Ep. 655 Caring for the Caregiver: Reducing the Top Three Home Care Workers’ Comp Claims

In this episode, Alyssa Burley sits down with Account Executive Raysan Benito to discuss the three most common workers' compensation claims in the home care industry: strains and sprains, slips, trips and falls, and workplace violence. They explore practical strategies agencies can implement to reduce risk, including proactive home assessments, hands-on training, consistent documentation, and building a culture where caregivers feel empowered to speak up about safety concerns. Tune in for actionable insights that can help protect your employees, improve outcomes, and strengthen your organization's safety culture.

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Host: Alyssa Burley

Guest: Raysan Benito

Producer/Editor: Vanessa Hanna

Music: "Home" by JHS Pedals, “Breaking News Intro” by nem0production

© Copyright 2026. Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

Transcript

Alyssa Burley: You’re listening to Rancho Mesa’s StudioOne™ podcast, where each week we break down complex insurance and safety topics to help your business thrive.

I’m your host, Alyssa Burley, and I’m joined by Raysan Benito, Account Executive with Rancho Mesa. Today, we’re going to talk about the top three workers’ compensation claims in the home care industry and what business owners can do about them.

Raysan, welcome to the show.

Raysan Benito: Grateful to be here. Thank you, Alyssa.

AB: We’re happy you’re here. Now, you recently wrote an article about workers’ compensation claims in the home care industry, and in that article, you point out that strains and sprains remain the most common, along with slips, trips and falls, and workplace violence and combative behavior. You mention that training alone is not enough to prevent these claims. What are the most effective steps agencies can take to reduce these injuries before a claim occurs?

RB: Yeah,that's a great question. And when we think about this topic, the idea is proactive and not reactive. Training is absolutely important, and I'll get to that. But if you want to think about it as a three-legged stool, as it were, you have assessment, training, and then follow-up and documentation. So really when I'm talking about being proactive, it's that assessment of the home. Oftentimes they'll call it a home visit or a pre-inspection. And really making sure that the person who's visiting is not only assessing the needs of the client, but also being aware of any potential hazards.

And then second is training. So when it comes to training, it's really this idea of real world applicable training. So for example, lifting strategies, incredibly important, but not enough. You need devices to help assist, let's say transferring patients. training along with that. For example, using a gait belt or a Hoyer lift or a ceiling lift. And then from there, empowering those super users to help encourage maybe newer caregivers as to how to use that.

And then the last one is the follow-up and documentation. So when it comes to follow-up and documentation, making sure that those trainings are documented, making sure those hazards are documented, and continually going back to that.

AB: Absolutely, and our SafetyOne™ mobile app helps agencies standardize risk assessments, document transfer-related hazards, and create accountability around corrective actions before caregivers even enter the home.

And Unlike most industries, home care employees work in a different environment every day. What are some of the most common hazards agencies overlook when assessing client homes, and how can organizations consistently identify and address those risks?

RB: Absolutely. I'm going to speak to this class code writ large, 8827, between home care, home health, hospice, because really the nature of their work is fluid. It's variable. You have caregivers going to homes, going to communities, and those homes, they're not going to be the same as they were even yesterday. So some common hazards that we see, some of them are pretty straightforward like poor lighting, cluttered hallways, pets could be a hazard.

One I think that may be overlooked is really the cognition of the client. For example, going back to follow-up and documentation, there may be some changes with regard to the mobility or they may be experiencing cognitive changes that may not have been there in the initial assessment.

AB: Yeah, absolutely. Now, Safety One's observation capabilities allow caregivers and supervisors to document hazards like those trip risks, poor lighting like you mentioned, and pets and environmental concerns all in real time, creating a record of both the risk and the corrective action that's taken, right?

RB: Great point.

AB: Yeah so going back to your article, you emphasize the importance of creating a culture where caregivers feel comfortable reporting concerns and refusing unsafe assignments. What separates organizations that successfully build that kind of culture from those that struggle with recurring injuries and claims?

RB: My response to that would be three C's: Commitment of leadership, c ommunication, and consistent accountability. When it comes to commitment from leadership, not just saying that caregiver safety is our concern, but really integrating that, even from the onboarding process, perhaps having a safety slide or a safety component to when you're onboarding a caregiver, letting them know that safety is a non-negotiable and that their care is a huge priority for them.

And then communication. You want to make sure that you have a culture in which caregivers are able to express their concerns around potential environmental health hazards or to your point, potentially decline a client if they don't feel safe, whether in the home or navigating caring for that client.

And then lastly is consistent accountability. I know I keep going back to being proactive and following up, but really making sure that you document what was done in response to, let's say there was a claim, so I'm going to put on my underwriter hat. And if an underwriter is looking at a submission, they're going to want to know. when it comes to claims, what happened and what was done about it. So that consistent accountability is absolutely key and documenting that consistent accountability is crucial.

AB: Yeah and I think it's important when employees see that, okay, we're doing all these things to prevent an injury, but when an injury does happen, that the company takes it seriously enough to make changes and to hopefully prevent it from happening to another employee.

RB: Absolutely. And that they care. You want to make sure that, let's say a claim does arrive, the caregiver doesn't feel lost in the weeds of the process of a worker's comp or a worker's comp claim.

AB: Yeah, exactly and SafetyOne supports ongoing communication, training compliance, safety observations, and hazard reporting, giving management visibility into emerging issues while reinforcing that employee safety is a core organizational priority. Right?

Raysan, if listeners have questions about how they can control these types of claims, what’s the best way to get in touch with you?

RB:  I would be happy to connect at my office line, (619) 798-2823 or you can reach out to me via email at rbenito@ranchomesa.com.

AB: Alright well Raysan, thanks for joining me in StudioOne™.

RB: My joy.

AB: Thank you for tuning in to our latest episode produced by StudioOne™. If you enjoyed what you heard, please share this episode and subscribe. For more insights like this, visit us at RanchoMesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.