What can employers do to manage employee or public liability claims made against their businesses?

According to Mr Tony Briscoe, assistant director of social policy at IBEC, the employers' body is seeking radical changes in the current system for compensation. But he also says there is a lot employers can do to defend spurious or exaggerated claims even within the current system.

"You can manage claims and defend spurious cases by making sure that you have on the one hand good safety standards in place," and ensuring you have "people properly skilled up to investigate accidents in a comprehensive way. So that there are good details made available. And then there's the communications with your legal representatives and preparing your case well in advance."

Spurious claims by employees can be reduced by putting a system in place to ensure that all accidents are properly investigated. He suggests that employers should have a policy that requires people to report accidents without delay.

IBEC accepts it would not be possible to compel the public to report accidents without delay, but employees who see incidents or accidents should be obliged to notify these to the person in charge.

Mr Briscoe says: "Now I mean the action that people take at that stage is quite important . . . early investigation is vital, as the true information about an accident will be indicated immediately following the accident, very often by the injured person. Careful note should be made of their comments as soon as possible following the incident."

He cites the case of someone saying they are alright following some incident. "But nobody has actually taken any note that she said she was all right . . . Or they might even say you know, `I wasn't watching where I was going'."

Unless that information is gathered at the time, at a later stage the person could say they had been watching where they were going.

IBEC has recently revised its guidelines on managing claims. The revised guidelines set down employers' obligations in statute and common law and provide guidance on better liaison and communications with insurers.

They offer practical guidance on accident prevention and investigation and explain how the current compensation system works.

IBEC has a 14-point plan, which examines the current compensation system and asks "why keep it". "What's the rationale for holding onto something that we're saying is inequitable, slow, inconsistent?" says Mr Briscoe.

While stressing that employers must look after genuine cases: "We must also recognise that people have some responsibility for themselves. We must eradicate spurious claims, trivial claims, opportunistic claims, etc, and we must ensure that every reasonable effort is made to avoid accidents," says Mr Briscoe.

We must accept that people who are entitled to compensation receive what they are due, but "we must ensure that it's not excessive in financial terms," he says.

He believes the current compensation system is needlessly adversarial and can be unfair to genuinely injured people. The following is an abbreviated version of IBEC's action plan: [SBX]

Ensure a commitment from employers to prevent accidents though a workplace safety culture; [SBX]

Introduce an alternative compensation structure in court so that genuinely injured people entitled to compensation don't have to become involved in an adversarial mode; [SBX]

Introduce measures to penalise spurious claims; [SBX]

Select and train a panel of judges to deal with cases where liability is disputed; [SBX] Prepare guidelines on general damages to be operated by a proposed compensation board; [SBX]

Prohibit advertising for personal injury claims by the legal profession; [SBX]

Ensure claimants are encouraged to seek resolution through the alternative structure to the courts; [SBX]

The State should provide support for the voluntary Workplace Safety Group Initiative code of practice; [SBX]

Where an injury is known, the period within which a claim is made should be reduced to six months; [SBX] Personal injury claims pursued through the courts should be supported by a written affidavit; [SBX]

Cases involving bad faith, fraudulent evidence or misrepresentation should automatically be disallowed; [SBX]

A certificate of income provided by Revenue and Social Insurance should be required where loss of income is claimed; [SBX]

Persons claiming disability or incapacity for work should submit to a functional capacity evaluation; [SBX]

Solicitors should be required to put in place a bond to ensure recovery on costs where employers win.

jmarms@irish-times.ie