Millions of people get injured at work every year. When injuries occur on your company’s watch, it’s important to take action, fast.
Failing to handle an injured at work event appropriately can result in government fines and lawsuits. To help you avoid those possibilities, our team shares simple steps you should take when an employee experiences an accident.
1. Get Your Employee Medical Attention
There is no action more essential to take when an employee is injured at work than seeking medical attention. Immediately after an incident has occurred, provide necessary first-aid while calling emergency services.
Have your injured employee limit their activity as much as possible until medical professionals can advise further.
2. Do Some Investigating
Once medical attention has arrived, your role should switch from first responder to investigator.
Assess the scene of the accident and identify potential witnesses. Schedule interviews with witnesses as soon as possible so they can provide fresh recollections on what took place.
When tasteful to do so, capture photographic evidence of the accident scene and request copies of reports taken by health officials.
3. Contact OSHA
You are required to contact OSHA when an accident takes place at your place of business. Note that minor injuries like cuts and scrapes are not necessary to report.
You can file an OSHA injury report by calling the OSHA hotline, by filing a report online, or by vising your nearest OSHA office.
4. Notify Your Worker’s Compensation Contact
When employees are injured at work and aren’t able to return, they’ll almost certainly make a claim on your company’s worker’s compensation policy. The assumption is that your organization has complied with the law and has a worker’s compensation policy in place.
If you don’t, you’ll almost certainly be sued by your injured employee.
Before your employee makes a compensation claim, give your worker’s compensation point of contact a heads up that a claim is coming. This will let the compensation office get their affairs in order so they can quickly pay out what’s owed.
5. Adjust to Avoid Future Accidents
After an employee is injured at work and your affairs pertaining to documentation are complete, it’s now time to try and avoid a repeat accident. This can be done by going through your witness reports and other evidence to identify where a safety shortcoming may have existed
With the problem identified, fix it immediately. After the matter is settled, let your injured employee know that you’re open to them returning to work under modified duty, if necessary, as soon as they’re medically cleared to do so.
Fielding an Injured at Work Incident Doesn’t Have to Be Intimidating
When an employee is injured at work, particularly at a small business, it can be a scary moment for employers. Fortunately, so long as you have worker’s compensation insurance and take appropriate steps, you should be fine.
We hope our guide helps you better manage injuries in the future and we invite you to read more insightful content on our blog for additional business tips.
