WCB PRACTICE DIRECTIVE #12-8

WorkSafeBC has obligations to protect the worker’s privacy under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Treating clinicians are provided information about the worker on a “need to know” basis. This means that WorkSafeBC can advise the treating clinician about the need to communicate a decision or information and its concern about the worker’s psychological reaction but not the content of the decision.4 For example, an officer arranges to communicate a decision to the worker by telephone while the worker is at their doctor’s office. The officer, through the Medical Advisor, will have made arrangements with the doctor ahead of time to have the worker in the doctor’s office to receive the decision verbally. The officer does not reveal the substance of the decision to the doctor. The worker’s doctor is available to provide support if the worker becomes emotionally distressed.