I am sure many of you have seen the famous Holiday Inn Express commercial where the patient is asking the doctor about his upcoming procedure and the doctor responds, “I am not a doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”
This commercial always makes me think of the superintendent or foreman on a job, when a laborer comes up saying he felt a pop in his back. The only hope you have as an employer at that point is if your superintendent stayed at a Holiday Inn Express!
Common Incident Questions
As an employer, one of the hardest things to control is an injury that is more than a paper cut and less than an ambulance ride. Below are the most common questions I hear following an incident that falls in this category:
1. Does the worker have to go to the clinic?
2. Do we have to file a claim?
3. How can we tell how bad it is? Did this even happen at work?
4. Can we get the worker on light duty?
These are just a few of the many questions that employers face when an employee is injured on a jobsite. My goal here is to provide you with three easy steps to mitigate the anxiety and stress that comes with these types of situations.
Three Simple Steps
The first and most imperative step in assessing a sprain or strain is timing. The best result for the employer and employee is when the incident is reported within 24 hours. This allows the employee to provide the most accurate story and therefore the best care.
The second step is having a preferred clinic to send the employee to. Whether it is Concentra, Physicians Immediate, or another local urgent care facility, it is ideal to have a relationship with the place you are sending the injured employee.
The third step is developing a clear post-incident plan. Key components to this plan are building a bucket of light-duty positions based on an employee’s capabilities, assessing whether or not the claim should be filed as medical only or indemnity (remember, a 70% discount on the electronic medical record, or EMR, is for medical only), and transition into full duty.
Nurse Triage Technology
You could be saying to yourself, “Phil, this is all great, but I don’t have time to implement all of this… I need to put on roofs!”
Well, it is your lucky day, because the world of technology has gifted us with a program to help: telephonic nurse triage! It is a 24-hours-per-day, 7-days-a-week nurse triage service that allows your injured employee to call a registered nurse the moment an injury occurs.
The program helps report the incident on time, if necessary, send the employee to a preferred clinic, and develop a clear post-incident plan.
Above is a snapshot of a real user of the nurse triage technology and the positive results. Nurse Triage has saved my construction clients millions of dollars in potential claim costs and cut down total cost per claim by 30 percent! If you are interested in learning more about this program, contact your risk manager today.
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the January 2025 print issue of CoatingsPro Magazine. Reprinted with permission.