Rancho Mesa's Alyssa Burley and Vice President of the Human Services Group Sam Brown discuss training supervisors on workplace injury protocols to improve claim outcomes.

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Download Supervisor Accident Report and Witness Statement Forms

Director/Editor: Lauren Stumpf

Producer/Host: Alyssa Burley

Guest: Sam Brown

Music: "Home" by JHS Pedals, “News Room News” by Spence

transcript

[Introduction Music]

Alyssa Burley: Hi! This is Alyssa Burley with Rancho Mesa’s Media Communications and Client Services Department. Thank you for listening to today’s top Rancho Mesa news brought to you by our safety and risk management network, StudioOne™. Welcome back, everyone. My guest is Sam Brown, Vice President of the Human Services Group with Rancho Mesa. Today, we’re going to talk about training supervisors on workplace injury protocols to improve claim outcomes. Sam, welcome to the show.

Sam Brown: Thanks, Alyssa, always good to be back.

AB: Now, California employers work hard to maintain a safe workplace, but accidents and injuries can occur. And, while human resources professionals typically have an excellent understanding of the workers’ compensation claims process, that may not always be the case for supervisors. So, why should an employer train their supervisors when their HR person understands the process?

SB: Good question, so proper supervisor training can improve workers’ comp outcomes for employers and their injured workers. Supervisors are often the first person to become aware of a workplace injury. We know that. So, without proper training a supervisor may have the best of intentions, but can create problems by not following company protocols.

AB: Yeah, so what specifically should the supervisor training include?

SB: So, a sound supervisor training workplace injury program may include: How to get the injured worker medical attention - supervisors should definitely know the designated medical provider or understand how and when to get an employee to use telephonic nurse triage services if that’s available. The supervisor should know what information the provider will need and, if necessary, how the injured worker should be transported to the medical provider’s physical location. Should they drive themselves? Should the supervisor provide transportation? Those are important questions to ask and answer. Another topic would be internal communication - supervisors must know how to initiate documenting a workplace injury and how to notify the proper parties of the incident. What incident report should be used? Are witness statements important? Who do I talk to? Who needs to know of the incident as soon as possible? And then finally, whose responsibility is it to report the claim to the insurance company? We also want to make sure that the supervisor has effective communication with the employee - a supervisor setting a tone of empathy immediately following a workplace injury can lead to positive outcomes and typically reduces the likelihood of litigation. Effective communication can even reduce claim frequency. A recent study shows that four hours of supervisor training on communication skills and accommodation for workers reporting health concerns produced “a 47% reduction in new claims and an 18% reduction in active lost-time claims.”

AB: That’s a significant reduction. I don’t know why everyone’s not doing this training.

SB: Yeah, totally agreed. So, a well-designed training can greatly improve workers’ comp claim outcomes when supervisors follow company protocols, get injured workers medical care they need, and practice effective communication in the workplace.

AB: Yeah, and, to assist our clients and listeners, Rancho Mesa has developed a Supervisor’s Report of Employee Accident or Near Miss, and a Witness’ Statement to help collect that important information about the incident. And, we’ll put a link to download those forms in the episode notes. So Sam, if listeners have questions about their workers’ compensation insurance or their work comp protocols, what's the best way to get in touch with you?

[Outro Music]

SB: I can be reached at (619) 937-0175 or sbrown@ranchomesa.com.

AB: Sam, thanks for joining me in StudioOne™.

SB: Thanks for having me!

AB: This is Alyssa Burley with Rancho Mesa. Thanks for tuning in to our latest episode produced by StudioOne™. For more information, visit us at ranchomesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.