The Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba (also referred to as the “WCB”, “we”, or “us”) is dedicated to protecting your privacy and safeguarding your personal information. We recognize the importance of providing you with information about how we handle the personal information you provide to us, which is why we have developed this statement (the “Privacy and Security Statement”).
The Privacy and Security Statement applies to information that we collect about you, including information collected through our website (the “Website”) and the WCB Worker Connect App (the “App”). Regardless of how you provide information to us, we use vigorous and effective security safeguards and adhere to privacy principles to ensure your personal and confidential information is protected. These safeguards are built upon and comply with Manitoba legislation, including The Personal Health Information Act (PHIA), The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and The Workers Compensation Act (WCA). The WCB's framework for information protection, access and disclosure is set out in Policy 21.50 and this policy's Administrative Guidelines.
The WCB reserves the right to change this Privacy and Security Statement at any time. Whenever we update this Privacy and Security Statement, we will update the date above to indicate when changes were made. Please check for changes regularly.
1. Use of the WCB Website and App
By accessing, downloading, registering with, uploading materials to or otherwise using the Website or the App, you (user) indicate that you have read, understood and agree to the terms of this Privacy and Security Statement and our practices regarding the collection, use, disclosure and retention of personal information.
2. Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information
Collection and Use
The Website is divided into two distinct areas - an area available to the public and interactive sections reserved for registered users conducting business with the WCB. In the publicly available sections no personal information is collected. You can visit these sections without telling us who you are or revealing any information about yourself. Our web servers only collect IP addresses of visitors to the Website. We use this information to produce usage statistics such as number of visits, average time spent on the Website, pages that were viewed, type of browser, date/time visited, etc., but do not use this information to identify you. These usage statistics are used for the purpose of improving the content, navigation, and usability of the Website.
In the interactive sections of the Website and on the App, the WCB collects personal information pursuant to section 36(1) of FIPPA, section 13(1) of PHIA and the WCA when the information relates directly to and is necessary for an existing service, program or activity of the WCB. Visitors may be required to register in order to access the Website's or the App's functions. The registration process may require the capture of personal information for the purpose of verifying identity. The WCB will require registration only for those functions that may involve submission or retrieval of personal information and/or personal health information and/or where the identity of the individual is required in order to complete the function. In addition, the WCB may require registration in order to store information for future visits to enhance the user experience.
On the App, the WCB collects information associated with exceptions or error logs, such as server logs, device identifiers, operating system information, date and time of access and location. This technical information, which may include personal information if an individual is identifiable from it, is used to identify and resolve errors in the App but not to identify individuals.
Personal information may be collected through the Website or App for such purposes as:
- providing claim administration or employer assessment services; or
- conducting surveys for the purpose of evaluating WCB programs and gauging customer experience; or
- preparing evaluations or reports of aggregate, anonymous data.
The WCB may collect contact information in order to:
- send out e-mails and other relevant information; or
- inform interested parties of the WCB’s events and operations.
The WCB limits the amount and type of information collected to only the personal information that is required for the above purposes.
The WCB will not use personal information for any purpose other than that identified at or before the time of collection unless otherwise permitted by law.
The WCB reserves the right to perform statistical analyses of aggregated user behaviour and characteristics, in order to measure interest in and use of the various sections of the Website so as to improve design and navigation and to gather information for marketing purposes. Only aggregated data from these analyses, not individual data, will be used for this purpose.
Disclosure
The WCB will treat all personal information received or accessed as confidential and will not disclose it in any manner except as authorized under the WCA, FIPPA, or PHIA or otherwise permitted or required by law, or when consent for disclosure has been provided. The WCB may disclose personal information it has collected, for example to its lawyers, without the individual's knowledge or consent for purposes relating to an investigation under, the enforcement of or the administration of a law, or where required by law to disclose the information.
