6.4 Accommodation

There are many causes of disabilities, including workplace injuries. As noted above, all Canadian jurisdictions require employers to accommodate workers with disabilities to the point of undue hardship. Both workers and employers have roles to play in ensuring that a disability is accommodated. Employers do not have to implement the accommodation suggested by a worker. Rather, they are obligated to reasonably accommodate the worker. Once an accommodation is established, the worker is obligated to inform the employer if the need for or nature of the required accommodation changes and provide documentation to support such accommodation.

There are a number of ways that employers commonly accommodate disabilities. The duties of worker may be modified so that the worker is able to perform them despite the disability. For example, a warehouse worker with a torn rotator cuff in her shoulder may still perform those parts of their normal duties that do not require lifting, pushing, pulling, or overhead work. A machine operator who develops contact dermatitis on their hands from exposure to chemicals may be assigned to an entirely different job, such as quality checks. Such modified work may be permanent or temporary, depending upon changes in the worker’s abilities. Accommodating permanent disabilities may also entail retraining workers to perform jobs they are presently unqualified to perform.

Employers may also make workplace modifications in order to accommodate disabilities. A common and obvious change is adjusting buildings, equipment (e.g., work stations), and tools to accommodate workers with mobility impairments. Less obvious changes to the workplace including providing nitrile gloves to staff members who are allergic to latex products or adopting scent-free workplace policies to accommodate workers with chemical sensitivities.

“Disability Management and Return to Work” in Health and Safety in Canadian Workplaces by Jason Foster and Bob Barneston, published by AU Press is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, unless otherwise noted.