Stupid Accident

5560905

We have a five story parking garage that is served by an automobile elevator. There is an emergency stairwell to get out of the garage should the elevator fail. A few months ago, that very thing happened. The elevator stalled on the 2nd floor of the garage. Our 65 year old garage attendant made the very ill advised decision to climb over the safety gate (6 ft) of the elevator car and jump from the car (on the 2nd floor of the garage) to the first floor of the garage onto a concrete floor. He broke his ankle and now has to have surgery. At his age, we're clearly expecting a claim for partial or total disability.

My boss (very old school) feels that we should have some basis for contesting the claim for worker's comp benefits because the employee failed to follow procedures (use the emergency stairwell) and injured himself because he made a very poor decision which was negligent on his part.

Anyone have any precedent for a case of this type?

Whatever

You must file the claim with your wc carrier. Let it be their decision whether or not this claim is covered. However, at least in NY and NJ, stupidity and/or violation of safety procedures are not grounds for denying workers comp. benefits.

System

If I were to deny WC for every stupid accident we wouldn't NEED WC. True, some are more stupid than other's (oh, the tales I could tell!) nevertheless the all need to be submitted.

Don D

You can, however, discipline an employee for willfull disobediance of a safety policy. You may even terminate depending on your policies or the risk you're willing to take. I harp on this all the time, that writeups are done far to infrequently for safety violations. We bitch and moan (at our place) about accidents and comp costs and potential safety hazards, but when I look for the last time a supervisor wrote anybody up.........there's a bare cupboard.

Paige

I completely agree with Don on this. At a previous employer, we were privledged enough to receive a surprise visit from OSHA. As we went through the inspection, one thing the inspector repeatedly went over was the importance of writing people up for safety violations. It is actually frowned upon by OSHA if supervisors DON'T do that. The inspector was also of the opinion that there should be NO work accidents--all are preventable. I'm not so sure I agree with that 100%, but maybe 90%.

At any rate, writing him up obviously doesn't help your current situation. But by writing him up, you will 1) set precedent so he and others will be more careful in the future and 2) maybe will offer a good alternative that your supervisor can be happy with. Remember--WC is a no-fault policy. Regardless of whose fault it is, the employee is entitled to it.