04/30/2008

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM), which represents nearly 5,000 occupational physicians, is speaking out about apparent pressure from companies to downplay workplace injuries. The group recently sent a letter to federal OSHA, held a conference regarding the issue in New York City, and plans to testify before Congress. According to the group, medical professionals feel that they are pressured by employers to undertreat and mistreat workers with work-related injuries to prevent employers from having to report injuries on their OSHA 300 logs and to reduce workers' comp costs. The ACOEM will meet with OSHA and possibly ask the agency to sharpen its investigation of employers' injury logs and to revise the rules to make it less favorable for employers to underreport injuries. If successful, the group's efforts could alter how OSHA evaluates workplace safety and how injured workers are treated.

The Employer's Perspective

The flip side, however, is how employers view the issue. Often, employers complain that some medical professionals misdiagnose, overtreat, and overprescribe when it comes to workplace injuries. They say that physicians commonly take an antagonistic point of view toward the employer, sometimes even refusing to cooperate with return-to-work programs. Combine this with the fact that managers and supervisors, who are often the ones who handle injured worker incidents, feel pressured to maintain good numbers when it comes to safety.

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Learn how to prepare your frontline staff to handle their safety responsibilities by attending Frontline Supervisors, Forepersons, and Managers: Why They Are Your First Line of Defense Against Injuries and Lawsuits; How to Optimize Their Role, a 90 min audio conference.

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What's an Employer to Do?

Managers and supervisors are not medical professionals and, as such, should not be directing the diagnosis and treatment of injured employees. That said, there are a number of things an employer can do to make the handling of injured employees less difficult for all involved.

Look first at what your organization is doing:

• Be careful about the behavior you reward. Focusing rewards solely on a reduction in the rate of recordable injuries may illicit behavior that you don't want—like improper reporting or interference with the proper treatment of employees' injuries. Behaviors like these can hide serious safety problems.


• Review your procedures concerning how injuries are handled and who has responsibility for what, including who determines if the correct paperwork has been received to return the employee to work. Messy or nonexistent procedures make things difficult for you, the physician, and the employee.


• Instruct those handling injured employee incidents not to interfere with diagnosis and treatment. If a physician in his or her best judgment feels the employee needs a prescription medication or stitches as opposed to a bandage and an aspirin, take the recordable incident rather than attempting to wrangle the physician to change his or her mind on treatment. If you find that there is a specific physician who appears particularly overzealous in his or her treatment and prescription writing or especially antagonistic toward your organization, direct your employees elsewhere for treatment whenever possible—a rancorous relationship between the doctor and the employer benefits no one.

Work with treating physicians:

• Work with physicians to help them understand what your needs are when it comes to returning the employee to work (for example, how much detail you need regarding any work restrictions). Remember, however, that most doctors' offices carry heavy patient loads and that the time they spend with any patient is generally suboptimal. As such, make things as easy as possible when it comes to paperwork.


• Whenever possible, use email to allow the physician to respond to you. This helps to prevent "phone tag" and can actually facilitate more in-depth discussion about the employee's recovery and return to work.


• Familiarize treating physicians with your organization. For example, once a year, invite them for lunch and give them a tour of your facility. Be sure to include a discussion of your safety program, including the return-to-work program, as part of your tour.


• Prepare detailed descriptions of a job's physical requirements in advance of injuries. This differs from a job description in that it will include significantly more information on how much time workers spend sitting, standing, bending, squatting, lifting (including what and how), and the equipment they use. Make sure that a description is provided to the treating physician at the earliest opportunity. Physicians who feel comfortable about the environment they are releasing an employee to are more likely to do so.


• If the number of physicians you deal with is limited, consider asking them for input on your return-to-work program.

No one likes to have an injured employee, and no one likes having a high number of recordable injuries. The best way to prevent these is through a well-implemented safety effort at your company. However, when you do have an injured employee, take steps to optimize his or her treatment and help return him or her to work as soon as practical.

What Your Managers Know About Injuries and Injury Prevention Matters

From training and disciplining employees, to taking employees to emergency rooms, to determining return-to-work duty, managers and supervisors are usually the ones tasked with not only preventing injuries but also handling those injuries when they happen. The upcoming COCA audio conference, Frontline Supervisors, Forepersons, and Managers: Why They Are Your First Line of Defense Against Injuries and Lawsuits; How to Optimize Their Role, will help you prepare your managers and supervisors for their responsibilities when it comes to safety.

Join us on May 28 when our legal expert—an attorney and safety professional—will cover your managers' and supervisors' responsibilities and rights during an inspection, the importance of proper documentation, creating legally sound and effective injury investigation procedures, and more. Click here for details and to register for this informative program.