As your business grows, you need more employees to oversee your operations. With more employees comes more responsibilities and risks, especially if one of your employees gets injured while on the job. Your responsibility to your employees ranges from ensuring their safety in your work environment and compensating them properly. Neglecting these responsibilities could result in you paying expensive legal costs and possibly even losing your business licenses and permits.
Here’s what you need to know about your responsibilities to your workers in the event of an injury on the job.
Provide Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Workers’ compensation is a kind of insurance that includes the medical care expenditures of restoring the worker to full health, and also the payment of their full wages during their recovery period. This can be a complicated process, so it’s crucial that you seek the services of a firm that offers workers’ compensation claims management in Salt Lake City so you can get these affairs properly sorted out. Don’t delay the filing process or stop your employee from filing a claim. This is illegal and you might face potential jail time. As a business owner and employer, you need to honor your end of the bargain and properly reimburse your employees for their losses during this time.
Treating Employee Injuries
It’s your responsibility to get your employees the emergency medical treatment they need in case one of them is severely injured while on the job. Call an ambulance if needed or make sure the employee is taken to the hospital as soon as possible. You should also have a first aid kit on hand in your workplace to treat minor injuries. If your employees’ injury is minor and doesn’t require immediate medical attention, it’s enough to help treat the wound and bandage it.
Maintain Safety Standards In The Workplace
Your workplace should adhere to the specific standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration according to the industry in which your business operates. It’s your responsibility to provide a work environment that is safe and secure for your employees. You’re also required to inform your employees and keep them aware of areas in your business that might put them at a high risk of injury. You should also provide adequate training when it comes to safety procedures so that you can keep the risk of incurring an injury at a minimum.
Notify Your Workers’ Compensation Insurance Carrier
Once a work-related injury or illness occurs, it’s your responsibility to notify your workers’ compensation insurance carrier as soon as possible. You might be required to have a form or claim on-hand, which you will fill out and submit for them to process the claim and handle the relevant medical expenditures. Make sure that your employee also notifies the attending medical professionals and hospital staff that they suffered a work-related injury so that they know not to bill the employee’s health insurance provider. If the injury is minor and doesn’t require immediate medical attention, there’s no need to file a claim or notify your insurance company.
As a business owner and employer, it’s your job to keep your employees safe and secure.
