There was an injury at work – what should I do? What does safety at work say about this?

Honestly, this is the worst question we can get. Not because we don’t know the answer to it, but because it usually means that someone has failed somewhere. It’s either us, or the employer, or I’m an employee because in the event of work injuries we can rarely talk about an accident; Most often someone made a mistake somewhere. Admittedly, sometimes an injury can be caused by force majeure or unlawful conduct by a third party, so it is not always the employer or worker’s fault.

The answer to the question itself depends on the following:

• Did the injury happen in your work space (your branch)?
• Did the injury happen in road traffic?

The injury occurred in your business premises or in the field (premises of the customer, client…):

1. Provide first aid in case of need (provided by a worker trained to provide first aid, if he or she considers that he is capable of providing first aid with regard to injury, especially if the injuries are related to the spine)
2. Call an ambulance (194) or, if possible, safely take the injured worker to the nearest first aid facility and inform the immediate manager and/or the responsible person of the company
3. The manager immediately calls the following contact persons: the company with which he has contracted occupational safety or an occupational safety expert in his company
4. In case of serious injury, an occupational safety expert calls the regional office of labor inspection and informs about the nature of the injury – if this happens after 3 pm, call 112 to be connected with the inspector on duty
5. From all participants (if any) statements are taken and an event report is written. Each eyewitness writes his own statement about the event. The injured certainly writes his statement (there is no special form for this, it can be literally written with a ballpoint pen on paper).
6. Within 8 days, the expert and the znr authorized person inform the Croatian Health Insurance Fund about the event, with complete documentation. (https://www.hzzo.hr/zastita-zdravlja-na-radu/ozljeda-na-radu/) The application form is filled out, which is in excel form in 5 copies.

Do not remove anything from the place where the injury occurred until the arrival of occupational safety experts and the possible arrival of the inspection and the police (who go out or do not go out into the field depending on what happened).

The injury occurred in road traffic.

For injuries in road traffic (business trip, on the way from the place of the apartment to the place of work and back) it is necessary to inform the Police Administration – 192, and the occupational safety expert and / or the authorized person must report and submit all documentation (medical documentation and police record) – CIHI. The occupational safety inspection does NOT go out into the field for such cases, and it is not necessary to inform them by phone about the accident.

Tip of the day

If more than one person works in the premises of the company, it is necessary to have a first aid cabinet and a person in charge of providing first aid.

The procedures are not complicated and I highly recommend that you carry them out exactly as described in order to avoid the consequences of not implementing the procedures explained above (read: penalties, large penalties).

In practice, unfortunately, it often happens that a worker gets injured at work, goes home and is home for a few days, without anyone knowing what happened to him and where he is in the first place, and then when all the deadlines are over, the procedure of reporting the injury is initiated.

When dealing with or occurring injuries at work, it is extremely important that you work on the openness of the channel of communication and notification, especially when there is a disruption in the work processes, which the injury represents. This is very underestimated because in a frequent number of cases it can be an opportunity for you to improve. No one wants an injury at work, but be prepared and educate your employees, not only about what to do, but also that everyone who needs to be informed about the event actually be.