NS Court: WCB must name firms with most injuries

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Court: WCB must name firms with most injuries

By KELLY SHIERS Staff Reporter

Tue. Dec 9 - 2:55 PM

Nova Scotians have the right to know which workplaces in the province have experienced the highest number of injuries, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court has ruled.

The Chronicle-Herald has been battling to name those companies since Feb. 2007, when it asked the Workers Compensation Board to identify the 25 companies that reported the most accidents and injuries in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

This newspaper was forced to go to Nova Scotia Supreme Court to obtain the information after the WCB defied a decision by the province's top freedom of information watchdog to release the names.

"I accept that the disclosure of the names of the 25 employers with the most workplace accidents could embarrass them," Justice Gregory Warner wrote in a decision released Tuesday. "It should only stigmatize them if they can improve their safety record and do not do so."

Justice Warner said he rejected the argument that the embarrassment would be permanent, or long term.

"On the contrary, disclosure should encourage a workplace with a comparatively poor safety record to improve its safety record.

( kshiers@herald.ca)

FULL ARTICLE: <http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9009749.html>

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