Making the Decision

The vice chair who hears the appeal will consider the evidence on the WorkSafeBC file and the evidence and submissions the appellant and any respondent provide.

The vice chair must apply the policies of WorkSafeBC's board of directors relevant to the appeal. If the evidence is evenly balanced on a compensation issue, the vice chair must decide the issue in favour of the worker. On other issues, the vice chair will make our decision on a balance of probabilities.

The vice chair will write a decision with reasons which we will mail to you and the respondent. We also send a copy of the written decision to WorkSafeBC, who will then implement our decision.

Hallmarks of Quality Decision Making

A good decision:

• clearly identifies the issues at the outset;
• identifies a clear set of relevant findings of fact fairly drawn from the evidence;
• where there is conflicting relevant evidence, explicitly identifies the findings of fact on which the conclusion is based and the reasons for the findings of fact, that is, why some evidence was preferred over other evidence;
• responds to the relevant submissions and arguments;
• identifies and applies relevant law and policy, including WCAT precedent panel decisions;
• uses plain language where possible and uses technical and legal terminology in a manner consistent with other decisions;
• makes the panel's reasoning clear and understandable and leads to a logical conclusion that resolves the issues.