WSIB Policy Agenda 2025

Policy’s 2024 year in review

What did we accomplish?

In 2024, our Policy and Consultation Services team continued to make our policies easier to understand and apply, consistent with the 

 and the Occupational Disease Policy Framework.

Highlights of 2024

We collaborated with government to implement statutory and regulatory changes, including:

• Engaged with the provincial government to support amendments to Ontario Regulation 253/07, to extend presumptive coverage for cancers and heart injuries to include wildland firefighters and fire investigators, and subsequently operationalized the changes through policy.
• Engaged with the provincial government to support amendments to section 15.1 of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 (WSIA), which amends the presumption of work-relatedness for primary-site esophageal cancer in firefighters and fire investigators. These changes were subsequently operationalized through policy.
• Engaged with the provincial government to support further amendments to section 15.1 of the WSIA, which amends the presumption of work-relatedness for primary-site skin cancer in firefighters and fire investigators. We are currently in the process of operationalizing these changes through policy.
• Engaged with the provincial government to support amendments to section 14 of the WSIA, to extend presumptive coverage for post-traumatic stress disorder to include wildland firefighters and investigators. We are currently in the process of operationalizing these changes through policy.
• Engaged with the provincial government to support amendments to Ontario Regulation 175/98 to enable the introduction of a new classification for the supply of administrative, clerical, and knowledge-based labour for temporary employment agencies (TEAs), effective in 2025.

We completed a comprehensive public policy consultation on our independent living suite of policies, in response to the Serious Injury Program value-for-money audit.

We supported the development and launch of the Foreign Agricultural Worker Strategy; the review was announced in September 2023, and has resulted in new measures to help foreign agricultural workers recover from an injury or illness in Ontario, and to treat them fairly when they return to their home country.

A new self-serve approach to historical policies

The launch of our new online policy archive on December 5, 2024 provides easy, self-serve access to historical operational policies. This improvement in customer service allows customers and workplace parties to find policies they may need to support older claims or accounts issues.

Delivering on the Occupational Disease Strategy

We launched a new Occupational disease policy webpage to help customers and workplace parties stay informed of the latest occupational disease research and policy updates.

The page includes:

• information about the foundational pillars of our Occupational Disease Strategy;
• updates on current occupational disease policy work and ongoing research grants;
• access to our completed occupational disease policy projects, including completed research, policies, and other supporting materials; and
• links to other key resources, such as major reports relevant to occupational disease policy.

The Scientific Advisory Table on Occupational Disease supports us in the gathering and reviewing of scientific evidence for the purposes of occupational disease policy development. In 2024, the table aided in scoping scientific reviews related to hernia, medical cannabis, and diesel exhaust as it related to lung and bladder cancers.

The table collaborated with our occupational disease policy team to interpret the current scientific evidence on the association between occupational exposure to asbestos and the risk of gastrointestinal cancer. This work informed our updates to our 16-02-11 Gastrointestinal Cancer - Asbestos Exposure policy, the first major policy update under the Occupational Disease Strategy.

2024 Policy statistics at a glance

* nearly 400 inquiries as of December 13, 2024

Our annual policy agenda

The WSIB’s

 and the Occupational Disease Policy Framework both describe how we keep our Operational Policy Manual up-to-date and clear and provide appropriate guidance about how policies are applied. These Frameworks also describe our approach to stakeholder engagement in policy development. As part of that approach, each year we publish a policy agenda describing the items that we plan to review in the upcoming year.

The policy agenda gives stakeholders advance notice of anticipated items that may involve consultation. In line with the WSIB’s commitment to open communication, the policy agenda may also include items that do not require stakeholder consultation. We post all policy changes on our policy update and clarifications page.

The following organizational factors and priorities are key drivers of our 2025 policy agenda:

• As we move forward with our Strategic Plan and our drive to make things better, easier and faster for our customers, we rely on the WSIB’s policy area for advice and support.
• We are modernizing our services, and this requires policy support to enable the best customer outcomes.
• A number of projects from prior years are ongoing and continue to require policy leadership, input and expertise.
• We are continuing to monitor developments in science and medicine to help with evidence-based decision-making. The WSIB’s policy area will also continue to commission scientific reviews, as appropriate, to support the Occupational Disease Strategy.
• We’ll strive to actively gather stakeholder feedback while recognizing the finite capacity and resources of the WSIB and stakeholders.

Policy agenda 2025

As policies are amended, we’ll continue to update the new online policy archive for our customers.

We’ll provide support for implementation of the new TEA classification.

In 2022, we launched a consultation related to the independent living policy suite as part of our response to recommendations in the value-for-money audit of the Serious Injury Program. In early 2024, we engaged stakeholders on proposed revisions to the policies. The revised policy suite will be advance posted prior to implementation. We’re currently aiming for this posting to occur in mid to late 2025.

In 2025, we’ll support the organizational approach related to potential revisions to the in-year rate adjustment process.

In 2025, we plan to consult on a draft Noise-Induced Hearing Loss policy, which will reflect changes in evidence and modernize our approach to decision-making.

In 2024 we committed to a number of ongoing occupational disease initiatives, and these will continue throughout 2025, including:

• Investigating the association between benzene and acute myeloid leukemia, and trichloroethylene and kidney cancer as first outlined in the 2023 Policy Agenda.
• Receiving the final external systematic review on occupational asbestos exposure and lung cancer.
• Continuing to work with the research team investigating the relationship between diesel engine exhaust and lung and bladder cancers; as well as the research team investigating silica and lung cancer.

We will also continue:

• To work closely and consult with the Scientific Advisory Table on Occupational Disease to develop new research grants and support policy development and scheduling with the best available scientific evidence.
• To review our approach to Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program claims as part of implementing the case management portion of our new Foreign Agricultural Worker Strategy.
• To support operational and accounts transformation initiatives that make it easier for people with claims and businesses to work with us.

Finally, we’ll carry on with our goal of meeting customer needs and expectations, while maintaining policy capacity to support any potential legislative changes.