Work Place Injury and Compensation - Coursework Example

WORK- PLACE INJURY AND COMPENSATION By Student’s Name Course Name and Number Instructor’s Name Submission Date Work- Place Injury and Compensation The statutory duty that applies to the case study in question is the statutory compensation law to the injured employee in their line of duties. This law focuses towards the elimination of litigation by ensuring that employees who get injured or hurt in the line of duties are properly compensated and well treated. More so, it also explains that when a worker sustains an injury or work-related illness, the law provides for their medical expenses. In case the worker is unable to work, the employer has to carry out wage loss compensation until that time when the employee is able to go back to work. In addition, the statutory also stipulate that in the event that the employee's death is caused as a result of his duties, death benefits are paid to their families[Bav09]. Furthermore, this statutory duties is very important since it is designed to ensure that those employees who are disabled or injured on the jobs are not neglected to cover their medical bills arising from their on – job injury or illness. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the employers are obliged to provide the employees with all the required materials[Joh03]. Therefore, the employee has the right to be compensated. This statutory duty is also significant because when employees get injured, they have the freedom to choose their own health care provider to attend to them and treat their injury. The employer fully pays the medical practitioner who attends to them. Again, this statutory duty also applies to those workers who get total and partial disability in their worker. For those workers who, as a result of their job become total disable, this statutory provides that the employer takes care of him and continuously pay him his or her salaries for the period of his lifetime. On the other hand, for those workers who have become partially disable as a result of their duties in the company, they will receive a benefit status for a maximum of five hundred weeks after which when they feel okay they may return to their jobs or to a lower paying jobs depending on their health status[Sym11]. This statutory also prevent the employers from terminating or retrenching or worse still refusing to hire the employee because of reporting a workplace injury or when he or she filed a workers' compensation claim. Therefore, both the workers and the employers have to play their part so that they avoid the workplace injuries. However, in the cases where the employer vigorously contests employee claims for workers compensation, the statutory compensation law allow the employee to bring a lawyer who is knowledge and have specific experiences in handling worker's compensation claim on his or her behalf. This statutory duty is also significant in that it caters for even to those employees who get injured far away from their places of the worker but in the line of their duties, for instance, Erica, the lady in the case study in question. In such cases, this statutory duty stipulates that the employer must provide compensation to the employee as a result of the injury[Joh03]. The statutory compensation law also requires the employer to identify all significant and foreseeable risks to employee health and make sure that they are addressed such that the employees do not get hurt. It also covers the duty of the employer prevent harm to the employees, be it physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and a long-term effect on the employees, and on their abilities to work. The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Proposed Civil Action Strengths The civil action provides appropriate medical and enough rehabilitation time for the employee to recover. In simple term, the statutory compensation law encourages provision and quality medical care to help restore the employees' health, physical conditions and earning capacity which also requires enough time to be achieved. Therefore, the council will have to defend Erica, since her employer did not provide her either with proper medication so as to overcome her physical injuries and trauma since she still suffers from a headache which resulted from the injury. Therefore, she had not been given enough time to recover from her injuries. On the other hand, the strength of the civil action is portrayed when it clearly requires that when dealing with the maternity or parental issues, there two aspects to be considered. First is the period of the leave which is to be given to the mother and that the employee should be given the same job or similar job at least with same wages and benefits when they are back from leave. Secondly, the employee while on leave must be paid her salary from her employment even if she is not at work. Therefore, the council may charge Erica's employer with the failure to accept an extension of her leave due to the complication she developed as a result of the injuries she got at work making her give birth to an immature baby. The statutory law advocates for benefits adequacy, which are usually temporary that are received by the workers who are injured at work for four weeks so as to cater for their daily expenditures when they are sick. Again, it put it that for those workers whose injuries may not last for four weeks, should receive the first week of Temporary Income Benefits. Looking at Erica's case, the council may argue that she was supposed to get additional time and receive the four-week temporary benefits as she nurses her baby and recovers. The strength of the civil action is also seen when it clearly stipulate that the employer should ensure a safe working environment by identifying the potential hazards and risks in the workplace and searching for all the means of preventing the risk to occur. Therefore, the council will charge Erica's employer with negligence not to employee many workers so that when one is sick or on leave there is another to replace him or her hence avoiding the situation where an employee meets clients alone leading to such incident like Erica's. This civil action's strength is justified when it encourages a speedy return to work. It does this by ensuring that the injured employee at work gets a proper medical attention so that they can be able to resume their work. Again, by ensuring that the injured employee get the necessary incomes to take care of themselves during their sick leave show how hurried it needs the employees to return to work. Therefore, in the case of Erica, the council may advise Erica to return to work as soon as possible so as to proceed with her job. The civil action is strong due to the fact that it advocates