I recently had an employee claim he was injured a month ago and now says he needs surgery. He did not report it at the time but has a person (witness) who says they think they remember something happening. I am having this person medically evaluated by an occupational doctor to try and determine if there is a true connection, but the time factor between the incident and the report isn't adding up to me. Any suggestions?  Is this a recordable no matter when it is reported?

If I remember right, the employee has up to two years to report the injury (at least in Indiana).  I would let your workers comp carrier take care of it, giving them all the information that you have.  This information would include:  not reporting it until a month after the fact, the employee working full time and not complaining to management for that time, no absences, no indication of an injury, not refusing any work, overtime. (of course state these only if they are true).  Your workers comp carrier should deny the claim as not being work related.  You could put it on the 300 log for now with an asterisk beside it with an explanation of the facts and that it is under investigation (not work related.)

 

I would also make sure to get a detailed statement from the employee what they said caused the injury, and also a statement from the “witness”.  Chances are they will not match.  Maybe do both at the same time in different rooms so they can not talk before the other one makes the statement.  Do not put any words into the employee’s mouth, let them say it all.  If they say they did it on the 9^th and that is a Sunday and he did not work that day, don’t say, “you did not work that day, are you sure it was not the 10^th?

 

I would not let the surgery happen until workers comp agrees to it.  You should also have a policy that states that “all injuries, no matter how slight, needs to be reported to you supervisor immediately.”  This should be stated to all new hires, and repeated at least yearly for every one.  I have signs on the first aid cabinets stating this.  That way the employee can’t say he didn’t know.  If you do have this policy, the employee should be written up for violating it.

 

Again, unless you are a lawyer, I would let workers comp handle it and take your hands out of it.  Do not speak to the employee about it; refer any questions to the claims adjuster.

 

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

---

Safety Management '82
Indiana State Univ.

firefighter406:

I recently had an employee claim he was injured a month ago and now says he needs surgery. He did not report it at the time but has a person (witness) who says they think they remember something happening. I am having this person medically evaluated by an occupational doctor to try and determine if there is a true connection, but the time factor between the incident and the report isn't adding up to me. Any suggestions?  Is this a recordable no matter when it is reported?

 

By doing what was said above.  Interview both people.  injured person and the witness.  don't let them know you are interviewing the other before hand.  At the conclusion of the interview get the person to write up a statement of what happened and sign it.  If the 2 differ enough you can do 2 things.

 

1.  turn the statements over to the worker's comp carier and tell them you do not thing this was work related.  Also give them any other details and documents you have

 

2. file these statements away in the injury file.  also, if they are different enough, type up a letter stating the facts of the situation, reference the statements and state for the record that you do not believe the injury is work related.  Then don't put it on your OSHA log.  Should you get inspected with a solid arguement you should win the discussion, if not it should only be a deminumus violation with no or a minimal fine.

 

Lastly, I would terminate the person for not reporting the injury, if worker's comp pays.  He claims it is work related and did not report it immediately so is subject to disciplinary action with most companies.

thanks for the reply!