Employee Injury Process

If an employee is injured while working for Utah State University, the first priority is to ensure the employee immediately gets the appropriate treatment.  Appropriate treatment will range from administering first-aid onsite, taking the injured employee to an approved medical clinic or Emergency Room, or calling 911.

Employees whose injuries require medical treatment beyond first-aid but are not life threatening must initially be seen by USU’s preferred medical provider.  Where available, Intermountain Healthcare’s WorkMed is the preferred provider.  If the injury requires treatment by a specialist, the WorkMed doctor will refer the employee to an appropriate specialist.  Employees have the right to change medical providers after the initial WorkMed visit.

Supervisor Responsibilities

A supervisor, is responsible for promoting a safe work environment and encouraging proper use of any safety equipment required.  Prevention or early identification of potential hazards is the best way to help employees return home at the end of the day in the same condition in which they arrived.  Supervisors should be willing and open to discussing workplace safety issues with their employees and work collaboratively to address any issues before there is an injury.

When an injury does occur, supervisors are expected to directly respond and assist the injured employee in receiving the appropriate medical treatment.  A supervisor, should never be in a situation where one of their employees is injured and they don’t know about it.  While it is not always possible, if the injury requires medical treatment beyond first-aid, the best practice is for the supervisor to accompany the injured employee to the appropriate medical provider. 

As part of the employee injury process, supervisors will be asked to investigate the incident to determine how the injury happened and identify what work processes might need to be altered to prevent a similar incident from happening in the future.  Once the injured employee has filled out the Employer’s First Report of Injury, supervisors will receive an email with a link to the online investigation form.

Post-injury communication with employees is crucial.  While the employee may be able to return to work immediately, many injured employees will receive work restrictions from their medical providers limiting the kinds of work they can perform while they are healing.  Supervisors, are expected to actively work with their injured employee to provide them with meaningful work that can meet their restrictions as part of USU’s Return-to-Work program.

• Research shows that employees recover more quickly if they can return, as soon as possible, to modified duty that accommodates their restrictions. Please refrain from telling an employee to just stay home until they feel better unless they have been removed from work by their medical provider.