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On-the-Job Injuries: Cost of doing business or avoidable liability?

by John W. Mitchell, Senior Correspondent | February 09, 2015
Infection Control Stroke
From the January/February 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


Andy Gebhard, director of communications and social media at SFM Mutual Insurance, which issues workers’ compensation polices in several states, says that his company is having good early results with a new program to foster open communications between injured workers and their client employers.

“In October, we set-up a 24-hour hotline staffed by registered nurses,” says Gebhard. “The manager dials the number and then hands the phone over to the employee. The nurse performs a triage to determine the extent of the injury and if the employee needs to go to the emergency room, to their doctor or self-treat the injury.”

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According to Gebhard in the short time the program has been in place, 20 percent of their clients have already self reported accidents through the nurse triage system.

He says that several clients have aggressively adopted the system to help address common mistakes that are made in reporting workplace accidents with injury. This includes: reporting the injury late; indicating if the employee is missing work due to injury; communications breakdowns; not reporting questionable claims, and allowing employees to fill out accident forms.

“Our perspective is from that of the employer,” Gebhard stressed. “But there is nothing to be gained by avoiding taking care of an injured employee,” as all states mandate programs for injured employees that allow salary continuation and coverage of medical expenses related to the injury.

“Back in the days when workplaces were more dangerous than they are now, employees were treated like replaceable equipment. That’s why workers’ comp laws evolved into the system we have today. My company seeks out clients who have a good commitment to keeping their employees safe. We then partner with them to help them reduce their claims losses by improving safety through good practices.” It always comes back to the idea of a commitment to safety and employees.

“There are two kinds of people in charge – those who know and care what is going on and those who don’t,” Murphy states. “You can’t get to be CEO without being conscious of details of the job and employees are the most important detail. Get that wrong and it can be very costly.” Charpentier’s experience echoes Murphy’s views. A workplace with a poor safety culture is the common thread in organizations with substantial workplace safety and injury records.

“You can see safety banners and signs all over a company and no one adhering to the safety policies. Management will tell you that OSHA has never visited them, so they must have a good safety program. That’s when I know this is a company focused on production and the bottom line, and the leaders don’t understand that if nothing else, keeping employees from getting hurt is also a good way to control expenses.” He recalled a case in which he visited a client who nearly lost an entire research facility because one of the employees did not follow safety procedures.

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