to a larger population of workers in Ontario. That means that tens of thousands of injured Ontario workers may be experiencing hardship within the system.
Data collected from injured workers indicate that this hardship has physical, psychological, financial and social dimensions. Our interviews suggest that financial strain, stigmatization, lack of support and social isolation, combined with persistent pain and functional limitations result in stress, depression, anger and despair among injured workers.
Injured workers report that their pain and other physical complaints are questioned, and an atmosphere of distrust develops between workers, the WSIB, and doctors and other health care practitioners. As a result of delays in acceptance, or refusal, of their claims, workers may be forced to live off savings or be supported by other family members as they wait for an appeal. Some have no choice but to go on social assistance. Injured workers may have difficulty accessing the right treatment because of long waiting times, complex approval processes and medical uncertainty about their condition. Employers may not always provide appropriate modified work when it is required for workers returning to work. The job retraining and vocational rehabilitation that is made available may not be suitable for the worker. Furthermore, workers whose routes to recovery are not typical or predictable find themselves within a culture that blames them for their circumstances and interprets their efforts at negotiation or control as resistance.
Conclusions
In sum, the poor treatment and stigmatization of injured workers added to the physical hardship of the injury itself seems to be leading to anger, depression and other negative life impacts for a significant group of injured workers.
The study recommends that injured workers be treated with greater respect, that their dignity be preserved, and that better support be provided for their rehabilitation and return to work. The findings of this project suggest the need to:
- improve access to information and services for injured workers (for example, increase the availability of injured worker support groups)
- increase injured worker decision-making on issues concerning their treatment, retraining and ability to return to work
- enhance injured workers’ financial security by eliminating delays in payments, simplifying the claims process and monitoring employers’ observance of return to work agreements
- ensure that WSIB employees receive sensitivity training and adjudicators increase their awareness of the realities of the workplace.
Injured workers and researchers associated with this project look forward to working with WSIB officials to consider the implications of this study and to take action together to improve the post-injury experiences of injured workers.
Objective
This study explored the experiences of more than 300 injured workers living in southern Ontario. The workers were canvassed through mail-in surveys and in-depth interviews. Based on their reports, this study makes recommendations for changes to the workers’ compensation system in the province.
Method
This study explored the experiences of more than 300 injured workers living in southern Ontario. The workers were canvassed through mail-in surveys and in-depth interviews.
This is the first piece of participatory research (PR) on the experiences of injured workers in Ontario. PR, a variation of what is known as action research, involves a collective approach to social and economic problems by insiders - people who are directly affected by the problem under study. Issues are collectively identified and analyzed and an action plan is created. This kind of process emphasizes alternative, non-dominant systems of producing research and knowledge.
PR was used to stimulate injured worker involvement, build injured worker understanding of their issues and increase their capacity to address these issues. The project was successful in this regard: over 70 injured workers were engaged in the process in some way, 18 were trained and actively involved as peer researchers. Ninety three per cent of peer and academic researchers involved in the project felt they had many opportunities to participate, and the same number felt helped by the project (80% learned a lot more about injured worker issues, and 73% learned a lot more about injured worker resources).
Most of the people who conducted this study are themselves injured workers. These workers, along with a handful of university academics and representatives of worker organizations, identified the key issues to be explored, and adopted a three-pronged approach to the research. First, a survey was constructed based on worker-identified issues and mailed to two groups of injured workers: a random sample of southern Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB, formerly the Workers’ Compensation Board) claimants (n=165), and clients of an occupational health clinic (n=120). The purpose of the survey was to gain a broad view of characteristics of compensation and return to work experiences of injured workers. Second, in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of 17 injured workers who had experienced difficulties with their claims were conducted by trained injured workers in order to deepen our understanding of important issues faced by injured workers. Third, key documents on the experiences of injured workers in Ontario and other jurisdictions were collected and reviewed to provide a context for the project’s findings.
Publications
Kirsh, Bonnie, and McKee, Pat (2003), "The needs and experiences of injured workers: a participatory research study." Work 21(3):221-231.
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