Good Communication Can Help Lower Workers’ Compensation

Do your employees know what the next step is after one of them slips and falls on a grease spot and is injured? If you don't communicate the process for reporting injuries and filing workers' compensation claims with them, you most likely will be paying more than you should for your workers' compensation coverage.

While employers spend money on loss control efforts, incentive programs and safety programs, they often fail in one of the key areas to help control workers' compensation costs: managing the workers' compensation process. True, it is important to focus on injury prevention, but often that isn't enough. There are two more areas that employers need to give their attention to: managing the injury and managing the return-to-work process.

Injury reporting is a key factor in shaping the outcome of any employee injury. The sooner an injury is reported, the sooner a medical assessment can be made available and the sooner an employee is on the right track to recovery. It has been proven in several studies that lag time directly impacts the costs of claims. It is imperative that you stress to employees and supervisors that any employee injury must be reported immediately. This not only benefits the employer but the injured worker as well.