Document name
Coverage – First Responders
Document number
POL 07/2005

Effective date: November 1, 2005

Application: First Responders of Health Regions of Saskatchewan.

Policy subject: Employer coverage and registration

Purpose:

To establish guidelines for coverage of first responders.

DEFINITION

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First Responders means personnel who are:

  1. volunteers that have completed training in emergency first response as certified by the Saskatchewan Department of Health (Saskatchewan Health).
  2. registered with Saskatchewan Health; and
  3. registered as current members of a first responder group that has a mutual aid agreement with a Saskatchewan health region.

Emergency means an occasion when a Saskatchewan health region calls out or dispatches first responders to an emergency situation.

BACKGROUND

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  1. Under Subsection 3(3) of The Workers’ Compensation Act, 2013, (the “Act”), the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) has extended coverage to volunteer first responders sponsored by the various health regions in the Province of Saskatchewan.
  2. First responders are unpaid volunteers trained in first aid and organized to provide prompt initial emergency care for the sick or injured. They are able to offer initial resuscitation, stabilization and support while ambulance services are enroute. The health region typically dispatches first responders through the same mechanism as ambulance services, and usually at the same time.

POLICY

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  1. Subject to the conditions of this policy, coverage under the Act is extended to those first responders while in the course of responding to an emergency incident when called upon by their respective health regions.
  2. First responders must be registered with their respective health region.

Terms and Conditions

  1. Coverage shall be in effect from the time of notification of an emergency, and includes travel from the individual's residence or location to the site of the emergency and return, provided there is no deviation for personal reasons. Coverage does not extend to situations where a first responder is acting as a “Good Samaritan” without the authority of a call out from a health region.
  2. If there is loss of earnings the calculation of wage loss benefits for any claims arising out of this policy will be based on:
    1. All earnings from a first responder’s employment in industries covered by the Act;
    2. Where there are no covered earnings, the provincial minimum wage for a forty- hour workweek for the first 24 months of demonstrated earnings loss;
    3. Where wage loss benefits have been paid for a period exceeding 24 consecutive months, on two-thirds of the average weekly wage as of June in the year immediately preceding the year in which the loss of earnings or ability to earn occurs;
    4. In the event of a fatality, benefits to the dependent spouse will be based on the provisions under Section 81 of the Act.
  3. The costs for claims arising out of this policy are to be applied directly to the cost experience of the respective health region in which the first responder is registered and will be reflected in future premiums of the health region.

Policy references

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Legislative Authority

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The Workers’ Compensation Act, 2013

2(1)(ii)(ii), 3(3), 81
The Workers’ Compensation Miscellaneous Regulations 3(gg).

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Document History

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POL 11/98 Coverage, First Responders

01 January 2014. References updated in accordance with The Workers’ Compensation Act, 2013
Reference updated 01 May 2015 in accordance with The Workers’ Compensation Miscellaneous Regulations

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Complements

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