Workplace injury claims could be expensive for an employer. Especially if the injury results in a lawsuit. If you make efforts to reduce the risk of injuries occurring at the workplace, you can reduce the time and expense involved in defending a lawsuit.
Preparation
As an employer, you should adhere to all standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Despite adhering to OSHA standards, accidents and injuries could occur. You should have an injury response plan to minimize the extent of the injury. You should have a series of response plans for varying types of work-related employee injuries that could occur. All employees and their supervisors should have a thorough knowledge of the response plan. Employees should be able to access first-aid and other medical supplies quickly. You could employ a safety officer if employees are performing dangerous jobs. You should also have documents in place to show new employees the process involved in compensating injured employees and policies regarding their return to work after injuries. You should also take a workers’ compensation insurance policy that covers litigation costs under liability insurance for employers.
Response
If your employee is injured, you should manage risk by responding immediately and making sure nobody else is injured. You must evaluate the severity of the injury and the cause. You should also call for professional medical help. To prevent a protracted and expensive lawsuit, you should take pictures of the scene of the injuries, get testimonies from workers who witnessed the injury and, make all relevant notes that will come useful when you need to file a workers’ compensation insurance claim or consult a lawyer. You should work with the injured employee, the medical professional attending to the injuries, the insurance agent and, the claims adjustor to make sure that the claims process is completed swiftly and the employee gets the money required to cover the costs of treating injuries quickly.
Lawsuit
Your injured employee may have the right to take legal action. You should be ready with all documents and evidence and share them with claims adjusters and your lawyers. To understand more about an injury case, you may want to consider hiring a no win no fee injury lawyer. Hiring a professional that has experience with work injury cases will help you gain more insight on your situation. A settlement will prevent lengthy litigation and high legal costs. If the lawsuit is not settled, you should share all documents with your lawyer and claim litigation costs from your insurer.
Employees can get injured on the job even if the employer strictly adheres to OSHA standards. If you are prepared with risk management and response plans, you can reduce the time and costs involved if a lawsuit is filed against you by your employee.
This article is from Brooke Chaplan, a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most her time hiking, biking and gardening. For more information contact Brooke via Twitter @BrookeChaplan.
