Hidden Costs of Claims

In our last post, we talked about the most common office claims.  Offices rarely see a lot of injuries, so the phenomena we are discussing today is worse in that environment, but exists in all industries.

You know how traffic slows down on the interstate, even though the accident is on the opposite side?  That same slowdown will happen in the workplace when an accident happens.

An injury with any amount of severity is going to have hidden costs that are not covered by workers' compensation.  When an employee is injured, he or she isn't typically by themselves, and typically will be tended to by another employee.  Right off the bat we are losing productivity of the injured worker and those in the immediate vicinity who are either attending to the worker, or just stopped in traffice like the drivers on the interstate behind the accident.

Once the injured employee has left the workplace, work can resume for the remaining employees.  However, just like the traffic, it will take a while to get back up to speed.  Some employees will be slower and more deliberate for fear of injuring themselves.  Others will be distracted by their thoughts recalling the injury.  Lastly, you will probably have some conversation among employees about the accident contributing to the slower pace.

The entire time the employee is off work, we have lost their productivity, or shifted productivity from another area to cover the missing employee.  There will be follow up paperwork and reports as a result, taking time from an employee or manager to do so.

As happy as we are to have the employee back to work, that will be another day in the slow lane.  Employees will take time to welcome their friend back, recount their stories of the injury, and hear about his recovery efforts.

None of this contemplates an injury that also caused damaged equipment, or required clean up of the workplace.  Prevention of injuries is important as we value the health and safety of employees.  We need to maintain that focus and realize there are costs associated with the injury, and the cost of prevention would be well spent to avoid the post claims costs.