Category Archives: OSHA

OSHA, Workers Compensation Insurance

OSHA 2020 Workplace Injury Reports Due By March 2, 2021

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reminds employers that it began collecting 2020 workplace injury data on Jan. 2, 2021.

When are OSHA 300A Reports Due?

All OSHA 300a records must be submitted electronically by March 2, 2021.

Organizations with 250 or more employees are currently required to keep OSHA injury and illness records for up to 5 years. OSHA requires that all organizations submit their injury and illness data for 2019 electronically by March 2, 2021. You can submit records electronically through the Injury Tracking Application available here.

The form to used is OSHA Form 300A Summary of Injuries. Current and former employees have the right to request further injury records via the OSHA 300 Report. It’s very important that you true up your OSHA 300 reports for the year then complete the OSHA 300A report and post it on-site or sites. Failure to do so can trigger fines and or an investigation by OSHA. OSHA can swing by and ask for evidence of your compliance at any time. Need help? Download our updated OSHA Reporting Guide for 2021 and share it with HR & or Safety Compliance.

F.A.Q.s – CLICK HERE TO VIEW OSHA’s FULL LIST OF F.A.Qs

What is a recordable incident? 

Check out this flowchart.

What is a reportable incident?

Check out this flowchart.

Do I need to fill out an OSHA 300A log for every location?

You must keep a separate OSHA 300 Log for each establishment that is expected to be in operation for one year or longer.

Do I need to keep OSHA injury and illness records for short-term establishments (i.e., establishments that will exist for less than a year)?

Yes, however, you do not have to keep a separate OSHA 300 Log for each such establishment. You may keep one OSHA 300 Log that covers all of your short-term establishments. You may also include the short-term establishments’ recordable injuries and illnesses on an OSHA 300 Log that covers short-term establishments for individual company divisions or geographic regions.

Some of my employees work at several different locations or do not work at any of my establishments at all. How do I record cases for these employees?

You must link each of your employees with one of your establishments, for recordkeeping purposes. You must record the injury and illness on the OSHA 300 Log of the injured or ill employee’s establishment, or on an OSHA 300 Log that covers that employee’s short-term establishment.

How do I record an injury or illness when an employee of one of my establishments is injured or becomes ill while visiting or working at another of my establishments, or while working away from any of my establishments?

If the injury or illness occurs at one of your establishments, you must record the injury or illness on the OSHA 300 Log of the establishment at which the injury or illness occurred. If the employee is injured or becomes ill and is not at one of your establishments, you must record the case on the OSHA 300 Log at the establishment at which the employee normally works.

 

Claims Management, OSHA, Risk Management, Workers Compensation Insurance

Work Injuries – Main Types and Causes

Work injuries are all too common in the workplace. Just this year alone, workplace injuries will cost businesses over $59 billion, and that number continues to increase every year. Among the list of top workplace injuries, the “usual suspects” always rank near the top. These being accidents caused by falling, mishandling of objects, and auto incidents always rank near the top. Improper machine use, slip and trip, and awkward posture also cause thousands of injuries a year. The other injury type that has come on of late is overexertion. Overexertion injuries cost $1 billion every week in treatment alone, and ergonomics, the study of how to improve workplace efficiency, is dedicated to stopping these injuries.

Many define work injuries as specific physical damage to a worker while on-site or completing a task at work. This is an important definition as it can be very unclear whether a worker deserves workers comp. or not based on his injury.

While we list the top-10 types of work injuries, there is a root cause for all work accidents. The number one reason for work injuries is negligence from a worker or employer. Many injuries can be avoidable if the worker pays more attention to certain surroundings in the work environment. Or, if employers paid attention to their worksites and their worker’s health and safety. Another way injuries can be avoided is more employee training. With more safety training and knowledge on how to use machinery/handle objects, employees’ jobs are a whole lot safer. Employers should invest the money into this training. While it may not be a profitable payment, they save hundreds of thousands on fewer workers comp claims and lower insurance premiums. Additionally, employees have more job training and can work more efficiently with greater output. This is an obvious win-win.

View our Work Injury Infographic

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For more information, contact a Risk Advisor at 914-357-8444.

Claims Management, OSHA, Risk Management, Workers Compensation Insurance

Safety Meetings: Advice and Tips

Safety meetings are common in the workplace, and will be almost necessary once normal work resumes post covid-19. The problem that arises from safety meetings is that sometimes they are inefficient. They are too long, planned at the wrong times, and/or not executed correctly. There are 4 simple steps to correctly have a safety meeting in a normal work setting.

