Work Comp Wednesday - Responsibility in workers’ comp—making the system work for you

Where do you, as an employer, fit into the workers’ compensation process?  Whether you’re new to the world of workers’ comp or are very familiar with it, knowing exactly who does what can help tremendously when you have a claim and when you’re looking for ways to prevent workplace injuries.

Understanding your role

We are committed to helping you make the most of your workers’ comp policy—but we need you, too. Here’s what you can do.

• Take action to prevent injuries. Safety comes in a variety of forms, depending on your industry. Reach out to your Summit loss control representative for assistance in implementing a workplace safety program.
• Implement a drug-free workplace program. Every business owner should know that drugs in the workplace don’t bode well for workers’ comp or any other aspect of your company. Check out page 3 for more information.
• Use sound hiring practices. Formalize your hiring process, use a post-offer, prehire health questionnaire to ensure that workers are physically able to perform the essential job functions and define up-front your expectations of employees if they are injured on the job. (Be sure your management team is adequately trained, too.)
• Build your return-to-work program. Don’t wait for an injury. Make a plan before you need it and put someone
  in charge of it. Remember that the goal is to get the injured employee back on the job when possible.
• Establish a medical provider relationship. In nonemergency situations, you’ll want to know where to take your injured worker for treatment. (As always, you should call 911 for emergency medical care.)
• Report injuries the day they happen. Late reporting can have a profound, and negative, impact on a claim.
• Investigate accidents internally. Take witness statements, evaluate the cause of the accident and save any evidence.
• Keep communication lines open. Claim success often depends on successful communication. The better, and more often, you communicate with us and your injured worker, the more likely the claim will have a positive resolution.

Helping your injured worker

While you do your part, there’s one person who usually has the most influence on the outcome of a claim—the injured worker. Here is a short but vital list to share with your injured workers to help them reach successful recovery.

• Attend medical appointments. Doctors can’t do much for patients they don’t see. (It happens more often than you’d think!)
• Participate in physical therapy. Yes, it can be hard, even painful. But if the doctor has prescribed physical therapy, then the injured worker needs it, and recovery won’t happen without it.
• Accept a modified or transitional duty job offer. Sitting at home may seem like the best road to healing, but in reality it often slows recovery and breeds depression.
• Follow medical restrictions at work and at home. Remind your injured employee that physical restrictions, such as weight-lifting limits, don’t clock out at the end of the day. Reinjury is just as likely at home.
• Communicate. Fears, frustrations and misunderstandings never improve a workers’ comp claim. Most are easily addressed if they are shared. Encourage your injured employee to speak up to all parties involved in his or her claim—you, the doctor and the Work Comp adjustor.

Looking at the big picture

When we all pitch in and do our part, the workers’ comp system really does what it was designed to do—get injured workers recovered and back to work. Let’s make it happen—together.

Contact us for all your Insurance needs! (321)725-1620

Bob Lancaster Insurance

Serving Florida since 1964