Let’s say you own a business. You probably have all kinds of daily concerns. You can guard against them in many ways, such as getting various insurance policies.
However, even if you take every conceivable precaution, accidents sometimes occur. When they do, you might have to deal with an injured employee. You can make sure that worker gets the help they need, but such injuries can still impact your company.
We’ll talk about what workplace injuries can do to your business right now.
How Often Do These Injuries Occur?
Over 2 million US residents suffer work-related injuries yearly. When you think about that stat, you’ll realize these accidents happen every day, all over the country.
An injury might mean an employee gets a papercut or stubs their toe, and if that happens, then presumably, they can continue working with few issues. If they break a bone or do something more serious to themselves, though, that might mean they have to miss a few days or longer.
What Happens When You Have Workers Out with Injuries?
If you have workers out with injuries, that often means other employees have to pick up the slack. Perhaps you’re equipped to deal with that fairly easily. You can just take that worker off the schedule.
Other employees can take on their responsibilities, and some of them might even appreciate getting some more hours. With one worker out, certain employees might get some overtime hours, and they might like that.
You might have to deal with a worker shortage, though, if the employee who sustained the injury has to miss several weeks or months. If so, you may have to hire a short-term employee. You will need to take some time to interview the potential replacements, or you might have a hiring manager do it if you have one on staff.
It might take some time to find a replacement for the injured worker, and your other employees may find that time stressful if they’re working long hours. Hopefully, you can make things easier for them by paying time-and-a-half or giving them additional perks.
You Might Deal with Low Morale
You may also find that worker morale lowers if someone hurts themselves. If the person who’s out with an injury remains popular at the company, the remaining workers might not like coming to work without them.
You can give pep talks and attempt to keep up employee morale. You might have Taco Tuesdays or Pizza Fridays to try and cheer people up. Ideally, you’ll get the injured worker back before too much time passes. Until then, you’ll need to get creative to boost everyone’s spirits.
Fewer People May Want to Work for Your Company
Maybe if someone hurts themselves while on the job, not as many people will want to work for your company. Perhaps someone sustains a very serious injury, like a traumatic brain injury, broken bones, etc. If that happens, other workers might think about whether it could happen to them.
Maybe the injured worker hurt themselves due to their own carelessness. If so, the remaining workers probably won’t quit or think too much about it other than regarding the occurrence as a cautionary tale.
If some machinery malfunctioned, though, or something of that nature, you might see a mass employee exodus after an injury. If several people hurt themselves working for your company within a calendar year, that could mean many individuals decide to leave before it happens to them.
You might instill some additional safety protocols if you’re seeing multiple injuries in a short span. That may convince your remaining workers to stay. Alternatively, you might have to award raises all around to keep the workers you have.
You May Face Bad Publicity
Your business may face some negative publicity if a worker injures themselves, and it’s the company’s fault. Maybe the press will claim or speculate that your negligence caused the injury. If the injured worker sues the company, that’s potentially an even worse situation.
You might have to settle with the worker to avoid any more bad press if you feel your company caused the injury. You’ll need to contact a lawyer to see whether that’s the best idea.
If you feel the worker’s incompetence or carelessness caused the injury, you may have to endure the bad press and battle the worker in court with your lawyer or legal team. You may also have to issue a press release talking about what happened.
Barry Lachey is a Professional Editor at Zobuz. Previously He has also worked for Moxly Sports and Network Resources “Joe Joe.” he is a graduate of the Kings College at the University of Thames Valley London. You can reach Barry via email or by phone.
