Strict reporting system can prevent repeat injuries
February 1, 1996 2 minutes read
Strict reporting system can prevent repeat injuries
Help supervisors 'close the loop' on workers' comp
When an employee in the health and rehabilitative services department at Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee is injured two or more times in any six-month period, an automatic safety review between worker and supervisor takes place, aimed at reducing future similar incidents.
The review is part of a program at Florida State Hospital, which has reported fewer workers' compensation injuries each year for the past seven years.
This "close the loop" program for workers' compensation manages potentially injurious employee behavior through strict reporting requirements, says Florida State Risk Manager Richard Wilhelms, HCRM, who designed the program. It also places accountability for workers' injuries on first-line supervisors, by requiring them to review their employees' claims and determine how injurious behavior can be changed.
When an employee at Florida State Hospital is injured, his or her supervisor is responsible for ensuring that the worker is treated. Supervisors also must file injury reports within 48 hours of the incident. As risk manager, Wilhelms receives copies of the supervisor's report and the employee health clinic's report.
Wilhelms maintains detailed records on workers' injuries, tracking the number and frequency of incidents with the reports. When he finds that an employee has had two or more workers' compensation incidents in a six-month period, a safety conference is required between the injured employee and his or her supervisor. Wilhelms sends the supervisor a copy of the employee's past claims and a record of his or her attendance at training programs, for use in the safety conference.
Provide sample responses
Supervisors are required to discuss their employee's problematic behavior and provide risk management with feedback on how they intend to solve the problem. When Wilhelms found that many supervisors do not have good writing skills, he began including sample responses with the feedback report form, for supervisors to use as a guide when writing their reports. (See a sample response form with suggested responses, pp. 24-25.)
Wilhelms maintains copies of all the reports, compiling them into monthly reports for unit directors and quarterly summaries for senior management.
"Overall, we have everyone -- the employee, first-line supervisor, unit director, and senior management -- accountable through written documentation," he says. *
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