9/19/14 UPDATE: [OSHA has issued a final rule requiring employers to notify OSHA when an employee suffers a work-related hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye. Under the revised severe injury rule, employers will be required to notify OSHA of work-related in-patient hospitalizations, amputations, or losses of an eye within 24 hours. Previously, OSHA’s regulations required an employer to report only work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees. Reporting single hospitalizations, amputations, or lose of an eye was not required under the previous rule. The new rule, which also updates the list of employers partially exempt from OSHA record-keeping requirements, will go into effect on January 1, 2015 for workplaces under federal OSHA jurisdiction. The new rule maintains the exemption for any employer with 10 or fewer employees, regardless of their industry classification, from the requirement to routinely keep records of worker injuries and illnesses.]
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This is a question we get all the time. So we figured it was time for a blog post.
Employers are sometimes confused by the differences in what they need to report to their workers’ compensation carrier and what they need to record on their OSHA 300 log.
At Met Risk we recommend to our clients that you submit a First Report of Injury to us even if the employee needed only minor treatment. Having this “Incident Only” report will be helpful if the employee reports symptoms or needs treatment later on. Our Claims Advocates will also let you know if you need to report it to your workers compensation carrier or not.
However that does not mean everything needs to be recorded in your OSHA 300 log.
We have just entered the “Dog Days of Summer,” or in other words the hottest part of the year. While protecting yourself or your employees from heat exhaustion seems like common sense, about 675 people die in the U.S. every year due to heat-related illness (Center for Disease Control & Prevention). This is tragic since heat illness is nearly 100% preventable. So here we are to remind you of these important heat illness prevention methods.
In today’s evolving marketplace, many best practice firms are leveraging their vendor partners for extra services, driving extra value to their organization. The insurance brokerage relationship is one of the primary areas these firms are mining in order to drive down their unit costs and gain a competitive advantage.
Listed below are a few examples of the services these companies are leveraging through their insurance brokerage relationship.
Three services you should look to take off your plate next time you’re in the market for a new insurance broker.
Did you know if your company is located in New York, has annual payroll over $800,000, and a workers comp experience mod. over 1.20, you are required to go through safety procedures?
It’s true. In 1996 Gov. Pataki signed into Law Legislative Bill 111331 intended to improve workplace safety and control the cost of workers compensation insurance. The New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board (NYCIRB) sends out quarterly letters like this one: Compulsory Workplace Safety and Loss Prevention Program, and Q3 is here so many companies just got slapped with these notifications they had no idea were coming. If you’re one of them don’t feel like you missed something, the program is small and not well advertised. Even many insurance brokers haven’t heard of it until a client brings the letter to their attention. That doesn’t mean it’s not important though.
ICR 59 requires you go through a safety and loss prevention consultation and evaluation within 75 days of notification. Within 6 months you must comply with all the consultant’s recommendations. If you fail to get in compliance with the program you will face increased surcharges to your workers comp premium(on top of your already high experience mod.)
We see many common trends working with companies over the years that suffer high costs due to workplace injuries. One common thread is that in many of these companies you will see employees who have suffered multiple workplace accidents. At Metropolitan Risk we like to be proactive in our default response, assuming that these repeated incidents were not coincidence and that the aforementioned employee needs some special attention. By assuming the worst, which is that the employee needs additional training or counseling, you lower the probability of a future incident.
The poster below is a tangible example of how we should be strategically marketing to our own employees. We as fellow business owners and executives spend so much blood and treasure marketing to potential customers, however so little time messaging to our own people. We scratch our head as to why we have unhappy customers, injured employees, turnover, and loss of market share. It was astutely stated that employees don’t leave companies, they leave leaders!
Communicate ideas like working safe, customer service, and your own organizational values ; do it consistently to your employees. These are not simply ideas and wishes but can be a very powerful competitive advantage as we all try to differentiate ourselves in our own native marketplace struggling for better outcomes.
Workers’ compensation insurance is mandatory for New York employers. Purchasing New York workers compensation insurance may help to fulfill your legal obligations as an employer, but is there more you could do to keep your workforce safe and healthy?
Working to eliminate workplace hazards is a great way to start your safety program. Attend to building maintenance issues like broken stair rails, uneven floors and electrical wiring faults, and make sure that hazardous equipment is fitted with safety guards and other protective devices. Look for hazards that could cause your workers to get sick, such as pesticides, poisonous chemicals, or unhygienic staff kitchens.
Continue your program by adopting safe working practices throughout your organization. Issue protective clothing, headwear and footwear and make sure that workers wear it. Modify unsafe processes so that workers are not exposed to process hazards. Develop safe working manuals and train all workers in safe practices; don’t allow personnel to do tasks until they have been trained.
Your business safety program is intended to benefit your workers, but to ensure it is embraced and accepted by your workforce you should consider adopting a whole-team approach. Your safety program is more likely to have a real impact if it involves and engages workers rather than being imposed from the top down.
How will you know whether your safety program has been successful? It should be easy: just compare the numbers of workplace accidents, sickness days and New York workers compensation claims before and after you implement your program.
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