Large workers comp claims pose a massive risk for businesses, especially when the claims involve severe injuries and long term illnesses. Not only will you have to deal with the increase in medical costs, but you also have to worry about hiring and training replacement employees, readjusting work schedules, repairing or replacing damaged equipment/property, and investigating the incident.
Suppose that’s not enough to make you realize how much an on the job injury can cost your business; you can use the Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s (OSHA) $afety Pays tool. The tool will help you calculate and then assess the negative impact of occupational injuries or illnesses on your business’s profits.
Fortunately, there is a way to help you avoid increased workers’ comp costs and all the adverse effects that come with it. You need to have a contingency plan to help you prepare for when injuries happen and the large claims that follow. This plan is called workers compensation cost containment, a documented program developed and implemented to lessen workers’ compensation insurance costs. Controlling workers’ compensation costs is vital to a business because it can directly impact the bottom line. On that note, here are three tips on how to effectively implement workers comp cost containment in your business.
1. Create A Safety Program
The first step is to draft policies, procedures, and rules, and then train your employees, especially on proper handling of tools, wearing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). You can form a committee that consists of representatives from every department of your company and then assign them to enforce the safety policies.
Another thing you need to do is to ensure prompt medical care by pre-arranging a designated hospital/medical facility that your employees will be sent to in case of workplace accidents.
Conduct workplace audits from time to time, in addition to safety meetings, to make sure that your plan is being enforced.
2. Create A Return To Work Program
To supplement your safety program, you also need to create a return to work program because when injured workers spend so much time away from work, this can lead to longer claims duration. You can avoid this problem by designing a return to work program that eases the employee back into his/her regular work schedule.
Of course, do this only when the doctor has already cleared the worker to perform light duty at reduced hours.
3. Investigate Injuries, And Narrowly Averted Accidents
Sometimes, the cause of a workplace accident could be from different factors. So you can’t immediately pinpoint whether it’s the safety protocol that’s lacking or the injured employee’s compliance with the protocol.
This is the reason why you should investigate every accident that occurs in the workplace. While talking to all witnesses, keep referring to your safety manual. Doing this will help you reassess your safety plan.
Conclusion
Though these strategies will help you remove the bottlenecks in workers comp and improve your bottom line, they require more attention and effort. If you don’t have time to investigate workplace accidents, come up with policies and a contingency plan, the best thing you can do is to partner with an expert for workers comp cost containment who can develop workers compensation solutions to not only manage work comp costs but also to protect your employees.
If you’re struggling in reducing your workers’ comp costs, let us help you. Call our toll-free scheduling line (866) 214-5920