The WCB does not sell or trade any personal information with third parties. Information may be transferred to third parties where information processing is outsourced by the WCB in the course of its activities or administrative procedures in specific cases. Where personal information is transferred to a service provider for processing, the WCB has measures in place, including contractual measures, to ensure that personal information is subject to appropriate safeguards in accordance with the WCB’s obligations under FIPPA and PHIA. Service providers are restricted from using or disclosing personal information transferred to them for any purpose other than the provision of services to the WCB.
3. Consent
If you file a claim for a workplace injury, the WCB has the authority to collect, use and disclose information under the WCA in order to administer that claim. When consent is required for the use and disclosure of your personal information, the WCB will seek that consent from you prior to using or disclosing the personal information. If you have provided personal information after consent has been provided for particular uses and disclosures, this will be interpreted as your consent to those uses and disclosures of the new information.
When consent is required, the WCB will not use or disclose personal information for any purpose other than that for which consent has been provided or as otherwise permitted by law. Should the WCB need to use or disclose personal information for a new purpose, consent will be sought for that new purpose to the extent required by law.
4. Accuracy of and Access to Personal Information Collected
The WCB makes every effort to keep personal information as accurate, complete, current and relevant as necessary for the identified purposes.
Workers are entitled to receive copies of their claim file at any time by requesting a copy from their WCB Contact or contacting the WCB File Access Department. For more information regarding disclosure of file information, please see Policy 21.50, Information Protection, Access and Disclosure.
5. Safeguarding Personal Information
The Internet has revolutionized the way we do business. It allows us to interact with you in a personal way to offer information, to add additional value, to listen to your opinions, and to provide services that you can access from the convenience of your home, office or mobile device. At the same time, the Internet also brings legitimate concerns about privacy and security. The WCB is dedicated to protecting your privacy and safeguarding your information. By explaining our position on security to you we hope you will better understand how we will keep your information private and secure while using it to serve you better.
When accessing the interactive sections of the Website or App, you will be doing so through a secure server and secure browser. Your browser's secure mode will be in place at all times when connected to the Website or App.
Protection of Information in Transit
When you use the secure areas of the Website or the App, the information communicated between your web browser and our web server is protected by encrypting the data using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption.
On the App, all data will be held on the device during the user session and will be encrypted while it is on the device. Data is removed from the device once the user logs out, the session times out, or the App is terminated.
Protection of Stored Information
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while the WCB strives to protect personal information, it cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted to it or received from it electronically. This is especially true for information transmitted via e-mail.
Once received, access to personal information is restricted to employees who need access to the information in order to do their jobs. These employees are limited in number, and are knowledgeable about and committed to our privacy policies.
The WCB retains personal information based on legal reporting and/or retention requirements. Any personal information that the WCB retains is kept in such a manner as to ensure its security and confidentiality at all times. Security measures include technical and procedural measures consistent with best practices in information security to protect stored information.
These measures include:
- Utilizing a series of firewalls to protect the information and computing resources,
- Virus protection of all computing resources,
- Monitoring system and application logs to identify any unusual activity from authorized or unauthorized individuals accessing our systems,
- Providing access to information and system functions only to those who have a need and a right,
- Physically securing the facilities where the computing resources are located,
- Conducting periodic third party vulnerability assessments.
The first and last name and e-mail address of users of the App may be stored in the U.S. to enable two-factor authentication technology.
6. Cookies on the Website
Cookies are small text files stored on your device browser such as Chrome or Edge when you visit websites. This Website uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience. These cookies may gather information about your general internet use to help the website work properly.
Some cookies are required for technical reasons for the Website to operate, while other cookies are used to collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how the Website is being used.
If you prefer to avoid the use of cookies on our website, you can disable their use in your browser's settings. You can also delete cookies in your browser's settings. However, if you delete cookies or refuse to accept them, you might not be able to use all of the features we offer and some of our pages might not display properly.
7. Questions
Any questions about the WCB’s handling of personal information should be directed to the Access and Privacy Officer, who can be reached by using our contact form or at:
Telephone: (204) 954-4557
Mail: Workers Compensation Board
Attention: Access and Privacy Officer
333 Broadway, Winnipeg, MB R3C 4W3