Step 1: Prepare and Plan

This is the first part when setting up a safety meeting. Know who will be attending, who will be leading the safety meeting, location, etc. Making sure everyone that needs to be at the meeting is informed and reminded in proper time. Have a general outline of the main goal/statement you want your employees to hear. From there, you can create the safety meeting around that information.
The worst thing for a safety meeting is to show unpreparedness with nothing but as a topic for your safety meeting and ramble. No one is given helpful information. Employees feel you have wasted their time and morale lowers. Make sure you plan ahead.

Step 2: Timing your Safety Meetings

How long your meeting will last and what time and day the meeting occurs is crucial. Picking a time when employees are most attentive is best. That happens to be at the start of the work day/shift.
The day is also important. Mondays seems to be when employees are most tired and least focused. Friday seems to be when workers are out the most and their mind is not fully focused on work.
Routine is the last part that is important to plan. Planning for a safety meeting one Tuesday is perfectly fine. We do not suggest you plan your next meeting next Thursday. Have a routine time and day. Once a month, every other week, or something along those lines is perfect.
Wait until 4 and the only thing on your workers’ mind is what bar has a happy hour. Try the first Wednesday of every month at 9:30.

Step 3: Delivery in your Safety Meetings

Let’s face it, your employees are most likely doing something more important. They want to get back to work to meet deadlines. The safety meeting should be a routine quick “check-up” on guidelines. For us, quick may be 15-20 minutes, 30 at the max.

Don’t just read off a piece of paper. Have some slides or graphics ready! People are more attentive when they can visually see the information. That can include images, facts, or important statements.

Allow for employees to ask 5 minutes worth of questions. How do you know what you said made complete sense to them? If they have questions, make sure to give them the floor.

Step 4: Following Up After the Safety Meeting

Try and get some interaction with your audience either at the end of some of your meetings or through a reply email. Your employees are the ones who witnessed the safety meeting. They have the best opinions on whether or not it was executed well. Try asking a question on how to improve.

Also follow-up to make sure they understood the message. Possibly leaving an email with a “quiz question” attached to answer in a sentence. These are a few ways to engage with your audience.

 

Still have a question? Consult a risk advisor today at 914-357-8444 or visit us here at our website

Claims Management, Human Services Practice Group Content, OSHA, Workers Compensation Insurance

Healthcare Safe Patient Handling

Healthcare employees are a prime target for on-site injury. The main reason is their job consists of manual labor that usually deals with people. Activities such as lifting/handling human patients are common in the workplace for healthcare employees. One thing that needs to be addressed is safe-patient handling.

It is no surprise then that the main reasons for lost work and worker injuries in the healthcare industry is patient handling. Patient handling injuries makeup over 30% of workplace injuries and cost $1.66 billion in WC claims every year, according to Liberty Mutual data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That does not account for the billions every year spent on medical treatment by the workers themselves. So what are the ways that healthcare workers can maintain their current work duties yet avoid the risk of constant injuries? Well, here are 10 ways/tips to execute safe lifting and patient handling, according to OSHA.

Mechanical Lifting is Safe Patient Handling

Mechanical lifting is not only safer for the workers’ health, it is safer for any patients needing assistance.

Healthy Workers Should Still Not be Lifting Patients

Just because an employee has no previous injuries does not mean they are cleared to carry fully-grown people. Experts say less than 40 pounds is satisfactory for any employee’s heaviest lift.

Manually Lifting Patients can Actually be More Time-Consuming

If the job-site has mechanical lifting technology on-site and nearby, manually lifting may actually be more time-consuming. Do not worry if it takes an extra minute to retrieve/set up the technology. This is much safer than having a load of employees attempt to pick up and lift a patient.

Manual Lifting Costs More in the Long Run

While the mechanical lifting machines cost a pretty penny, medical injuries stemming from manual lifting could end up costing more. Back injury treatment for healthcare workers cost $20 billion every year. Factor in the billions in WC claims, and the lost days of worker productivity. Then, it makes the decision more clear that mechanical lifting is cheaper and more productive.

Learning Good Body Posture for Lifting Does Not Equal Less Injuries

Unfortunately, no matter how much you train to correctly lift a patient manually, it will never be as safe as mechanical lifting. There is no such technique that will teach how to safely lift a patient as our bodies were not built to lift another person.

