Services
Document a loss
Support a claim
For carriers and employers
Service areas
Middle Tennessee
- Nashville
- Clarksville
- Murfreesboro
- Franklin
- Hendersonville
- Smyrna
- Spring Hill
- Gallatin
- Lebanon
- Columbia
- Brentwood
- Mount Juliet
- La Vergne
- Cookeville
East Tennessee
West Tennessee
Coworker and Witness Statements for Workers' Comp Claims
Delator Claims Division takes statements from coworkers, supervisors and other witnesses to a reported workplace injury on behalf of workers' compensation carriers, self-insured employers, third-party administrators and their counsel. Statements are voluntary, recorded with consent and preserved verbatim.
- Coverage
- 95 of 95 counties
- Dispatch
- 24 / 7 / 365
- Metro response
- Under 60 min avg.
- Statewide
- 4-hour guarantee
What this service covers
The people who worked beside an injured employee often know the most and are asked the least. A supervisor's summary on an incident form compresses several conversations into two sentences. A recorded statement restores the detail: where the coworker was standing, what was heard, what the injured worker said immediately afterward, and whether anything about the day was unusual. The witness's own words are kept exactly as spoken, including hesitations and corrections.
This service is retained by the employer side of a claim and is not offered to injured workers or their attorneys. Every witness is told who the investigator is, who requested the statement and that participation is optional. Recording begins only after the witness agrees, and the agreement is repeated on the recording. An employee who declines is not pressed, and the refusal is reported to the client without comment.
When statements add the most to a file
- Three employees were at the same workstation and the incident form names only one of them as a witness.
- The injured worker says a supervisor was told the same day, and the supervisor recalls first hearing about it a week later.
- A temporary or contract worker who saw the event is finishing an assignment and will soon be difficult to locate.
- Coworkers have mentioned that the worker complained of the same pain before the reported date, and nobody has asked them directly.
- A witness speaks limited English and the employer's own notes of the conversation are a paraphrase by a bilingual lead.
What each statement file includes
- Consent on the record
- The opening of each recording, in which the witness confirms identity, acknowledges the recording and agrees to continue, and the same confirmation at the close.
- Verbatim audio
- The complete, unedited recording from start to finish, delivered in a standard file format with the date, time and location of the interview.
- Firsthand versus secondhand
- Questions that separate what the witness personally saw or heard from what the witness was told later by the injured worker or by others.
- Position and line of sight
- Where the witness was located, how far from the event, what was in the way, and whether noise or hearing protection affected what could be heard.
- Relationship context
- How long the witness has worked with the injured employee, whether they are friends or relatives, and any supervisory relationship between them.
- Written summary
- A short factual summary of each statement keyed to recording times, so an adjuster can find a passage without listening to the whole file.
From request to delivered record
- RequestCall dispatch or submit the request form with the location, loss type and urgency.
- DeployDispatch assigns the nearest available licensed field investigator through the statewide network.
- DocumentPhotographs, video, measurements and factual notes are captured once the scene is safe to work.
- PreserveFiles are timestamped, organized and kept in their original form with a record of who captured them.
- ReportThe package is delivered securely to the requesting party, typically the same day.
Interviewing employees without pressure
A coworker asked to give a statement about a colleague's injury is in an awkward position. Some worry about their job, some about the friendship. Delator's investigators address this directly at the start: the witness may decline, may stop at any point and may ask that a question be repeated. Interviews are held somewhere private, away from the production floor, and without a manager in the room unless the witness asks for one.
Questions are open and chronological. The investigator asks the witness to describe the shift from the beginning and follows up on specifics only after the full account is given. Suggestive questions and summaries that put words in a witness's mouth are avoided because they weaken the statement for everyone who later relies on it. If the employer's attorney wants particular topics covered, those are added to the outline in advance.
Statements taken early compared with statements taken late
Workplaces talk. Within days of an injury, employees have compared notes in the break room, and individual recollections begin to merge into a shared version. Turnover adds to the problem, since hourly and seasonal staff may be gone within a month. A statement taken in the first week is closer to what each person independently observed. Delator dispatches at any hour, so second- and third-shift witnesses can be interviewed during their own working time.
Later statements still have value when early ones were missed. The investigator asks what the witness remembers now and, separately, what the witness has since been told, so the two are not confused. Former employees are located through contact details the employer provides and through public-source research. The client receives each recording with its summary through secure delivery, and decides how and whether the statements are used in the claim.
This service is available to insurance carriers, self-insured entities, third-party administrators and the attorneys who represent them. Delator reports facts and observed indicators; decisions on coverage, liability, settlement and any fraud referral remain with the client.
It is not offered to policyholders or claimants, and Delator does not act as a public adjuster. Policyholders and claimants can request neutral scene documentation instead.
Common questions about this service
Who can request coworker and witness statements?
Workers' compensation carriers, self-insured employers, third-party administrators and attorneys representing them. This is a carrier-side service and is not offered to injured workers or claimant attorneys. The requesting party identifies the witnesses it wants interviewed and arranges access to the workplace.
Can an employee be required to give a statement?
Not by Delator. The investigator treats every statement as voluntary and tells the witness so. Whatever expectations an employer has of its own staff are a matter between the employer and its counsel. A witness who declines is thanked, and the client is informed.
Do you provide a transcript?
The standard deliverable is the full audio recording and a written summary with time references. A typed transcript can be arranged on request. The recording remains the primary record, and the summary is identified as a summary, not a substitute for the witness's words.
Will you take a statement from the injured worker?
Only if the client requests it and the circumstances allow. Where the worker has an attorney, the client and its counsel decide how any contact is handled. Like every other statement, it is voluntary and recorded only with the worker's stated consent.
Available statewide, including
Every Tennessee county is covered. See the deployment map for typical response tiers by county.
Request documentation anywhere in Tennessee
Dispatch is staffed around the clock. For time-sensitive scenes, calling is fastest; the request form works for routine and scheduled assignments.