ATTACH_5_Injuries_Treatment.doc

ATTACHMENT 7

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This letter provides agency direction on dealing with work related traumatic injuries, including burns, on wildland fire incidents and supersedes all previously issued national and regional direction. It also clarifies the roles of incident personnel and the Workers’ Compensation (WC) Section located at the Albuquerque Service Center Human Resources Management (ASC-HRM).

We recognize that the field treatment, stabilization and transport of traumatically injured employees are challenging tasks involving many variables. The nature of the injury, available means of transportation, length of transport time, medical expertise available at the scene of injury and many other factors complicate the expedient medevac of injured personnel. Ultimately field personnel and those providing Emergency Medical Services at the scene must make judgment calls when it comes to where an individual is sent for definitive care. Often field personnel prefer to “err on the side of caution,” which is a fundamentally sound approach when it comes to the health of our employees.

In the event of a serious injury, it is recommended that the injured worker be transported to the nearest emergency room or trauma center for initial stabilization, evaluation, and treatment as needed. For burn injuries, refer to the Required Treatment and Burn Injury Criteria in the Interagency Standards for Fire and Aviation 2012 edition, pages 07-22 and 07-23 (http://www.nifc.gov/PUBLICATIONS/redbook/2012/Chapter07.pdf).

The referral of an injured worker to any specialized treatment facility, including a burn center, is the responsibility of the initial treating physician under the authority provided on the form CA-16. If the physician does not make the referral, and the injured worker or their family feels strongly otherwise, ASC-HRM WC should be contacted immediately to counsel the employee and consult with the Department of Labor, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs guidance.

Additional direction on incident injury/illness is found in the Interagency Incident Business Management Handbook, Chapter 10, Section 15 (www.nwcg.gov/pms/pubs/iibmh2/chapter_10_section_15.pdf). It covers the three primary tasks for incident personnel regarding injuries:

· Completion of the form CA-1 or CA-2, as appropriate.

· Initial authorization of medical treatment using the form CA-16 or FS-6100-16, as appropriate.

· Timely transmittal of forms and information to ASC-HRM WC.

All claim activity beyond these three items is the sole responsibility of the ASC-HRM WC staff. Additional guidance can be found at http://fsweb/asc.fs.fed.us/hrm/owcp/2012wprocess.pdf.

All Employees

Our goal is to provide injured workers with quality medical care in accordance with the Federal Employees Compensation Act in addition to returning employees to productive work. For additional information regarding this letter, please contact Kirk Powell, Workers Compensation Program Manager, at (505) 944-8116 or email at kdpowell@fs.fed.us.

/s/ J. Lenise Lago

J. LENISE LAGO

Deputy Chief for Business Operations cc: Kirk D Powell

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