Management Support

Having company-wide approval for a switch mechanical lifting is a positive step forward. This will help expedite the process of installing new mechanical lift devices without management backlash.

Assessing Potential Hazards

Finding the most hazardous areas of the workplace is crucial to implementation of mechanical lifting. Picking where to install these devices at the most efficient spots for the workers can make a huge difference.

Implementing a Committee to help With Safe Patient Handling

Creating a workers-based committee to help with the implementation of a safe patient handling program can help your company. After all, they are the most knowledgeable on the subject and can provide invaluable insight.

Education on Mechanical Lifting

Of course, mechanical lifting can only be as safe as the one that is operating the machine! Make sure your frontline healthcare workers are fully trained in using the technology.

Monitoring the Implementation of the New Safe Patient Handling

Once the mechanical lifting technology is in-place, that does not necessarily mean the end of the discussion. Management and workers alike must constantly evaluate the efficiency of the devices and judge whether or not another change must be made.

All of these steps and tips obviously lean towards the use of mechanical lifting devices over manual lifting. Following these steps can save your employees injuries and your company billions in claims. Remember, your employees’ health and safety must come first as well as your clients, so do the right thing and invest in the future of healthcare.

Claims Management, OSHA, Other, Workers Compensation Insurance

5 Ergonomics Tips For Desk & Office Workers

Ergonomics, or the study of people’s efficiency in the workplace, is a fast-growing field of research. Part of ergonomics is designing the workplace individually for everyone’s physical status, and lowering the number of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs). Currently, MSDs account for 33% of injured work claims, and $1 billion are spent on treatment every week for this pain. Here are 5 ways in which you can help yourself against MSDs and participate in ergonomics.

Learn How To Correctly Sit in an Office Chair

Sitting in an office chair all day can be exhausting and after a while, our body tends to slide into unhealthy positions. Keeping a good posture by sitting all the way back into the chair will help your back, neck, and hips.

Avoid the Bad Habit of Stretching for Things

If your workspace is spread out and you have the need to reach for frequently used items, you can be in danger of injuring important muscles in your arms and shoulders. Reorganizing your desk to keep your most-used items closer to you can save you the pain later.

Keep your Head Level

Staring at a screen all day is already unhealthy, so doing it the wrong way is even worse. Make sure you are looking at your monitor straight on to avoid your neck from unnecessary stress injuries.

Move Around!

A simple one to stick to, just moving around once an hour. This will help with stretching your legs and keeping yourself moving is a great way to avoid major back issues.

Watch your Elbows

Where you put your elbows is an important part of keeping yourself safe from MSDs. Simply having an armchair to put your elbows and stop growing discomfort is a quick fix for long-term stabilization.

Keeping up with ergonomics will keep you physically healthy and safe. Hopefully, these 5 tips will be useful for you and others in your office.

 

HR Challenges, OSHA, Other, Risk Management

COVID-19 Resource Guide for Employers

For our clients and the curious here is a great resource guide as you seek to build out your own programs and responses to the COVID 19 pandemic. We have been fielding a great many calls from companies looking to get ahead of this issue. We thought we would aggregate the information that is the most beneficial for valued stakeholders. Coronavirus (COVID-19) is an emerging challenge across the world for employers. We’ve gathered some materials to help you stay on top of employee concerns. Check here frequently for updates.

CDC Materials

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued:

The CDC has also created the following posters for download:

Keep up to date on CDC guidance for specific industries, latest updates, and resources on the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) main page.

DOL Materials

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has created a resource page for workers and employers. The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division has posted these posters and guidance:

EEOC Materials

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has created a landing page entitled What You Should Know About the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and COVID-19, which provides links to resources and guidance.

HHS Materials

In response to COVID-19, the Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a bulletin regarding HIPAA Privacy and COVID-19.

OSHA Materials

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has created a COVID-19 website for workers and employers that addresses the disease and provides guidance and other resources for preventing exposure to and infection with the virus.

Topics covered include:

OSHA has also issued the publication Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19.

NCCI Materials

Covid-19 and Workers’ Compensation: What You Need To Know

Small Business Administration Materials

The U.S. Small Business Administration has issued guidance entitled SBA Disaster Assistance in Response to the Coronavirus, explaining how the SBA is offering designated states and territories low-interest federal disaster loans for working capital to small businesses suffering substantial economic injury as a result of the coronavirus. Also see Coronavirus (COVID-19): Small Business Guidance & Loan Resources.

