I had been in business for a while when it happened, an employee slipped and fell while on duty. Now, the employee did not fall while in our suite, but fell in a conference room in my office building. This employee also received a small cut on the top of the foot due to the footwear that was worn which did not cover the skin on the top of the foot. The employee told me that he/she was alright but was more embarrassed rather than hurt and went home for the day because it was in front of several people at a workshop we were doing.

Also, this person came to work the next 2 days without any limp or anything. Then I was asked if they could have the day to go to the doctor. I was then asked if I had workman’s comp insurance. Then I was asked if I should go to a certain doctor. Well, of course I had workman’s comp insurance but this was the first time anything like this had ever happened. I was a newbie and of course this person probably thought this was an opportunity to get some free massage therapy…on me.

To make a long story short, I did not know that I was supposed to take an incident report immediately without letting the employee leave and think about what they are going to say at the doctors office. I also did not know that I was supposed to send them over to my doctor to get checked out immediately and that most places, like Concentra bill my workman’s comp insurance directly.

In the end I learned a valuable lesson… make sure you HAVE workman’s comp insurance because it could have been a whole different story if I didn’t have it. Also, make sure you understand why you even have it at all and what you are supposed to do if something happens. In this case, even though I was told the day of that it was nothing…it turned out to be something. The insurance paid for the physical therapy and loss of wages while the employee was out but it could have went a lot smoother if I had known what to do in the first place. Maybe I am wrong but when I am selling something I explain everything in GREAT detail so that the client is truly clear on what to do and what should happen. I think my insurance sales person should have went over that process.

Just something I was thinking about.

Tina Williams
QT Enterprises Inc
http://www.qtenterprises.net
248-233-4071