What If Your Employee Suffers PTSD Following An Accident In A Company Vehicle?

Monday, 28 March 2022, 6:40 am
Press Release: Hugh Grant

If your business has employees in company vehicles, the occasional road accident will not be uncommon. Your insurance company can provide you with guidelines on how to make sure your policy covers all the damage and costs that might be incurred.

This will include things like making sure all vehicles are well maintained and roadworthy. Also, to ensure that any employee who might be driving any company vehicle at any time, has a current driver’s licence, does not drive while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and is driving to the road rules.

Employees must be made aware that if they do not meet these guidelines, any accident in a company vehicle could see all costs coming back onto them personally.

It also is just a matter of time before one of these road accidents is what might be termed as serious. Where the damage is not just to the vehicle, but also the driver and/or any passengers, plus other vehicles, and their occupants.

Where a staff member suffers major injuries from a road accident, you will want your insurance to cover not just vehicle damage and medical bills. You will want the insurance to compensate for lost income, and any ongoing effects the employee may suffer as a consequence of the accident.

Depending on the extent of the injuries, when the employee returns to work, as you would with any employee who has been off work for any serious illness or injury, you may need to start them off working on light duties.

A simple fender bender type of car accident doesn’t usually result in serious injuries, but some car accidents are extremely traumatic.

Therefore, it should not be unexpected that 22% of car accident victims suffer from PTSD.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is commonly seen in war veterans, emergency workers, survivors of disasters like floods, tornados, earthquakes, or victims of sexual assault or violence.

Your focus may be on how your employee is physically able to undertake all their previous work tasks. As a result, their mental health and emotional wellbeing can be easily overlooked.

When someone suffers PTSD after a car accident, they often struggle to understand these new emotions that they may never have experienced previously. Because of this, they may be fearful of talking to others about feelings of helplessness. They may not feel able to tell their partner, closest friends, work colleagues, or even their doctor.

PTSD is not just about having a few emotional ups and downs. It requires thorough treatment and a recovery plan. Most injuries will heal over time, but the psychological trauma of a car accident can take even longer to recover from.

Be aware that the average settlement for PTSD after a car accident has sometimes been more than a million dollars!

Some symptoms of PTSD include:

• Dissociation - daydreaming, zoning out, acting differently, or suddenly switching between emotions or reactions when the car accident is mentioned
• Avoidant behavior - refusing to get in a car, avoiding the location where the accident happened, resisting talking about the incident
• Detachment and alienation - avoiding anyone or anything that reminds them of the trauma they experienced
• Hypervigilance and hypersensitivity - intense negative reactions to ordinary sights, sounds, or touch, and fits of anger over little things
• Intrusive thoughts - flashbacks or recurring nightmares of the accident.

Many symptoms of PTSD do not become apparent until some time after the traumatic event occurred. PTSD doesn’t always occur alone. It can pop up along with other conditions such as:

• Depression and anxiety
• Mood swings and instability
• Alcohol abuse
• Drug abuse
• Agoraphobia - a fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult or where help is unavailable if things go wrong
• Vehophobia – fear of driving
• Insomnia
• Memory problems and an inability to focus

PTSD symptoms like depression, anxiety, and other symptoms can cause your employee to miss work, withdraw from daily life, and damages their ability to function. It’s unfair for them to shoulder financial burdens on top of the emotional distress they’re already suffering.

Insurance companies tend to ignore issues that cannot be seen and that do not arise at the time of the accident. They will often try their hardest to deny how your employee says they are feeling. They’ll try to downplay the seriousness of PTSD and that it doesn’t deserve any compensation.

If your insurer does not accept the claim, there is a risk that such a claim could fall onto you as the employer because it is your duty of care to keep each employee safe while at work.

Provided you have followed your insurance company's guidelines around employee use of company vehicles and kept the vehicle appropriately maintained, any settlement claims are more likely to be aimed at your insurer, rather than at you.

A car accident attorney can handle the details around compensation and go into battle with the insurance company on behalf of the employee or your business.

This leaves you to focus on your business and supporting your employees while they undergo appropriate treatment.

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