By updating the rules on when occupational injuries must be reported to the relevant parties, the Danish Working Environment Authority and the other authorities will coordinate their approach to the area. Not least when it comes to absenteeism, things have tightened up significantly.
On 1 July 2022, the new regulations for when employers must report an industrial injury to their insurance company came into force. The new rules illustrate not least a common desire on the part of the Danish Working Environment Authority and the workers' compensation authorities to coordinate their approach to when injuries must be reported to the Danish Working Environment Authority and insurance companies, respectively.
The update of the rules is compiled in the latest executive order on notification of accidents under the Workers' Compensation Act and represents a significant tightening of the view of absence from work in particular.
According to the previous rules, you had to report if the injury was likely to justify benefits under section 11 of the Workers' Compensation Act, or if the seafarer was on full or partial sick leave for more than five weeks.
This has now been changed so that you are obliged to report an injury already if the injured person cannot do his or her usual job the day after the accident.
The deadline for reporting accidents covered by points 1 and/or 2 is 14 days. As always, deaths must be reported to UFDS, preferably within 48 hours, no matter the cause.
According to the new rules, you as an employer must report claims to your insurance company if
- The accident has resulted in absence from the seafarer's usual work beyond the day on which he/she was injured, or
- If the accident is likely to justify benefits under section 11 of the Workers' Compensation Act.
The rules also apply to shipowners, even though shipping is the responsibility of the Danish Maritime Authority.
»If we look at it the part with services under section 11, this includes the cost of treatment, including medicine – and here it is actually sufficient that the injured person would be able to cover the cost of a pack of painkillers. So the limit is very low for when you are entitled to benefits under the law,» Jacob Munch, CEO of UFDS, comments.
»It is therefore our recommendation that you report all claims to the Danish Shipowners’ Accident Insurance Association – large and small,« he adds.
