DiNovo calls for protection of front-line workers

NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo held a press conference today to discuss her Private Member’s Bill to amend the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act with regards to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The bill ensures front-line workers – police, fire-fighters, and paramedics who suffer PTSD during or because of their employment are entitled to insurance benefits.

 

“As with many Health and Safety issues in the workplace, post-traumatic stress disorder is impossible to predict and can occur to anyone at any time,” said DiNovo. “These changes assure that PTSD would be recognized as an occupational disease. As such, these workers are entitled to necessary benefits to get the treatment they need. This bill will help the workers come forward, get the necessary treatment, and get back to work.”

 

Under the current system, front-line workers must go through painstaking steps in order to receive WSIB benefits. The claims simply take too long with many workers falling through the cracks and never receiving treatment.

 

The Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association, the Police Association of Ontario, OPSEU Paramedics, and the Ontario Paramedic Association agree on the need for reform and were at the press conference to support DiNovo’s bill.

 

In 2012, the Ombudsman released an investigative report on stress injuries affecting police officers and slammed the government for the lack of action on PTSD among officers.

 

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a type of mental stress that can occur after one has seen or experienced a traumatic event. It is characterized by reliving a psychologically traumatic situation through flashbacks and nightmares.

 

DiNovo is calling on all parties to support front-line workers in Ontario. This is the fourth time the bill will be tabled. It was previously tabled in 2008, 2010, and 2012.