Work related injuries could occur at any time and anywhere. Of course, certain jobs or occupations tend to be more dangerous than others and come with a heightened awareness of possible injuries; but don’t fool yourself there are plenty of injuries that happen in office settings.
Any business owner should do a general assessment of the potential risks that could lead to injury in or around the workplace and address any obvious ones before they become an issue, but that isn’t going to take care of all the potential problems. Training and proper safety precautions isn’t going to prevent accidents from happening, so it’s good to know what to do in the event that an employee is injured at the office or work site.
No two situations will be alike, but following the below protocols will help keep the situation under control and limit some potential liability to the business:
- Take Care Of The Employee. The safety of an injured employee should come first, and getting the necessary treatment is crucial. Move the employee away from the area if it’s dangerous and make sure other employees steer clear as well. If it’s an emergency call 911. If it’s a non-emergency, have the employee transported to the proper medical care facility for treatment. Typically, you can consult the medical provider designated by your workers compensation insurance carrier or the facility closest to the scene of the accident.
- Preserve The Scene. Once you make sure that the employee has received, or is receiving the proper medical attention, you need to secure the accident scene. This is important because the accident may need to be investigated. Take the appropriate amount of action based on what happened. If it was a major accident, you may need to block off the area so that a formal investigation can be conducted and to make sure there are no further accidents. For something minor, check the scene, see if any action needs to be taken to prevent future accidents from taking place.
- Gather The Facts. You’re going to need to get all the facts together surrounding the incident and determine what happened. Get all the necessary contact information, details on what happened, why it happened, what medical treatment was provided. You may need to talk to any witnesses and make sure to get their contact information as well. Similar to the number two above, gauge the level of your investigation based on how serious the accident or injury was.
- Paperwork. You’re going to need to document everything in the form of an incident report, no matter how minor you might think the injury is. This should be done as soon as possible, while all the information is fresh. Any claims should be reported to your workers’ compensation insurance carrier within 24 hours of the incident. If your business is subject to OSHA regulations make sure to abide by the OSHA record keeping regulations. You should check with your insurance carrier to see what type of support or resources they provide in these situations.
- Develop A Return To Work Plan. Many injuries can result in an employee missing time from work. Depending on the business and the specific job, even a relatively minor injury like a sprain or a tweaked knee can result in time away. More severe injuries could mean months away from the job, and the longer an employee is away from work, the more difficult it can be for them to adjust to coming back to work. To help with the transition, it’s common to implement a return to work plan. This helps the injured employee ease back into the job and return to productivity as quickly as possible. A common way this is done is with transitional or modified jobs, which are flexible arrangements to accommodate a medically cleared employee who still can’t perform their previous job. These jobs don’t need to be in the same department, pay the same or have the same hours, and useful in keeping an employee off long-term disability, which can lower a business’s costs.
- Reassess Safety Procedures. When an employee gets injured on the job it can impact much more than just the injured worker: there could be issues with worker satisfaction, general safety concerns, and employee confidence, not to mention you’ll have to deal with potential insurance, legal and disability claims. All of this combined can have a negative impact on the entire business. Regularly assessing and monitoring safety procedures is important in terms of both the bottom line and limiting liability. After an accident, make sure to carefully review the results of any inspection or investigation and make the necessary changes to any safety procedures to prevent future incidents.
Have questions about handling employee accidents or setting up the necessary procedures to deal with one? Contact usfor a free legal consultation.