The First Report of Injury (SFN 2828) should be filed with North Dakota Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI) right away. The employer is supposed to report a work injury within 7 days after learning about it, and the worker generally has 1 year to make the claim.

No, your coworker should not treat a WSI statement like a friendly chat.

WSI adjusters sound helpful, but they are listening for gaps they can use later: "When did pain start?" "Did he finish the shift?" "Any old back, shoulder, or hand problems?" If the story changes even a little between the phone call, the clinic note, and the incident report, that becomes a denial point.

The better question is: Is this only a WSI claim, or is there also a third-party claim?

That matters a lot in a Bismarck crush injury. If a garage door sensor failed, or a maintenance company, installer, landlord, or equipment maker messed up, WSI may cover medical bills and wage loss, but a separate claim may exist against the non-employer company. That is where lowball tactics and "just give us a recorded statement" calls get dangerous.

What to do now:

• Make sure the SFN 2828 gets filed.
• Tell your coworker to give short, accurate facts only, not guesses.
• Get treatment fast and make sure every symptom is in the chart.
• Tell the employer in writing to preserve the door, sensors, maintenance logs, work orders, and video.
• Save names of witnesses, especially if this happened near a school loading area or during the back-to-school rush when cameras may have caught it.

If a private insurance adjuster calls instead of WSI, that is even simpler: your coworker usually does not need to give the other side a recorded statement just because they asked.