When you are an employer, there are a number of things that are required in order to keep your employees safe and healthy when they’re at work. Having things in place is a must, as required by law, but of course, it will vary from job to job, depending on the kind of business that you have.

Knowing how to keep employees safe is one thing, but you should also know what to do when safety measures fail, as they can from time to time, and you have an employee that does get injured or hurt at work. If a business is prepared, then the less likely that an injury will occur, or if it does, less likely that it will end up being costly. So with that in mind, here are some steps to help business owners to plan and what to do if there is something that happens.

Respond Immediately After Injury

If there is an accident or an injury that occurs, then thinking about doing the following is a must:

• Make sure that you are able to get employees (or the employee) to a safe place. If there is still imminent danger, then this is a must.
• Assessing the situation is the next step, as it will determine what happens next. Do they just need straightforward first aid, or do they need to go to the emergency room? What exactly caused the injury? Then you can get help according to the needs that you have.
• Gathering some information and keeping any evidence is a must. Do it while things are fresh in your mind, and if you can take photos or make notes, it will help you to change things going forward, but also help you to prove what the situation was, should an employee file a claim. This is also really important to think about if you have a team of drivers, for example. If they are out in work trucks, on the clock, so to speak, and they get injured, if they are able, getting as much evidence as they can is important. If the crash wasn’t their fault, for example, then you as a business will need that information for insurance purposes. It could be worth speaking to a firm like https://www.barberalaw.com/ if an accident like this does happen, to see what you as a business, or the driver as an individual, could claim for.
• Keeping calm in the moments following an injury is a must. You will be the person that the team is looking for, and if you are panicking, everyone else will start to panic. Remain calm and you’ll think more logically as well.

Follow Through With Paperwork and Keep in Touch

If you have an employee that does get hurt at work, then helping them to look into worker’s compensation with your insurer can be a good idea, according to sites like https://www.insureon.com/. It is best to maintain some open communication between you and the employee, as well as insurers, doctors and so on. It can make the process much smoother, and make returning to work much simpler as well. This might also involve contributing to a structured settlement annuity that might be liquidated in the future. When everything is above board and signed off on, you can do right by your (ex)employee and move forward.