What To Do When An Employee Is Injured
A nightmare for every HR department and business owner would be having to deal with an injured employee. As a business owner, you’re responsible for creating a safe environment for your employees. That includes traditional office workers and telecommuters. Employees are entitled to workers’ compensation insurance coverage for work-related injuries and hiring workers compensation claim lawyers.
While this is the case, you need to address their injuries before getting around to the lawsuits and paperwork. So, what needs to be done the very second an employee gets injured? Keep reading on to learn more.
Assess the Situation
When an employee is injured, it’s important to assess the situation. This involves determining how serious the injury is and what caused it. If the situation is potentially life or limb-threatening, it’s essential to call emergency services. But before doing so, make sure you have their permission.
As a supervisor or HR, you can play an important role in helping injured workers return to their regular duties. This will not only lessen the impact of a claim but also help maintain your worker’s skills and improve workplace morale. Make sure to approach the situation in a calm manner, and do not play the blame game.
Seek Medical Attention
It’s always going to depend on the severity of the injury for an employee, but in order to keep employees feeling safe, you’ll need to contact emergency services or have them driven immediately to a hospital or urgent care. Just make sure to do all of this immediately and try to write down the time the accident happened, how it might have happened, and when the injury was getting addressed.
Get Help
Whether it’s a minor cut, burn, or major injury, it’s important to get help when an employee is injured. This is probably the most obvious, but ensure that someone in the office is effectively trained for this. Ideally, at least one or two safety officers should know how to perform CPR and first aid if needed. Getting help will minimise the risk of further injury and prevent costly lawsuits. Plus, if you step in or if someone else steps in to help, this will improve trust issues and could potentially boost morale.
Report the Accident
The accidents will need to be reported to HR, so they can take the best course of action. This could include informing an organisation that oversees the company, insurance, or even the legal team. But make sure this is reported, and there is a paper trail. Regardless of the incident, you could very well be entitled to some compensation, so reporting it through the in-house channels, and then to a law firm, makes a lot of sense. Remember, injured workers need professional legal representation in order to get the best possible outcomes for their claims. A worker’s comp lawyer will be able to evaluate your claim and represent you in court if needed. Remember, any time off work could result in lost wages, so any compensation is going to help you out in the long run.
Follow Up
When an employee is injured at work, it’s important to follow up with them to ensure their healing and recovery. In the end, this is a way to make employees feel happy and cared for. This will help them feel like they are being cared for, which will promote workplace safety. When you follow up, make sure you have clear and compassionate communication with the employee. This will help them feel that you are there for them, and you will also provide a realistic plan for their return to work. All of this is going to help tremendously with morale.
