Author: Sheena Harrison

“I think it just makes everybody a lot more aware that the actual nature of the injury can be substantiated,” said Shafer, who has noticed companies starting to use cameras outside of the retail sector.

Marsh Inc. recommends cameras for certain industries to monitor workplace safety, said Christopher Flatt, New York-based leader of Marsh’s Workers’ Compensation Center of Excellence. Those include retail, manufacturing, transportation and financial institutions.

Video footage is an added safeguard for employers that are trying to keep comp costs down, Flatt said. “The added benefit is of having tape of potential injuries or claimed injuries and being able to validate them,” he said.

Cameras are part of several technologies used by employers to monitor claims activity and potential insurance fraud, said Paul Braun, managing director of casualty claims for Aon Global Risk Consulting in Los Angeles.

“The privacy issue is a little different than it was years ago,” Braun said. “So if somebody is in a situation where they’re claiming an injury that really didn’t occur or wouldn’t have occurred, there’s usually some way that technology has either recorded it (or) helps identify the result of it.”

Employees who know they’re being filmed also can be less likely to file bogus claims, Braun said. “Rarely is it ever something, in my opinion, that the employee doesn’t know is going on,” he said of companies that use video surveillance.

Thomas Martin, CEO of Martin Investigations & Security Services in Lima, Ohio, has seen more requests for security camera installation among small businesses and large employers in his area.

Companies that install such systems have to be mindful of privacy laws that affect where employees and patrons can be filmed, Martin said. For instance, cameras aren’t allowed to film inside of restrooms, and companies can be required to post signs informing employees and patrons that they are under video surveillance.

“Where your eyes are allowed to see, the cameras are allowed to see,” Martin said.

Although cameras can’t film all areas of a company, Martin said employers could choose to look closely at workers’ comp or liability claims that happen outside of the cameras’ view.

“If you have pretty much 75 percent coverage, and they happen to fall and claim an injury in the other 25 percent, it becomes very suspicious that (the injury) wasn’t recorded,” Martin said.

While cameras can be used to fight fraud, sources note that video footage also can prove an employer’s culpability in legitimate workers’ comp claims. Strege said Chuck E. Cheese would consider settling any case in which camera footage showed the company was liable for an injury. The company also provides additional safety training at facilities where accidents occur.

“What’s really important with cameras … is to make sure that you don’t just cherry-pick the cases that you pull camera footage on,” Strege said

Despite the potential for video footage to work against a company, experts agree the cost of such systems can be worth it to prevent the payment of illegitimate claims.

“In the long run, especially if a company has a lot of employees, I think it would pay for itself,” Martin said.

Sheena Harrison writes for Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

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Larry Poague, senior loss control and prevention specialist with Lockton Cos. L.L.C. in Kansas City, Missouri, said the range of reactions can be based on how an employee learned to cope with traumatic events as a child, or whether that person has positive relationships at work and home that can serve as a support system.

Employees who experience difficult reactions to workplace violence often can become less productive or experience absenteeism compared with coworkers who are more effective at processing such traumatic events, Poague said.

“Some people are going to be back (to work), and work is what’s going to carry them through,” he said. “But there will also be a six-month or eight-month lag for some folks before they start to experience what happened.”

While rare, workplace violence can be costly when it occurs, according to NCCI Holdings Inc. Sources agree that companies that have had an incident of workplace violence need to make sure they provide mental health resources to help employees move forward in a healthy fashion.

Jay Supnick, a clinical psychologist and owner of Law Enforcement Psychological Associates in Rochester, New York, said it can be necessary for companies to offer multiple group counseling sessions or “debriefings” for employees that allow them to discuss trauma and process their emotions.

“One person may need a number of sessions, another person may not need anything,” Supnick said.

Experts say employers that hold debriefings should make sure that such discussions are helping employees rather than harming them. For instance, Mantell said, a counseling session may be ineffective if it talks only generally about the stages of grief but doesn’t give employees a chance to discuss their own feelings about recent violence.

“If debriefing sessions turn into complaints about the company, it really fosters a lot of negativity, and that attaches itself to anxiety,” he said.

Supnick said companies should try to schedule debriefing sessions when employees seem ready to discuss the situation, rather than forcing workers to talk immediately after workplace violence. He encourages companies to seek professional help in striking the right balance.

“I think you need to have some skilled clinicians that do this kind of work, and it probably should not just be one session that happens,” Supnick said. “It should be tailored to people’s needs.”

Chubb’s Bangs said most individuals can benefit from intensive counseling for a 10-day period after workplace violence. But he said some workers could need additional counseling to process traumatic events.

Insurance coverage can help pay for the cost of such assistance. For instance, Chubb offers workplace violence insurance that will pay for such benefits as crisis mental health counseling and a consultant to help ensure that a facility is “hardened” to prevent future attacks, Bangs said.

Chartis Inc. also offers a product as part of its employment practices liability coverage that helps pay for costs that result from workplace violence. That includes employee counseling, security counseling or public relations consulting that can help companies allay reputational damage, said Joni Mason, senior vice president and employment practices liability product manager for Chartis in New York.

Companies that experience workplace violence should evaluate whether they missed signs or did not provide effective procedures to help prevent attacks in the first place, experts say. Such introspection can lead companies to make security improvements that allow employees to feel safe at work again after violence occurs, said Kim Brown, senior workers’ compensation consultant for Lockton.

Employers also should work to make sure employees are trained in techniques that can help them prevent or escape violent scenarios, Chubb’s Bangs said. That information can help employees feel empowered if they face an unlikely event of workplace violence, he said.

“If you do that up front, you’re going to help things down the road,” Bangs said.

Sheena Harrison writes for Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

Stay informed and connected. Get human resources news and HR features via Workforce Management’s Twitter feed or RSS feeds for mobile devices and news readers.