Conditions for Entitlement – Infectious Diseases Policy 21-109 | Effective Date: March 19, 2021

WorkSafeNB adjudicates all claims for compensation involving a personal injury caused by accident arising out of and in the course of employment, including claims for infectious diseases, using Section 7 of the Workers’ Compensation Act (WC Act) and Policy 21-100 Conditions for Entitlement – General Principles.  

To determine if an infectious disease arose out of and in the course of employment, evidence must show that the risk of contracting the disease through the employment is greater than the risk associated with contracting the disease through day to day living.

Interpretation

1. An infectious disease may be contracted through a variety of life situations, including being passed directly or indirectly from person to person, transmitted from insect bites, ingesting contaminated food or water, or exposure to organisms in the environment. A person may be as likely to contract an infectious disease in a social or recreational situation, as they are at work. 

2. When determining if the disease arose out of and in the course of employment, WorkSafeNB may ask the following questions when gathering sufficient evidence upon which to base the decision:

• Does the worker have a confirmed diagnosis of a specific infectious disease?
• Was there confirmation that the disease was present in the workplace?
• Was the worker exposed to the infectious disease in the workplace?
• Does the evidence show that the worker was at a significantly greater risk of contraction the infectious disease due to their employment, than they would have been as a member of the general public?
• Could the exposure have occurred outside the workplace?
• Would the nature of the worker's employment activities allow for the transmission of the infectious disease?
• Was the incubation period oft the infectious disease clinically compatible with the worker's symptoms and timing of the disease?
• Did the worker use personal protective equipment in the workplace?
• Was there a documented community outbreak of this infectious disease?

3. Once WorkSafeNB is satisfied that the sufficient information related to the claim has been gathered, it uses the process outlined in Policy 21-100 Conditions for Entitlements- General Principles to adjudicate the claim.