The Importance of the Accident Cost Statement (ACS)
Every Ontario Company that pays into the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board receives an accident cost statement during the first week of the month that shows what has been charged to your WSIB account in the past month.
The Accident Cost Statement (ACS) is a great report but you have to know how to read it:
- Costs that appear on the ACS may not necessarily affect your NEER or CAD-7
The WSIB does a great job of tracking every penny they spend, even for claims that are more than 20 years old. Unfortunately, this information drives many companies crazy but it should not.
Employers are only responsible for claims within the current experience-rating window (for NEER – 4 years. For CAD-7 5 years).
So when you see a claim from 1998 and say “HOW CAN THIS WORKER STILL BE COSTING US MONEY?” They have not cost your company a penny since that claim left the NEER window for 1998 claim.
You only need to focus on claims within the current experience-rating window.
The current NEER window is 2014 – 2017, and after September 30, 2018, the NEER window will be 2015 – 2018.
The current CAD-7 window is 2013 – 2017 and after December 31, 2018, the CAD-7 window will be 2014 – 2018.
- Both the NEER and CAD-7 statements are lagging reports – the ACS is a leading report
As discussed above the NEER and CAD-7 window do not include 2018.
- The first time 2018 appears on your NEER statement is the June report
- 2018 does not appear on your CAD-7 statement until you receive it in September 2019
Companies that rely on the annual reconciliation of NEER and CAD-7 to find out if they are getting a rebate or paying a surcharge could have had that information well in advance if they had monitored there monthly cost statement.
- The ACS tells you the progress of a claim
Even though a worker has returned to work (at either full duties or transitioning back to full duties through a temporary modified work assignment), it does not necessarily that their claim has ended.
The ACS indicates:
- On-Going health care costs
- If any additional lost time (Loss of Earnings wage replacement) has been paid to the worker and charged to your company
- Any/All other benefits paid to the worker
The monthly Accident Cost Statement is a fantastic report that the majority of companies either ignore or do not understand. In my 20 years of experience providing WSIB consulting services to management teams across all types of industries, I only occasionally see a company that tracks claims through the ACS.
Early this year I began to provide a MENTORING AND MONITORING service that based around having my clients send me their ACS every month so that I can provide the following:
- Monitor prior and current claims
- Provide NEER and CAD-7 rebate/surcharge projections
- Give advice on return to work strategies for active claims
- Answer their WSIB financial questions
Allow me to provide a service that will provide financial forecasting data and WSIB account support that your in-house personnel cannot provide at a very reasonable cost.