BILL NO. 2

(as introduced)

3rd Session, 58th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
52 Elizabeth II, 2003

Private Member's Bill

Workers' Compensation Act (amended)

Frank Corbett
Cape Breton Centre

First Reading: March 28, 2003

(Explanatory Note)

Second Reading:

Third Reading:

This Bill creates a rebuttable presumption that where a firefighter employed for a minimum period gets certain types of cancer, such injury is an occupational disease, the dominant cause of which is the employment.

Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 Section 12 of Chapter 10 of the Acts of 1994-95, the Workers' Compensation Act, is amended by adding immediately after subsection (5) the following subsections:

(6) For the purpose of subsection (1), where a worker who is or has been a firefighter suffers an injury that is

(a) a primary-site brain cancer;

(b) a primary-site bladder cancer;

(c) a primary-site kidney cancer;

(d) a primary non-Hodgkins lymphoma; or

(e) a primary leukemia,

the injury is presumed to be an occupational disease, the dominant cause of which is the employment as a firefighter, unless the contrary is proven.

(7) The presumption in subsection (6) applies only to a worker who has been a full-time member of a firefighting department for a minimum period of

(a) ten years in the case of an injury referred to in clause (6)(a);

(b) fifteen years in the case of an injury referred to in clause (6)(b);

(c) twenty years in the case of an injury referred to in clause (6)(c) or (d); or

(d) five years in the case of an injury referred to in clause (6)(e),

who has been regularly exposed to the hazards of a fire scene, other than a forest-fire scene, throughout that period.

(8) The presumption in subsection (6) applies only to accidents that happen on or after January 1, 1993.

(9) The Board shall

(a) no later than one year after the coming into force of this subsection, determine

(i) the minimum period of employment as a casual or part-time member of a municipal fire brigade, and

(ii) the minimum period of service as a volunteer firefighter,

for each of the injuries set forth in subsection (6);

(b) monitor research being conducted that relates to the question of whether primary colon cancer is an occupational disease, the dominant cause of which is employment as a firefighter and, where the Board considers necessary, conduct research on that question;

(c) determine

(i) whether the research referred to in clause (b) supports primary colon cancer being added to the list of injuries set forth in subsection (6), and

(ii) the appropriate minimum period of employment that should be prescribed in subsection (7) in relation to primary colon cancer if a determination made under subclause (i) supports it being added to the list; and

(d) prepare a report on the status of the research referred to in clause (b) and the determinations made pursuant to clause (c) and submit it to the Minister no later than two years after the coming into force of this subsection.

(10) Upon the determination pursuant to clause (9)(a), subsections (6) and (7) apply to casual and part-time members of a municipal fire brigade and to volunteer firefighters except that the minimum periods determined pursuant to clause (9)(a) apply in place of those set out in subsection (7).

(11) The Minister shall lay a copy of the report, submitted to the Minister pursuant to clause (9)(d), before the Assembly within fifteen days after receiving it if the Assembly is sitting or, if it is not, within fifteen days after the beginning of the next sitting.