What Is the Full Process When an Employee Is Injured?
If your company participates in Helpside's Workers' Compensation program, follow this sequence any time an employee is injured so they get the right care and the claim has the best possible outcome. This article summarizes Helpside's process for participating clients; emergencies, state law, policy terms, or the specifics of an incident may call for different steps.
Step 1: Get Emergency Care When Needed
If the injury is life or limb threatening, seek treatment at the nearest emergency facility or call 911 immediately. Nothing else in this process applies until the emergency is handled. If the injury isn't life-threatening but may need medical attention, use the steps below instead, starting with a phone call rather than a trip to urgent care.
Step 2: Notify Your Supervisor Immediately
As soon as an injury happens, the employee should tell their supervisor right away, even before calling nurse triage or seeking treatment. This gets the employee to the right resource faster, keeps the timeline clear if questions come up later, and starts the clock on the reporting requirement in Step 6.
Why does the order of steps matter so much? Timing has a direct, measurable effect on claim outcomes. Research from The Hartford found that reporting a claim just one week late can increase its cost by 10%. On the treatment side, nurse triage vendors like Company Nurse report 20 to 30% lower claim costs and 15 to 20% fewer claims overall among clients who triage and report promptly. A quick, well-managed start is often the difference between a minor sprain resolving quickly and that same injury becoming a drawn-out, expensive claim.
Step 3: Call Nurse Triage for Non-Emergency Injuries
For minor injuries, or any injury where it's unclear what level of treatment is needed, calling nurse triage at 833-407-1250 before seeking treatment is the right move. It's available 24/7 in both English and Spanish, comes at no cost to the employer, and can save the employee time since they don't have to sit in a waiting room at a doctor's office or urgent care. Without medical training, it's genuinely hard to know on the spot whether an injury needs a same-day ER visit, urgent care, or just first aid. Company Nurse reports that 40% of injuries called in are resolved with self-care alone, meaning a meaningful share of workplace injuries never need to become a full workers' comp claim.
Step 4: Follow the Treatment and Provider Instructions
If nurse triage advises treatment, the employee must use a designated medical provider rather than choosing their own. Designated providers already understand occupational injury treatment and workers' comp documentation, which keeps both care and the claim on track. Treatment received outside the designated provider network can result in significantly higher costs for the claim.
Designated provider lists by state:
If there isn't a designated provider near the employee's work location, contact Tom Wood at 801-443-1338. He can research the area and help identify a designated provider nearby.
Step 5: Complete Any Required Post-Incident Testing
Any employee who seeks medical attention for a work-related injury must complete a post-accident drug screen. Employees who are injured but don't seek treatment may still be tested at the employer's discretion.
Step 6: Submit the Supervisor's Incident Report Within 24 Hours
Helpside must be notified of every work-related injury within 24 hours, whether or not it required medical attention, by completing the Supervisor's Incident Report online. This is separate from the verbal notification in Step 2. It's the formal record Helpside needs to process the claim.
To complete an Incident Report of Work-Related Injury, log in to Helpside Tools. This step is crucial because once submitted, it's sent directly to the Helpside Safety Director and Claims Director for further review.
Step 7: Review Restrictions and Modified-Duty Options
After treatment, the employee should report back to their supervisor. If the treating physician issues work restrictions, the supervisor and employer should determine whether modified work is available to accommodate them. Employees who return to some form of modified duty, even light or reduced-hour work, tend to recover faster and have shorter claims than those who stay out entirely, and it's worth having a plan for what modified duty looks like across your common roles before you need one.
Extended time away from work is also linked to a higher risk of opioid dependency, since pain medication use tends to increase the longer someone is off the job. Getting an employee back in some capacity, even temporarily, protects both the employee's long-term outcome and the claim.
Step 8: Reporting Fatalities, Amputations, and Serious Injuries to OSHA
In addition to notifying Helpside, employers have a separate obligation to notify OSHA (or their state's OSHA-approved plan) of serious injuries, fatalities, and amputations. Timelines and definitions vary by state, so it's important to understand the specific requirements that apply where you operate. OSHA's State Plans page lists every state program with a link to its specific rules; when in doubt, contact Helpside.
For example, Utah employers must notify Utah OSHA (UOSH) at 801-530-6901 (available 24/7) within 8 hours of any work-related fatality, or any disabling, serious, or significant injury or occupational disease, including amputations, fractures, deep lacerations, severe burns, sight impairment, loss of consciousness, and concussions. This is broader and faster than the federal standard (8 hours for fatalities, 24 hours for hospitalization, amputation, or eye loss), so Utah employers should apply Utah's definitions rather than the federal categories.
Step 9: Document and Investigate the Incident
While details are still fresh, document what happened, where, when, and any contributing factors. Even an informal investigation can help identify a hazard to correct so a similar injury doesn't happen again, and it supports the claim if questions come up later.
What Are the Most Common Mistakes Employers Make After a Work-Related Injury?
How Can Employers Make Sure Supervisors Follow This Process?
Every employer should post this injury reporting flow chart at their worksite and train employees on the injury reporting process. Doing so leads to lower claim costs, quicker returns to work, better treatment outcomes, and a more streamlined process overall.
Questions about this process can be directed to our Safety Director, Joshua Hancey, at jhancey@helpside.com.