VANCOUVER -- People working for B.C. schools have filed at least nine different workers' compensation claims related to COVID-19 exposure, according to WorkSafeBC.
The agency tells CTV News Vancouver it has also received dozens of calls from workers in the province's education sector who had COVID-19-related questions and concerns.
As of Sept. 16, WorkSafeBC had received nine claims dealing with coronavirus exposure from workers in the sector. The agency did not specify whether all of those claims came from teachers, as opposed to other people working in education in B.C.
Between Sept. 8 and 18, WorkSafeBC says it also received 56 coronavirus-related calls from education workers.
On Tuesday, CTV News reported that a teacher at Sentinel Secondary School in West Vancouver, B.C., had filed a claim after testing positive for COVID-19 just days after a student in her class was confirmed to have the disease.
The teacher had not been contacted by public health officials about the possible exposure, but rather found out from students who had been contacted and asked to self-isolate, according to the president of the West Vancouver Teachers Association.
WorkSafeBC says employees who have health and safety concerns should first talk to their employers about the issue.
"If the matter is not resolved, WorkSafeBC should be contacted, and a prevention officer will consult with workplace parties to determine if there is an undue hazard," the agency says in an email.
WorksafeBC also notes that employees in all sectors can report unsafe work conditions anonymously to its prevention information line, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Shannon Paterson and Sheila Scott
