Almost every organization at one time or another has a work-related safety incident that is handled poorly and the results can range from claim that’s more expensive than it needs to be, a repeat of the same type of incident, a disgruntled employee, or all of the above.
There are a few key steps that every organization should take to help effectively manage the claim and prevent a future re-occurrence. A successful company looks at each incident as a learning tool so that they can improve and move forward.
- Immediately conduct a thorough incident investigation and apparent cause analysis.
- Be as specific as possible when filling out the report. (location, body part, task, etc.)
- Ask open ended questions of all parties involved to find as many contributing factors as possible. Be sure to ask about both behaviors and environmental factors.
- Ask the “W” questions.
- What, when, why, where, were safe work methods being followed?
- A corrective action should be recommended, reviewed by the safety committee and implementation should be tracked.
- A thorough investigation allows management to monitor what problems exist and to properly direct mitigation efforts.
- Report all incidents to Friedlander within 1 business day, regardless of medical treatment or lost-time.
- Lag time should be tracked and reported at the safety committee meeting as a recurring agenda item.
- Record-only incidents should reported to Friedlander and will kept on file in the event future treatment is needed.
- First-aid claims should be reported and paid by the organization to save money.
- This reduces the # of claims calculated in the Experience MOD.
- Friedlander will audit the bill to ensure you pay the lowest rate possible.
- A report without medical treatment or lost time does not negatively impact your experience.
- Claims with lost-time or medical treatment will be reported to NYSIF and managed by Friedlander
- We will communicate with injured employees to limit how many employee seek attorney representation.
- We will review reserves and closing strategy periodically.
Every organization is going to have claims at one point or another. A successful organization properly manages each claim and learns from it to make themselves more productive and more profitable.