If An Injury Occurs
- If an on-the-job injury occurs, see that your employee gets immediate medical attention.
- Ensure the employee has a copy of your
Injured
Worker Packet - Use the
Investigation
of Incident form given in Section 4 of this
Guide to get all the facts on what happened. - Ensure you* get a copy of the "Report of Industrial Injury
or Occupational Disease" from the doctor.
(*if you belong to a Retrospective Rating group or otherwise have a Third Party Administrator, the Report may be sent directly to them.) - With that information, complete the employer's Report of Industrial Injury or Occupational Disease.
- Stay in contact with the injured worker
- Stay in contact with the doctor
- Read all L&I correspondence right away and respond promptly. This will protect your rights and avoid delays that can increase your costs.
- If you want to protest or appeal an L&I decision, visit the Web site http://www.lni.wa.gov/ClaimsIns/Claims/Appeals/Instructions/default.asp.
- Discuss the situation with the worker and -- if necessary -- with the doctor. Decide if the worker should be kept on salary, or if they can return to work on light duty. If you want more guidance on the options, ask a Risk Management specialist from you local L&I office to show you a comparison of costs.
- Ensure you understand the consequences of losing your Claim-Free Discount
- Use the results of your accident investigation: brief your
other employees, make changes to your Accident Prevention Plan
and
Employee
Safety Orientation
Please note : This checklist only represents the most basic actions involved in managing an injured worker claim. The more information you get, the greater your potential savings through good claims management. Much of that information is available from the L&I Web site: http://www.lni.wa.gov/ClaimsIns/default.asp.
It would also be well worth your time to enroll in the course, "Controlling Your Claims Costs."
