Accidents in the workplace may be common, but they are never a welcome occurrence. Nobody wins when an employee falls, trips, or ends up crushed in a piece of industrial machinery. Minor injuries heal quickly and the only cost to the employer is a few days absence from the workplace. However, when accidents that are more serious occur, employees can end up disabled, disfigured or even dead.
Personal injury law firms such as LG of Denver are used to dealing with complex claims. Thanks to modern technology such as iPads, it is now easier than ever to get across the serious nature of life-changing injuries caused by workplace accidents. After all, if you lose a limb because of an employer’s negligence, no amount of money will give you your life back, so you want everyone involved in the case to see how the world looks through your eyes.
Employers large and small have a duty of care to keep employees safe in the workplace. It was not always so. Two hundred years ago, we sent small children up chimneys without giving it a second thought. Luckily, society has moved on since those dark days and the only work children are expected to do now is tidy their bedroom or cut the grass.
Heaven forbid you never have to deal with a serious accident in your workplace, but prevention is always better than cure, so here is some useful guidance for start-up businesses not yet versed in the basics of health and safety at work.
Risk Assessment
All employers are expected to perform regular risk assessments. A risk assessment is about looking at what the possible risks are and then implementing strategies to mitigate those risks.
Look for common hazards such as trip obstacles or blocked fire exits. Do your employees routinely lift heavy supplies or work with machinery? If so, make sure you identify all possible risks.
Forward Planning
Once risks have been identified, you need to have policies in place so hazards are reduced and exposure to dangerous equipment or situations is limited as much as possible. If there is no way to reduce exposure, extensive safety training may be the only solution.
Be Open about Safety Issues
You must make a point of talking to employees about health and safety issues. It doesn’t matter how many health and safety procedures and policies you have in place if nobody bothers to take the information on board. Put important information on display and make sure new employees are fully briefed on what company policy is.
Record Accidents
All accidents, no matter how minor, must be recorded. Keep an accident book and record any relevant information if any incidents occur.
Minor injuries can be treated with an on-site First Aid kit, but for accidents that are more serious, you should call 911 immediately. This type of accident may need to be reported to the relevant health and safety authority, but if you are unsure, file a report anyway.
Why Accurate Records Are So Important
A high-powered attorney such as LG of Denver will seek to enter into evidence any risk, you as an employer, didn’t make efforts to eliminate. These savvy lawyers will ask the court’s approval to enter your premises and use devices like iPads and iPhones to take photo and video representation of the area in question. These can easily be brought into the courtroom to show your negligence in abiding by safety regulations.
Instead of archaic drawings that indicate who stood where when, they can literally recreate the scene to be visualized in court. In fact, Lamber Goodnow can even print a 3D representation in court that provides yet another visual of where the injury took place, showing how the company’s negligence in providing accurate safety measures was the ultimate cause of the injury.
Lost Time Is Lost Revenue
Just as the claimant’s team at LG of Denver will seek to use technology to their advantage, you might want to learn a lesson from this innovative law firm. They will use wearables to substantiate the degree to which their client had been injured because these devices measure levels of activity. If they can prove that their client no longer has the same range of motion or ability to get around, they could very well win even before litigation. You’d buckle to settle out of court.
However, if you use CCSTV monitoring throughout your establishment and even issue wearables to those employees most at risk, you just may be successful in proving that the claimant has sustained no injuries due to your negligence.
Sadly, many companies learn this lesson too late. Top notch attorneys like LG of Denver can, and will, use technology that is hard to refute and as they say, you need to fight fire with fire. The bottom line? Make sure you stay up to date with relevant health and safety legislation, but above all, always put your employees’ health and safety before profit.
It’s amazing how accurate records have become with 3D and smartphone technology. All the more reason to step up on safety procedures! And you leave off on an important note: the safety of employees is always more important than the company. Thanks for sharing!