A warehouse worker injures his back on faulty equipment he had reported twice. He takes two weeks off, returns in pain and says nothing further.
He does not claim because he assumes it would mean suing his employer directly, that he would be seen as a troublemaker and that he would lose a job he needs. All three assumptions are wrong and nobody has ever told him so.
1. Address the job fear first
Before merits, before value, before anything. This is the barrier, and a page that does not address it loses the enquiry regardless of how good the claim is.
2. Explain who actually pays
The employer's insurer. Employees picture money coming out of the business and a manager they know personally being harmed by it.
3. Explain why the insurance exists
Employers are required to hold it precisely so that injured employees can be compensated. Framing a claim as using a system rather than attacking a person changes everything.
4. Explain the protection against detriment
Being dismissed or treated badly for bringing a claim is unlawful, and there are remedies. Employees do not know this and it is the reassurance they need.
5. Tell them to report it properly
An accident book entry, or a written report to a manager. This is the evidence the whole claim rests on and it is frequently never made.
6. Say what to do if it was never reported
It is not fatal to a claim and it makes things harder. Explaining what else can evidence it stops somebody assuming it is too late.
7. Cover the self employed and agency situations
Responsibility differs where somebody works through an agency or as a contractor, and these workers are among the least likely to claim.
8. Explain the role of safety obligations
Equipment, training, risk assessments and protective equipment. Employees frequently do not realise that a lack of these is central to the claim.
9. Cover the conditions that develop over time
Repetitive strain, hearing loss, respiratory conditions and back problems from years of work. These are claims and employees rarely think of them as injuries.
10. Explain what happens to their sick pay
Whether a claim affects it, what happens to lost earnings and how that forms part of a claim. Employees worrying about this month are not thinking about a settlement in two years.
11. Be clear about confidentiality
What the employer will and will not know, and when. Employees imagine an announcement rather than a letter to an insurer.
12. Cover the still employed situation carefully
Most of these enquiries come from somebody who intends to stay, which changes the tone of everything, as covered in workplace injury enquiries from employees still employed.
13. Keep the merits conversation honest
Whether there is a claim depends on the circumstances, which is the ground covered in do I have a case questions and the honest answer.
14. Signpost the treatment route
Getting better matters more than the claim, and rehabilitation is frequently funded as part of one, which connects to workplace and occupational physiotherapy enquiries.
15. Let the enquiry happen privately
An assistant that addresses the job fear, explains who pays, tells somebody to record the incident and takes the details for a confidential call back reaches an employee who was never going to telephone from a staff room. One such enquiry is worth calculating with the value of one captured enquiry. See features, start at try, and the sector view sits under law firms.