An accident at work – what next? Work accidents during remote work
Based on internal regulations or the provisions of the so-called anti-crisis shield, many employers have decided to instruct employees to perform remote work. Until now, employers have rarely used this form of work, so this is a serious challenge for them. This concerns not only organising remote work, but also providing employees with safe conditions for performing it in their place of residence. One of the difficulties that employers should take into account is the possibility of work-related accidents.
It should be acknowledged that the reporting of an accident by an employee performing remote work will oblige the employer to initiate an accident procedure. Currently, no legal provision releases the employer from this obligation. Nor can such an exemption be derived from the regulations on telework, which in practice apply accordingly to remote work. This means that the employer's response to receiving an accident report should be to set up an accident team, whose duty will be to determine the circumstances and causes of the accident.
Currently, the range of actions that an accident team can take is limited. However, the accident team should ask the worker to provide information on the causes and consequences of the accident and, where possible, to identify possible witnesses of the accident to obtain information from them on its circumstances. Information obtained this way will be crucial when, due to epidemic limitations, it will not be possible to visually inspect the accident site.
Another important source of information about a potential accident at work are the medical records of the injured worker. Currently,, many medical consultations take place over the phone. Such a form of examination of an employee's health may result in the medical records being limited to assessments necessary to issue a sick note to the employee. However, it appears, that despite this, the accident team should make efforts to obtain such documentation and then include its conclusions in the accident report.
After carrying out all possible actions, the accident team should draw up an accident report, taking into account the information obtained during the course of the accident investigation procedure and the conclusions made on its basis, and classify the incident. The accident team should then present the employee with the accident report and submit it to the employer for approval, using available forms of communication.
Given these limitations, the proceedings can be expected not only to be problematic but also long-lasting. However, there are no grounds for abandoning the obligation to carry it out because the employee performed remote work or because of the declared epidemic. It is possible that a subsequent "anti-crisis shield" will include a broader regulation in this respect. At the moment, however, it is difficult to predict the final the solutions it will contain.
In the next series of articles “An Accident at Work – What comes next?”, I will discuss the previously announced controversy about establishing a link between a given accident and work, which is one of the reasons for considering an incident as an accident at work.
Anna Kluj
