Project will ease ‘burden’ of gathering information from workers who fall ill: WCB
A registry project created to collect data on the work and health history of former workers at the Baie Verte asbestos mine site on the northeast coast of Newfoundland and Labrador has been completed.
The registry is intended to provide information related to asbestos exposure and its health impacts. The information will assist in the adjudication of occupational disease claims and help medical professionals and patients under care for asbestos-related illness, according to the Newfoundland Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission (NWHSCC).
“The registry will ultimately take away the burden of information gathering for any of those workers who become ill,” said NWHSCC CEO Leslie Galway. “It will be of tremendous value for many years to come.”
Collection of the confidential data was carried out by SafetyNet, a research group at Memorial University in St. John's, Nfld. SafetyNet contacted 1,003 individuals who consented to be part of the registry.
The registry project included the development of a secure reporting and information retrieval system through the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information (NLCHI) and a contractual agreement between the NWHSCC and NLCHI for ongoing maintenance and security.
The NWHSCC serves about 12,000 injured workers and 19,000 employers as an employer-funded, no fault insurance system with the goal of promoting safe and healthy workplaces. It collaborated with the United Steelworkers and the Baie Verte Peninsula Miners’ Action Committee to establish the registry.
