Injury Duration Guidelines for Head Injuries Provide Average Timeframe for Disability

Injury Duration Guidelines are a tool for employers. Many employers do not know that this type of tool exists. They are helpful to know approximately how long an injured worker may be out of work. It is a way to compare against what the doctor and/or the employee say is the expectation of time out of work. If there is a discrepancy in what you are told, ask your medical advisor.

Keep in mind any length of disability depends on many factors such as the severity of the injury and other medical conditions. For example, it may take a person with diabetes much longer to heal, than someone who does not have this condition.

When using these guidelines as a tool showing minimum times equate to clerical, light-duty job. Maximum time-framesare for heavy industrial type jobs. All time-frames are measured in weeks, unless otherwise noted. Thus, If you were able to bring an employee with a nose who works a heavy industrial type job burn back to work back to a lighter clerical-type job, you could save up to 3 weeks of lost time.

AND, you can figure out the potential cost savings by using the Transitional Duty Calculator to see that this can save up to $126,000 enter 21 days X $200/day plus $1,500 replacement costs X 4.5% profit margin. Change the data to your own data. This is an example. Transitional Duty Calculator

Injury Duration Guidelines-Head Injuries

Type of InjuryHEAD	Area #Weeks	Area #Weeks	Area #Weeks	Area #Weeks	Area #Weeks	Area #Weeks	Area #Weeks
	Scalp	Skull	Face	Ears	Eyes	Nose	Jaw
Abrasions/ Contusions	0-1		1	0-2 Days	0-2	0-2 Days
Burns	0 Note 1			0-2	2-3	0-3
Dislocation							1
Fractures		3-8				1-3	5-8
Incisions	0-1		0-3	0-2 Days	2-3	0-2 Days
Lacerations	0-2		0-2	0-2 Days	2-3	0-2 Days
Punctures	0-1	8-12	2-4	0-1	1-2	0-2 Days
Sprains/Strains
Repetitive Motion/Tendinitis

Note 1: Burn healing depends on degree (area and depth)
Note 2: Dislocations and Fractures apply to ribs. Punctures and incisions are those penetrating the thoracic cavity.
Note 3: Punctures and incisions are those penetrating the abdominal cavity.
Note 4: 2nd or 3rd degree, area variable.
Note 5: Total recuperation. However, there may be little disability during that time if walking is minimized.
Note 6: Time for carpal tunnel syndrome is quite variable, in part because factors other than workplace injuries are often involved.

Injury duration timeframes written by Leslie J. Hutchinson, MD, MPH, FACOEM and Sanford S. Leffingwell, MD, MPH, Board-Certified in Occupational and Preventive Medicine.

Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws are different. Consult with your corporate legal counsel or other professionals before implementing any cost containment programs.

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