What happens after the 911 call
For the worker and his family, there is just one thing that occupies their thoughts and actions: “Please God let him live”. Family and friends rush to the hospital and begin the long vigil.
It is very different for those who have an economic stake in how the accident happened: the employer, the liability and compensation insurance companies, general and sub-contractors, and the owners of the project. Their representatives are mobilized immediately. It starts with the next call after 911. Construction managers are instructed to immediately inform the chief safety officer or insurance representative so they can assume control from that point on. This was the timeline in one such case: the employer filed its formal notice of accident with its insurance company 1 hour and 3 minutes after the worker was run over by a truck. 59 minutes later a claims adjuster was assigned the case. 23 minutes after that, the safety coordinator was on his way to the hospital to gather medical information. 2hr and 29 minutes later the safety officer reported to the claims adjuster that the worker was undergoing a 12 -13 hr operation. By day’s end, the insurance company was working out how much money this accident was going to cost them. Unfortunately, the line in the sand is drawn as soon as the company begins its investigation.
Keep in mind that insurance companies are in business to earn profits for their shareholders. The less they pay out in claims the greater their profits are. Good insurance company employees always seek to increase the company profits. This frequently leads to a situation where the worker is treated as an adversary who is attempting to wrongfully collect benefits.
All insurance companies belong to an organization called the Insurance Services Organizations (ISO); a central database where every claim for insurance benefits has ever been made, by anyone, no matter how it occurred or who was at fault. One claims adjuster proudly testified that the very first thing he did upon being assigned a new case involving a woman who was severely injured when a truck crossed over the center line and struck her head-on, was to send for an ISO report. He stated that the information is used to determine if someone (in this case the injured woman), is the kind of person who is likely to abuse the system. In this insurance company, there was a corporate mentality that everyone is presumed to be filing a fraudulent claim until proven otherwise.
Once an injury occurs, the primary goal of these trained company representatives quickly goes from accident prevention to damage control. First, the accident scene is secured and preserved for their accident investigators. Co-workers and all other witnesses are sequestered, interviewed and statements are recorded. Frequently, only the statements of witnesses favorable to the company’s position are recorded while those witnesses who are less favorable are minimized or even ignored in the official reports.
When OSHA shows up, the witnesses are not available to be interviewed by the government inspector. Many excuses are given for their absence from “they no longer work on this job” to “all our employee witnesses were sent for psychological counseling.” The OSHA investigator often gets access only to the employees who maintain allegiance to the company position.
Things are lost, like the worker’s hard hat or safety harness, critical evidence such as the ladder or scaffold that collapsed are misplaced during the post-accident turmoil.
Co-employees are instructed not to speak to anyone about the accident, often with the subtle indication that their continued employment is at stake. Even the injured worker’s closest friends must now act cautiously out of fear for their jobs.
Once the facts are uncovered the company professionals put just the right kind of spin on their official version of what happened. In one recent case, where a laborer stationed on the ground was electrocuted when a crane operator maneuvered his crane too close to a high voltage line, the employer’s representative informed the police and hospital that the worker must have been struck by lightning from a passing storm. Once the statement was made it was repeated dozens of times in conversations with hospital personnel, police, and OSHA all done with the design to support of a future legal defense. Another was to suggest that the accident happened because the worker positioned himself in the “kill zone” when in fact the worker’s foreman decided the location where the workers were to be stationed.
One way to help protect against this one-sided investigation is to designate a trusted, level-headed, friend or family member to act as the injured worker’s point person until professional help is retained. This frees up the family so they can attend to the well-being of the injured worker while the ongoing task of dealing with all the practical issues are attended to, such as supplying the necessary information to police agencies, OSHA, and insurance companies, dealing with hospital and compensation forms, getting the necessary information to file for worker’s compensation benefits, speaking to witnesses who come to the hospital to visit the injured worker before the employer interferes with their willingness to speak about the accident, and most importantly preventing the spread of non essential information about the worker, his family, and other personal matters that have nothing to do with the accident or injuries. The point person can take other simple measures which may prove to be extremely helpful at a later time such as requesting names of all potential witnesses to the accident from police and co-workers, asking for as much detailed information about what happened, taking some basic photos of the accident scene and tracking down all personal items of the injured worker such as his work gloves, hard hat, safety belt, and even the worker’s boots and clothing which may have been left on the job site or removed from the worker in the ambulance or emergency room.
