6 steps to take after an employee is injured
If you stay in business long enough, you are more than likely going to experience an injured worker. Even the safest of companies have instances that are not avoidable. How a business prepares for and responds to an injured employee will speak volumes about their company culture. A strong company culture is one of the best aspects contributing to the long term success of your business. Here are 6 tips to help you prepare for and respond to an injured employee.
Focus on the employee first
Focusing on the injured employee first and foremost is the right thing to do on a human level and it is the best thing to do from a business stand point. Focusing on your injured employee will prevent additional injury to your employee, it will show your injured employee you care about their well-being, and it shows the other employees not injured that you are there for them in goods times and in bad. It is human nature for those employees to look at the businesses reaction to an injury at work and envision how they may be treated if they are injured in the future.
Attempt to prevent further injuries
Prevent the employee from being injured further and prevent additional employees from becoming injured as well. The experience modification rating is the number aspect an insurance carrier uses to determine what to charge your business for insurance premium. This is impacted by the frequency and severity of a claim. If you can limit an insurance claim to one injured employee and not multiple, it can help keep this rating lower. Also, if the injury to the employee is dealt with quickly and properly it will limit the severity of the claim. This can drastically impact your experience modification rating.
Know your healthcare provider
There may be more than one hospital or emergency care provider in your area. Make sure your managers and important staff members know where to send your employees to be covered within the workers compensation system. Some medical providers are better prepared to provide all of the medical needs an injured employee might need throughout the entire healthcare process. Starting them in the correct system can help the injured employee have a smooth process and return to work sooner.
File a report
Everything must be documented and documented quickly. It is a good idea to have your managers and key employees practice this process periodically when injuries do not occur. Keep a documented record of everything your business does in relation to safety programs, policies and procedures; as well as how your business dealt with an injury at work. The accuracy of these reports can be immensely helpful to your insurance carrier and a lawyer if one needs to be involved.
Contact your insurance professionals
When an injury occurs, contacting your insurance carrier and insurance agency is a good idea. You more than likely have more of a personal relationship with your insurance agency and that is probably who you will call first. It is a good idea to keep them in the loop when an incident occurs, but do not be alarmed if they direct you to contact your insurance carrier for the processing of the claim. This is the job of the insurance carrier and not the agency or agent. It is a good idea to keep the agent in the loop because they can give you advice about how to contact the carrier. They may know who is best to call or what things to say and not to say to the carrier. The agency can also be helpful in the unfortunate occurrence where your insurance carrier is not living up to their end of the bargain.
Learn from the incident
It is extremely important for you and your key employees to review what happened that caused an employee to be injured and what needs to be done to prevent a similar injury in the future. Documenting these meetings is important and especially any changes you made to your safety program or return to work program. This documentation can be helpful when you go to renew insurance after a year in which you had several claims or one severe claim.