What You Should Do If an Employee Has an Accident at Work

Despite all the precautions and safety measures put in place at your place of work, accidents can and do happen. The truth is; however, you can never totally minimize the risk of an accident but understanding what you can do to help your business and employee through this difficult time is a lot easier when you know what to do.

You might have had all the necessary training to prevent accidents but not how to deal with them afterward. Therefore, if you have found yourself in this situation where an employee has injured themselves, and you are unsure about what steps to take next this guide can help you to get through it.

Medical Attention

When the incident first happens, many people could find themselves going into shock, but acting quickly is vital. You will need to get a first aider to the scene to assess the situation and to see whether an ambulance will need to be called if it seems serious. The quicker you act, the quicker you can eliminate further injuries or problems for the employee.

Get a Written Statement from the Employee

After the incident has happened, and once the employee has received the necessary first aid treatment, you will need to fill out an accident and injury report to find out the facts; who was involved, where it happened and type of injury they have suffered. You will need all this and more to find out precisely what happened to ensure that it never happens again.

Try to talk to them sooner rather than later as trying to understand it early on is essential to not having any other problems further down the line, such as forgetting what happened.

Witness Statements

A good thing to follow up with is getting witness statements from other employees who might have seen what happened and could tell you how the events unfolded. You may find that if your employee is saying that it wasn’t their fault and was a result of the company’s unsafe work area, but three other members of staff are saying something different it could prove that the accident was the employees’ fault and not yours.

This could prove vitally important if it is taken to court when the employee tries to claim against you. You don’t want to find yourself in financial difficulty because someone is suing you. Remember this would affect not only your finances but also your reputation, and for your business’s future, you will want to avoid this at all costs.

Report The Accident

No matter how serious the injury your employee suffered was, it is essential that you report this accident to your insurance company which can cover you financially while you deal with being down an employee. You shouldn’t avoid filing this report as this could have repercussions on your behalf if the employee was to claim against you and it was your fault. The financial losses could be huge for you.

Assess the Levels of Safety in the Work Place

After the accident has happened and you have read the statements and deemed what exactly happened you will need to assess the levels of safety in your workplace. You might have found that despite the safety measures you put in place some time ago due to people falling back into bad habits of not being careful that the safety levels have slipped.

You will want to prevent anything else happening in the future, so it is a good idea to train up all your employees again with a refresher course and testing all your equipment to ensure that it is safe to use.

Seek Legal Help

If from the statements you take you find that it was neither yours or your employee’s fault but was a third party such as another employee or a visitor who caused them the injury, helping your employee to get legal help when dealing with a long-term injury would mean a lot to them. There are lawyers that specialize in injuries at work, and this law firm will ensure that your employee will get themselves back on their feet financially by taking away any stress that comes with it.

If they were injured by any of your equipment or a product that you have bought from elsewhere, these lawyers could also help your employee get the finances they deserve, on top of the sick pay they will be receiving from you. If this was the case, you should consider replacing the equipment and changing the products you use.

If you find out that it was your employee’s fault because they were under the influence of alcohol intoxication or drugs and they are trying to sue you, you have every right to take them to court. You will need to prove that actually, the safety measures you have in place were not at fault at all but it was the employees.

If it turns out, it was your fault, and they have filed a claim against you then you legally will have to pay them the compensation, and you look at how you can stop this from ever happening again.

Welcoming Back the Employee

The injury has probably affected the employee in more ways than you can imagine and so when they are ready to come back to work, it is important to welcome them back and ensure they are happy. Some people may find that even with a long term injury that they have to come back sooner than they wanted to for financial reasons so sit down and have a chat with them about how you can improve how they work to make it easier. If their job involves behind on their feet a lot and they have hurt their leg you could offer them a job sitting at a desk.

If this isn’t possible and they have to go back to their old job make sure they bring a doctors letter with them that proves they are fit to work; if they cause further injury and haven’t provided you with this letter, they could make a claim and you can be made responsible. Persist that they only come back to work if they have this letter.