State and federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) officials are the ones who set and enforce standards aimed at keeping workers safe. How you handle a worker falling ill or getting hurt on the job is left largely up to you as the employer though. There are some considerations that you’ll want to take into account to be ready if an injuring incident occurs.
Like many other types of unexpected events, the best thing that you can do is to be prepared for them. You shouldn’t just devise a plan for how to handle a situation that may arise, but also train your staff on how to handle it as well. You should have a point of contact that your employees can consult when a workplace incident occurs. You must have an emergency contact person on file for each worker. You should have a first aid kit fully stocked so that your workers can render aid to their colleagues, if necessary, as well.
It’s also important that your company’s leadership is responsive to reports of workers falling ill or getting hurt on the job. You should train your employees to call 911. They should be trained to help injured workers to a safe place to both assess the severity of the situation and to aid anyone who’s been hurt. Your leadership should attempt to take statements and gather any necessary information from workers about the incident right away.
One of the best steps that you can take after a worker is injured on the job is to be proactive in communicating. You should follow up with your employees to let them know if there are specific providers that they should see, to have them complete any essential forms and to discuss their ultimate return to work. You should provide your workers’ compensation carrier with any incident-related details that they request. You should share this same information with claims adjusters and attorneys that may become involved in a lawsuit as well.
Handling a workers’ compensation matter may be difficult if you’ve never been tasked with doing so in a complex case. An attorney can guide you through the process that you must follow in such legal matters here in Troy so that you remain in compliance with New York law.