for a good environment where the employees are free from cases of violence. Again, it also ensures employees safety by instructing the employers to identify all possible risks that may endanger the employees' health. Consequently, the council may charge Erica's employer with failure to institute policy dealing with violence at work resulting in the injury of the employee. Weakness The major weakness of this statutory compensation law is that it burdens the public and private programs of the financial as a result of work - related injuries since it directly allocates such costs to the employers. Consequently, these workers eventually get themselves laid off or fired from their work hence leading to the problem of job insecurity. Another weakness of this civil action is the problem of economic viability. The law should advocate that the workers compensation insurance should be made available to every employer at an affordable rate that is not burdensome so that the creation of coverage does not mess with the job creation and economic development. Above all, the weakness of this law is seen when it has continuously failed to protect against cost transfer to the employer. It occurs especially when a worker files a claim when their injuries and illness are not work related. However, many a time employees have practiced this common fraud where they file for compensation hence making the employer to carry the burden which they should not be meeting. This result into cost transfer from the employees to the employer hence it's the civil action weakness. Poor coverage is another weakness of this civil action. The statutory compensation law should ensure the provision of a broad coverage of employees and work-related injuries and diseases regardless of the fault. According to Symon (2011), this system seems to be expensive to many individuals hence making them opt out of the workers compensation system. This may be caused by the fact that there is a big number of small employers who fear to carry the burden of workers when they are injured hence preferring other written agreement with the employees on what they would be able to cater for in the case of the injury in the organization. A Policy Statement on the Risk of Violence at Work The incident of violence may occur in the actual workplace, however when the employee's job requires that he or she has to move out, the injury or violence may take place far away from the job site but still at the workers employment. The violence may include an attempt or actual physical attack on the employee or any threatening statement or behavior towards the worker[Wro06]. This policy entails the following; The Employer to Carry Risk Assessment Risk assessment is needed when there is an interaction between the employees and people who are not the co- workers, but with a potential for threats or assaults. The employer should carry a survey among the staff relating to the: i. Potential risks in their work environment ii. The actual occurrences of violence at the place of work that occurred in the past two years. iii. Review the company’s records and treatment books so as to identify the trend, activities, areas and the extent of the injury. Procedure and Policy After identification of the risks, the employer should take the required steps to eliminate the risk entirely. If it is not possible to eliminate the risks, take steps to mitigate the impacts. Come up with the preventive measure that may include steps to prevent the risk from occurring. Write down the procedure and ensure that the workers understand it and follow it. Have a Well-tabled Instruction to the Workers; i. Ensure that workers who are exposed to the risk of violence have full information of the nature and type of environment and the extent of risk they expect. ii. Inform the existing staff of the nature of the risk they are likely to face and be prepared physical and mentally. iii. Let the new employees know the hazards that exist in their working environment before they actually began their jobs. iv. Avail training of all employees on how they can defend themselves and escape when the risk occur. v. When one of the identified risks is a person, make sure that every employee knows him so that they avoid him or her at their workplace. vi. Advice all your employees who report injuries as a result of violence to consult a doctor and file such incidents in the violence report form. vii. Instruct your employees not to engage in improper activity that may lead to their injury or injury of a co-worker. viii. As an employer do not allow an employee to go out to a risk-prone area alone without a company of a co – worker. Information Sheet for Staff that Shows the Procedures to be followed in the Case of Home Visits 1) For an initial home visit, ensure you schedule the appointment by the telephone or more precisely through letter so that the client will also know when to expect you and be prepared. Speaking with the client before the actual time, you will get the vital information on the current situation of their area of resident hence helping you to prepare for a specific risk that you may meet. 2) Do not conduct home visit alone. Always ensure that you are accompanied by colleagues. 3) Always carry with you a well charged and functioning cellular telephone so that in the case of any violence or the risk is about to occur you can call the police officers for help or better still you inform the company of what is about to occur or what has transpired. 4) Ensure that your department’s supervisor and colleagues know where you are going and the location of such places. 5) Request the client if he or she can allow you to be accompanied by a police officer in case you think such home visit could be extremely dangerous. 6) Always, ask where the exits are in a home or in a building such you can escape whenever there is any danger. 7) If you feel unsafe during a home visit interview, and sense you might be in danger, you should end the interview and rush out as fast as possible. 8) Carry out the assessment of the surrounding including inside and outside of the client’s home. 9) Always remain professional and never show the client that you are scared or suspicious. However, when the situation gets out of hand leave. 10) Do not allow the clients to take advantage of you because of playing nice to them so as to get what you want. Maintain the distance between you and your client so that you may have some space to escape in case the client turns and bounces at you. 11) If you feel meeting the client at their homes is too dangerous, arrange a meeting at a hotel or senior centre or a cafeteria. Reference List Bav09: , (Bavdekar & Thatte, 2009), Joh03: , (Johansson, 2003), Sym11: , (Symon, 2011), Wro06: , (Wrona, 2006), Read More