What to Do When an Employee is Involved in an Auto Accident

You likely know what to do if you get into a car accident yourself. However, not every business leader knows what they should do if their own employee gets into one. While many of the steps are the same, some won’t be due to the vehicle being owned by your business and the accident happening during work time. Every accident is different, but you can typically expect to take these steps: 

1. Encourage Them to Receive Medical Attention

Even before you think about hiring a Southfield car accident attorney to guide you through the legal parts of a car accident, you’ll need to encourage your employees to receive medical attention if they haven’t already. 
Injuries can look minor, but that doesn’t mean they are. Healthcare providers can rule out serious injuries and provide a thorough medical report of all injuries sustained in the accident. 

2. Get the Other Driver’s Information

If another vehicle was involved in your employee’s accident, you’ll need to obtain their information. This can be important for insurance purposes. It may also be required for legal action if their negligence or ill intentions resulted in the accident. Ask for their name, contact information, insurance details, and vehicle registration. 

3. Offer Support and Help

Car accidents can be traumatic. In fact, those involved in serious accidents can be at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As a result, it can be important for you to offer your help and support after an employee has been involved in an accident. 
Ask if they need any help with medical appointments or transportation. If they will require time off work to heal, communicate the procedures for how this works with your workers’ compensation insurance. The more you organize for them, the more time they’ll have to rest and recuperate. 

4. Work Through Your Workplace Changes

A car accident in a work vehicle can add a lot of tasks to the average business leader’s to-do list. Alongside supporting your injured employee, you’ll also need to approve their time off work, reassign their duties to other employees, and manage their workers’ compensation claim. Depending on their injuries, any assignment changes may be temporary or permanent. 

5. File an Insurance Claim

Filing an insurance claim is crucial after a car accident. You may need to be compensated for vehicle damage, while your employee may need workers’ compensation to cover their medical costs. 
It’s during this filing phase that you may also explore legal action. This might be a consideration if someone else’s negligence resulted in your employee’s injuries and your vehicle’s damage. Consider talking to a personal injury lawyer to explore your options. This is something you even might like to do before talking to your insurance adjuster. 

6. Review Possible Changes

We can always learn something after a severe event like a car accident. If you’ve reviewed what happened and believe it could have been prevented or gone more smoothly after the fact, consider changing procedures and policies. If an employee has an accident again, you may enjoy a more straightforward process. 
Having employees involved in car accidents can be stressful, especially when they’ve been injured. However, these six steps above may be helpful for navigating the average car accident claim and doing right by your employee and business simultaneously.