WSIB 2005 rate cut may lead to hike the following year: OTA

TORONTO, (Oct. 19, 2004) — Ontario Trucking Association President David Bradley has both good news and bad news for Ontario carriers.

While the OTA welcomed a recent Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) announcement that the WSIB rates for trucking, warehousing, and courier will all be reduced in 2005, the association warned that the move will lead to rate hikes in 2006.

The aggregate rate for WSIB has been frozen for 2005, which will mean a decrease for the trucking rate groups. The 2005 average premium rate will be $2.19 for every $100 of insurable earnings — the same as the average rate for 2004. This zero per cent average rate change does not mean rates will stay the same for all employers as rates for individual rate groups are recalculated based on injury frequency and claims costs for each individual rate groups, the OTA says.

For rate group 570, General Trucking, the rate will drop by 2.5 per cent from $5.83 to $5.68. The Warehousing rate will also decrease from $2.80 to $2.73 while Courier Services will go from $2.75 to $2.62.

“However, next spring the WSIB will act,” states a letter to stakeholders from interim WSIB Chair Jill Hutcheon.

“While we are not precluding the outcome of our discussions, it is our strong belief that a rate increase will be required in 2006,” she continued. “The size of the increase will depend on the cost pressures and the mitigating impact of any solutions that are identified over the coming months.”

Bradley said members can be sure OTA will continue to play a significant role in the discussions that Hutcheon over the future of WSIB rates, including experience rating changes, health care costs, occupational disease coverage and the overall WSIB funding framework.

“We certainly welcome the 2005 rate announcement, but at the same time we’re getting ready to fight any suggestion of a rate hike next year,” he said. “We know that our industry cannot afford a WSIB rate hike and we will be making the case as forcefully as we can that the government and the WSIB must find better alternatives to hiking rates in 2006.”