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Bill 39, Emergency Intervention Disclosure Act – 2012
Bill 39, the Emergency Intervention Disclosure Act (“EIDA”) was enacted on May 31, 2012.
Under Bill 39, an individual may apply to the Provincial Court for a testing order if he or she has come into contact with a bodily substance of another individual:
- while providing emergency health services;
- while performing his or her duties as a firefighter, emergency medical assistant or peace officer; or
- while involved in a prescribed circumstance or while carrying out a prescribed activity.
The testing order will be undertaken in cases where the source individual does not voluntarily submit to testing. The results of the testing order will determine if the source individual is infected with a pathogen that causes a prescribed communicable disease. The list of “communicable diseases” will be prescribed by regulation under the EIDA by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
Bill 39 also includes consequential amendments to the Workers Compensation Act (“Act”) to establish a presumption of disease exposure for qualified individuals who have obtained a testing order and are seeking workers’ compensation benefits.
Under this amendment, if a worker who has obtained a testing order has contracted a communicable disease, it must be presumed, unless there is evidence to the contrary, that the communicable disease is due to the nature of the worker’s employment, if:
- the worker came into contact with the bodily substance of the source individual in the course of the worker’s employment; and
- the test results obtained under a testing order issued under the EIDA indicate that the source individual is infected with a pathogen that causes the communicable disease contracted by the worker.
Claims for compensation for an infectious agent or disease exposure, including contagious diseases, are currently adjudicated and accepted by WorkSafeBC based on existing legislation and policy. The Bill 39 amendments will not change WorkSafeBC’s current practice of adjudicating and accepting claims for compensation following exposures to infectious agents or diseases.
The implementation of the EIDA and the consequential amendments to the Act provide a presumption in favour of workers’ compensation coverage for those workers who meet the new legislative requirements.
The Bill 39 amendments came into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council on March 2, 2013.