Employees Sometimes Work Outside? Keep Them Safe To Prevent Worker's Compensation Claims
Many companies think of injuries happening inside with things like slip and falls, injury from equipment they use, and more. If you have employees that sometimes work outside, however, they can also become injured and submit a worker's compensation claim. Before anything like this happens to you, below is some information on how to prevent this type of injury from happening to your employees. There is also information below about what you should do just in case someone does get injured.
Train Your Employees
Hold a training class and train all your employees on how to stay safe in the sun, such as staying hydrated, taking regular breaks, etc. You also need to train all supervisors you have on staff if they also work out in the sun.
Document your training classes because if one of your employees does become injured due to the heat and sun you can show that they were properly trained on what they should do. This training will also benefit your employees as you may teach them information they were not aware of.
Keep Them Hydrated
No matter what the temperature is outside you should always have water available for your employees. You could bring out large coolers filled with ice and water bottles. You could also use large water dispensers and plastic cups throughout the area so your employees are always close to the water.
Even if it is not real hot outside, being in the heat for long periods of time can still affect your employees.
Give Your Employees Time to Get Used to Heat
If the inside of your company is very cool walking straight outside into the heat can cause problems. Instead, let your employees become acclimated to the heat. This will build up your employees' tolerance to heat a little at a time. If your employees work inside more often than outside drop your temperature down a few degrees every day. Let your employees stay outside for a short amount of time to start with and slowly increase this time over the next few days.
Learn the Signs of Heat Stroke
Your employees should learn the signs of heat stroke so they can quickly get into a cool area. Some of these signs include:
- Severe headache
- Dizziness
- Light headedness
- Muscle cramps
- Muscle weakness
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Show breathing
- Rapid heartbeat
Post these symptoms around the area your employees are working so they will remember them.
Contact a Worker's Compensation Attorney
Even with all this information one of your employees may file a worker's compensation claim. If they do, you need to hire a worker's compensation attorney, such as from Prediletto, Halpin, Scharnikow & Nelson, P.S., immediately. If you follow all the information above, you will likely have no problem winning your case, but an attorney will ensure that you do.
The attorney can file all the right paperwork with the court and make sure you have answered all the questions properly. The attorney can also talk with the employee's attorney and try to get the case dropped before it goes to court. This will save you a lot of time and money.
The worker's compensation attorney can tell you much more information about how all this works.
Keep an eye on your employees closely throughout the day so you can make sure they are not having any health problems.
