WSIB experience leaves Timmins man frustrated

Eugene R. Jensen
Letters - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 @ 07:00

This letter is regarding the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and my experiences with denial of rightful compensation claims.

For those who are not aware of how the system works, I offer some insight.

I’ve been focusing on this since 1980 and saved all related documentation. I waited until now to present this for fear I would get cut off disability income. I turned 65 on July 18, 2005, and lost both Canada Pension Plan disability and company insurance disability.

WSIB will allow compensation for workers injured on the job with witnesses to verify it. On the other hand, if a worker develops health problems due to workplace environment they tend to blame it on personal medical problems.

WSIB was set up to prevent workers from suing the employer in the event of injury or job related health problems.

It is a safety net for the employer and WSIB employees do everything possible to discourage claimants with a long and complicated process and mountains of paperwork.

I worked for 39 years — mostly shift work — in process operations in a mine mill. This is where mined ore is processed through a number of stages to ultimately recover precious metals.

First, I developed Renaud’s Phenomenon, known as white finger disease, in both hands. Later, I acquired granuloma of the lower left lung, which is simply a pocket of milling dust at the base of the lung.

I registered the two claims with WSIB early in 1996, focusing mainly on the Renaud’s of my fingers as this condition — for which there is no cure — affects my quality of life the most.

I went through WSIB’s complete, complicated process only to be denied entitlement at every turn. I even went to Toronto at the WSIB’s request to see their specialist.

The doctor was given selected documents from WSIB and I was not allowed to bring any of my documentation nor express myself in defence.

Medical tests confirmed Renaud’s but the doctor felt it was probably caused by rheumatoid arthritis noted in the WSIB file given to him.

Problem is, I never ever had rheumatoid arthritis. I was set up royally in what I call a kangaroo court.

A Timmins specialist examined me and wrote a report stating the Renaud’s was workplace related, but WSIB still denied my claim.

I then arranged to have an independent assessment done in Toronto, at my own expense, through the Workers Occupational Health Clinic.

Again, this specialist confirmed my problem and also reported it as related to my workplace.

I sent documentation to the WSIB and was denied again.

After nine years of hassles, I now have no chance for rightful compensation.

As a side note, I received privileged information that 11 claims were registered with the WSIB for white finger disease at my former workplace and only one claim was accepted for compensation benefits.

I have kept all WSIB documents as well as all others from other sources related to my problems to confirm everything that has taken place.

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