The Workmen's Compensation Act, through the actions of the
Board, has had a significant impact on the lives of workers in British
Columbia and their dependents.
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This chart
illustrates the number of workers in B.C. at the time, how
many were covered by workmen's compensation, and, in each year,
how many had to rely on WCB coverage to some extent.
While the WCB can ease much of the financial burden of injuries,
the lost productivity is gone forever. The only way to
deal with this huge cost is through efforts to prevent injuries
in the first place, a task the WCB has taken on from the very
beginning.
This figure includes all days lost in the year due to
claims from all years. Time charges for fatalities and permanent
disability are not included. Injuries involving time loss of 3
days or less were not counted until 1972.
Beginning in 1935 the days counted were calendar days, due to
a change in how the WCB calculated payments for wage loss cheques.
People receive
pensions as the result of two types of accidents: those resulting
in permanent impairment, where the worker receives a pension,
and those resulting in the death of a worker, where the surviving
widow and children receive pensions.
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