Workers’ compensation is an important feature of the modern workplace. It ensures an employee who is injured on the job is able to receive care and compensation, while also protecting employers against lawsuits and any associated repercussions.
But despite the critical role workers’ comp plays in protecting workers and employers, any claim made against your business still represents a threat in several key areas.
The typical progression of a claim
Chances are you’ve been down this path before. It starts with an employee experiencing a symptom of an injury. Perhaps a warehouse worker slightly tweaks their back one day on the job, performing the same task they’ve performed many times before. Since the injury isn’t yet severe and has happened to some degree in the past, they continue to go about their work under the assumption it will improve in its own time.
Eventually, the injury slowly worsens and another tweak occurs a couple weeks later while performing the same task. Now the employee has to tell someone because they’re either working under significant pain or are unable to work at all. They inform their supervisor of the issue and are sent into the medical system. After all is said and done, a claim is made so the worker can receive adequate care and compensation for recovery. But there’s more at stake for your company than simply the employee’s medical bills.
The real cost of a workers’ comp claim
The financial toll incurred by a claim is obvious, but there are several other factors at play here that can hurt your business. Not only are you paying for the worker’s care, but they’ll also likely have to take time off during recovery. This means you’ll either have to deal with lost time and productivity (and revenue) or hire someone to replace the injured worker while they’re out.
In addition to the purely financial consequences, having employees file claims against you also damages your company’s reputation and morale – which can also impact recruiting and retention . No one wants to work for a company whose employees are constantly getting injured, and injured employees or employees who see their coworkers getting injured don’t enjoy their jobs as much. There’s also a fear of reinjury or of the injury that happened to someone else also happening to you.
The best way to protect against these threats is to reduce the number of claims made against your company – which starts with reducing injuries in the first place.
The progression of a claim under Early Intervention
When a strategy is in place to reduce injuries and to optimize employee performance, the progression of a claim looks quite a bit different. Maybe the employee still experiences the same initial symptoms as before – a tweak in their back while performing routine work. But this time, there’s a system in place to detect and correct the cause of the injury and to eliminate it before it grows into a formal injury and thus a claim.
Early Intervention works proactively with your employees on a one-on-one basis to address the needs of their unique role. Perhaps the injury was caused by an ergonomic issue , either on the part of the equipment or in how the worker was performing a given set of tasks. Early Intervention aims to analyze these factors to position employees for safety and success every day they’re on the job. It takes what would normally grow into a damaging claim against your company and stamps it out, allowing the employee to immediately return to work with no medical issue or associated cost taking shape.
Protecting your workers – and your business
There’s clearly a lot at stake in the arena of workers’ compensation. Taking steps to reduce injuries and the claims that follow saves your business from:
- The cost of care and compensation
- The cost of lost production or replacement hiring
- Damage to your reputation and ability to recruit and retain
- Damage to employee morale
Fit For Work helps businesses craft a safety strategy designed to connect with workers and prevent injuries before they happen. Contact us today to start taking steps to reduce workers’ comp claims through Early Intervention.
