This time of year, accidents are just waiting to happen. The most likely to put a dent in your workers’ comp and disability bill?
Slip and fall accidents.
The causes are easy to spot:
- Icy or snowy sidewalks, steps, etc.
- It’s dark when employees leave, so there’s less viability when employees are heading home, and
- Wet floors — either from the water and mud that gets dragged in on workers’ shoes or from trying to clean salt tracked in from outside walkways.
But preventing these seriously expensive injuries takes some stick-to-itiveness. Here are some ways HR and benefits pros can help make sure they don’t run up high medical bills:
- Make sure someone (preferably your facilities manager) conducts a safety survey regularly, both within and outside your facility to identify hazardous areas
- Have the person any problems immediately, and
- Keep a paper trail of all inspections and corrections to prove your company made a good faith effort to correct hazards — which will help avoid a lawsuit if someone got hurt.
