Reporting a workplace injury

Quick tips on reporting an injury  

Timely reporting is essential, so always report workplace injuries as soon as you can. The law allows you up to five days, but reporting an injury as soon as possible can help you control claim costs and help your employee return to work.

Other benefits of timely filing

• Your employee gets benefits quickly.
• The sooner a claim is reported, the sooner SAIF can advise the injured worker about what to expect.
• Claims that are reported timely are less likely to result in litigation or result in prolonged time loss.
• Insurers must pay all time-loss benefits up to the date a formal denial is issued, if the decision cannot be made by the 14th day. These added claim costs can affect an employer's experience rating and can ultimately result in higher insurance premiums.
• Positive actions employers take can dramatically impact worker satisfaction and produce the best possible outcome.

The 801 form

Our forms can be filled out and submitted electronically (through Business Online), or filled out online and then printed and emailed, mailed, or faxed to us. (Don't forget to keep a copy.) And be sure to have the employee sign it—it helps us obtain relevant medical records and speeds up the decision-making process.

• Log into Business Online
• 801 - English
• 801 - English with form fields
• 801 - Spanish
• 801 - Spanish with form fields

Send the form to us via

Email: saif801@saif.com 
Fax: 800.475.7785 
Mail: SAIF 
        400 High St SE 
        Salem, OR 97312

For help completing the form, please call us at 800.285.8525; we'll start managing the claim the same day.

Clearly identify your employee on the claim form. If the employee is unavailable, complete as much of the form as possible, leaving the signature line blank and your name in the "completed by" box.

Once the 801 form has been completed, you should give your worker a copy of "A Guide for Workers Recently Hurt on the Job".

File by phone

If you would like to file a claim over the phone, call us toll free at 1.888.373.8689. If you're calling from Salem, call 503.373.8295.

An 801 may not be necessary

You may only need to document the incident using a supervisor's accident/incident report form.

Generally, you have to file an 801 if:

• Your employee seeks medical attention from a doctor, hospital, clinic, or other recognized medical provider, due to the work-related injury or illness
• Your employee specifically requests to file a claim

Otherwise, you may be able to just complete a supervisor's accident/incident report form. Call your SAIF Corporation representative for assistance.

Other helpful tips

• Don't delay reporting a claim because you question its validity. If you are unsure about it, check "unknown" in the appropriate box on the 801 form, attach a separate sheet to the form outlining your concerns, or simply call us at 800.285.8525. SAIF will evaluate and address your concerns.
• Make sure all policies relating to safety and health issues, accident reporting responsibilities, and your return-to-work policy are included in your new employee training and orientation process.

More helpful information: our web site has more about injured worker benefits, supporting your injured worker, other states coverage, and getting back to work.

Evaluating and documenting a workplace injury

As far as the paperwork goes, there's a difference between a job-related injury which is considered an incident and needs only to be analyzed and documented, and an injury (or occupational disease) for which a claim must be filed.

If you do not anticipate that medical treatment will be needed, you should complete an incident report as a company record. This verifies that the worker has met the requirement for promptly notifying you that an accident occurred. Download a copy of the incident report form (S-767) here.

If at a later time your employee wishes to see a doctor, the employee only needs to notify you of the intent to seek treatment. This notification requires you to complete and file the 801 form (English, English with form fields, Spanish, Spanish with form fields) with SAIF. The date you are informed of your employee's intent to seek medical treatment is considered the date you had knowledge of the claim. When submitting an 801 form, you should also include a copy of the incident report as additional documentation.

If you aren't sure about when to report a claim or how to document an incident, just give us a call at 800.285.8525.

A "compensable" injury or illness is one that arises out of the course and scope of employment that requires the worker to seek medical treatment or results in disability or death. The attending physician must verify that there is objective medical evidence showing that an injury or disease exists.

In Oregon, injured workers are allowed their choice of attending physician. They may select an initial attending physician and change physicians two additional times. Approval from the insurer or the Workers' Compensation Division is required when an injured worker wishes to change physicians more than three times.

Safety reminders

Here are a few other things to keep in mind when evaluating an injury:

1. Should you record the injury on your OSHA 300 log? If so, it must be added to the log within five days of the injury.
2. Should you report the injury to Oregon OSHA? The deadline to report an injury to Oregon OSHA is within 8 or 24 hours.
3. Is it a lost-time injury? If so, you'll need to conduct an accident investigation.

Other helpful tips

• If an employee is injured but doesn't need to seek medical care, follow up so you'll know if and when the employee condition changes.
• When an injured employee does need medical care, take the employee to the attending physician yourself or arrange for transportation. Remember to check with the doctor to see if the employee can be released for light-duty work.
• Stay in touch. Simple, genuine gestures of employer concern make the worker feel valued and speed the recovery process.

Other good information you can use: our web site has more about injured worker benefits, supporting your injured worker, and getting them back to work.