How To Care For An Injured Employee

It should make no difference what size business you run or what you do in that business – if you have employees, you have a duty of care to look after them as well as possible. Accidents will indeed happen, but the more you can do to prevent them from happening, the less often they will occur. 

However, it’s still a good idea to know what to do if someone you employ is injured while carrying out their duties. Read on for some useful information to ensure you do the right thing in a situation that could easily become stressful. This will help the employee, you, and your business the most.

Get Medical Care

If someone is injured, it’s likely they’ll need some kind of medical care to help them recover. This could range from requiring some painkillers and a sticking plaster to needing to go to hospital in an ambulance. 

It’s crucial that you assess the situation immediately and determine what level of medical care will be needed. Once you know, take steps to put that idea into action by phoning for an ambulance, taking the injured person to their local hospital yourself (or having a colleague do it), or by ensuring your first aid qualified person is able to attend to them with the right equipment. 

Training 

Giving first aid training to everyone in your staff is an excellent idea as it means that should something happen, you don’t have to rely on just one person – the person responsible for first aid who we mentioned above. If they were sick or on vacation or even the one who was injured, you’ll need to ensure you have someone else to take charge. Therefore, training the whole team to know what to do is the best policy. 

Organize a staff training day that results in certification to make your team feel as though they are really learning something. It could even double as a team-building or bonding day. The employer can also take steps to train an injured employee on issues relating to life outside of work which may have been impacted as a result of their injury. For example, helping them to adjust to a new normal or finding ways to manage the pain associated with their injury. This could include topics like how to deal with an immediate threat suspension on their driving license or how to regain trust in their skill set after an incident. 

Have The Right Equipment 

If your employee is not hurt badly enough to need to go to hospital, or you want to see to their wounds before they go – perhaps to keep a broken bone from moving or to stop a cut from bleeding – you’ll need to have the right equipment to do so. 

Make sure your office first aid kit is up to date and fully stocked; check it on a regular basis and replace anything that won’t be of any use or that is running low. Depending on the potential injuries that could occur, it might also be a good idea to invest in a stretcher or a recovery chair medical that would ensure everyone is as safe and comfortable as possible. 

Transition Them Back To Work

If the injury is a big one that causes a lot of trauma and requires a lot of recovery time, the employee is going to need to take time off work. When they are ready to return, you’ll need to work out a way to transition them carefully, helping them feel at ease and making sure they don’t overdo things. 

Before they come back, have a meeting with them to determine what they can and can’t do and work around this information. This could mean starting on part-time hours to begin with or maybe moving to a different department to do different work.

How To Care For An Injured Employee