ThinkHR Materials

New York State Guidelines

Department of Health

Department of Labor

Office of the Attorney General

Construction Practice Group Content, Loss Control, OSHA, Risk Management, Workers Compensation Insurance

REMINDER: Site Safety Training Requirements Due Dec. 1, 2019

This is just a quick reminder to all our clients and friends that as of December 1st, 2019 per Local Law 196 of 2017, Site Safety Training or SST, workers at job sites requiring a Construction Superintendent, Site Safety Coordinator or Site Safety Manager must have a total of 30 hours of safety training by December 1, 2019 and a total of 40 hours by September 2020. Supervisors must have 62 hours of training by December 1, 2019.

Further for General Contractors (G.C.’s), every site must post worker safety information posters as each job site they are running where safety is required. This was effective as of October 14th, 2019. 

 

Per the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB), the signs must contain the following attributes.

  • Contain specific information about required worker safety training, including all site safety training deadlines and the number of required training hours, and the information must
  • Be in all languages used by workers to communicate at the construction site. In addition, the signs must
  • Be clearly visible to workers and must be posted at the construction site as follows:
    • Sites with construction fencing must post a sign at each egress point on the inside of the construction fencing, including vehicle delivery fence gates and existing loading docks.
    • Sites without construction fencing must post a sign at each egress point within the controlled access zone where construction is taking place and at each existing loading dock or location used for construction delivery or access.

To comply with the new requirements, the posted sign must:

  • be 44 inches wide and 30 inches high;
  • have letters at least 1 inch (25 mm) high;
  • have white letters on a blue background; and
  • be made of a durable and weatherproof material such as vinyl, plastic, or aluminum that is flame retardant.

The NYC DOB also was kind enough to build out templates in various languages for a diverse workforce population. If you wish to obtain a Site Safety Poster in a different language than English CLICK HERE. 

Any questions we recommend so speak directly with Complete Safety Services, LLC Sinead O’Flaherty. CLICK HERE to contact Sinead. 

 

 

OSHA, Other, Risk Management

National “Safety Stand-Down” Week 2019

OSHA announced May 6-10th is “National Safety Stand-Down” week. Falls are the number 1 on the job cause of death for the construction industry.

Here is a list of resources & ideas for events and conversations to have with your employees during “National Safety Stand-Down” week:

  • Have a discussion about your Ladders Safety Program. If you do not have a ladder safety program in place, now is the time to start one. It is never too late to implement a job site safety program.
  • Download our infographic on the leading causes of workplace accidents.
  • Have a Tool-Talk, a 10-15 minute conversation about workplace and job site safety.
  • Looking for something fun? Play Spot the Hazard, courtesy of Stop Construction Falls
  • Review your near-misses with your supervisors, then have a conversation with the rest of your staff about ways you can improve your site safety.

Job site safety is only part of having a strong risk management solution. The other part is having tangible metrics to track your near misses and accidents. This way, you learn from past mistakes before they become a very expensive problem. If you’d like more information on job site safety or need help with risk management, contact one of our Risk Advisors today or call 914-357-8444.

Construction Practice Group Content, OSHA, Other

OSHA ISSUES FAQ On CRYSTALLINE SILICA STANDARD

 

 

In a Department of Labor January 23rd press release, after consulting with both Union & Industry stakeholders OSHA published a list of Frequently Asked Questions as it relates to the respirable crystalline silica standard for the general industry. The FAQ is organized by topic providing advisory to employers and works on the standard’s requirements including exposure assessment, hazard communication and various methods of compliance. They frame the FAQ into 64 questions & answers. To access the FAQ simply CLICK HERE.

Crystalline silica is a carcinogen found in sand, stone, and artificial stone. It can cause silicosis which involves the scarring of lungs. According to OSHA 2.3 million workers are exposed to silica dust each year which is why they first published the rile March 25, 2016. Further, OSHA released a set of compliance assistance resources in August of 2018 which can be found HERE.

This information can be helpful for workers that may not know they are constantly exposed to crystalline silica. This information can also be useful to employers who may now be in violation of potential unsafe work condition regulations, and can now make changes to the workplace accordingly.

If you still have any questions regarding this issuance, contact us at our website here.