What Does
Medical Aid Incidents Mean?
Medical aid incidents refer to the injuries which are not severe enough to warrant further time off, but where medical treatment by a doctor is provided. In particular, medical aid incidents require professional services by health care practitioner (including services provided by hospitals, health care facilities, walk-in-clinics, and physiotherapists) but does not results in lost time beyond the day of the incident. As these incidents requires medical aid more than simple first aid, thus fall in the category of OSHA recordable occupational injury and must be reported.
Recordable medical aid incidents are usually demonstrated by accident rates, and one of the many items that can be used for measuring past performance and lagging indicators. Incident rates are viewed as an indication of factors those are negative or wrong with a safety system, rather than what is correct to that safety system.
Safeopedia Explains Medical Aid Incidents
A certain level of treatment in necessary for a medical aid incident and has to be provided by a physician or other medical personnel under standing orders of a physician. For example, an injury caused by an accident, explosion, or fire and requires medical attention if the injured person warrant suturing of any wound, treatment of fractures, treatment of bruises by drainage of blood, or treatment of second and third degree burns. In this context, a general treatment procedure should be followed:
1) Ensure first aid is provided
2) Provide assistance and transportation to a physician, clinic, or hospital
3) Transmit worker accident/incident report to the corresponding health and safety department (conducted by the safety supervisor)
4) Investigate and take immediate action to prevent a re-occurrence
5) Support return-to-work program
For a medical aid incident, the supervisor is responsible for ensuring that the incident report are forwarded to the corresponding health and safety department in an organization. If an employee sustaining a first aid and later seeks medical treatment, the supervisor is required to advise the health and safety department and have a physician assess the worker’s functional ability.