Tag Archives: Workers Comp

Workers comp refers to workers compensation, a part of business finances when a worker claims they were injured during work and would like to be reimbursed for medical treatment and procedures, as well as lost time of work.

Captive, General Liability Insurance, Line of Insurance, Risk Financing, Risk Management, Risk Transfer, Workers Compensation Insurance

Why Current Economic Conditions Are Perfect To Restructure Your Insurance Program

In our opinion, there is no better time to consider alternative risk transfer as a strategy to get more cost-efficient with respect to your current commercial property insurance, commercial liability insurance, workers compensation insurance, & commercial auto insurance.

As I write this the country and the world are about to exit the covid pandemic. If we frame the current conditions in terms of where we are in the property insurance, liability insurance & workers compensation insurance buying cycle; conditions couldn’t be more favorable to give your company a significant competitive advantage.

Taxes :

Since all 3 branches of government have changes hands in the last several years there are strong tailwinds pushing for significant tax increases which will erode corporate resources. We suggest utilizing a Captive Insurance strategy can give you significant tax efficiencies allowing you to keep the dollars inside your company to help reduce your variable cost structure. DOWNLOAD our Guide to Utilizing Captives by CLICKING  HERE.

Coverage Availability & Rates :

Currently, we are in the through of a “HARD MARKET”; where conditions favor the insurance carriers as they restrict coverage and increase rates. Insurance buyers are frustrated because they have limited options. Further, they feel squeezed, and rightly so. The carriers are pointing to the “Social Inflation” of liability and commercial auto claims due to the insane jury awards. Buyers are pointing to “profits” earned and surplus growth to counter that claim. We think the buyers have a legit gripe.

Risk As Strategy :

Smart forwarding thinking CFO’s and C-Suite Executives understand that if they can leverage their balance sheets by increasing their retentions EFFICIENTLY, they can gain significant cost advantages that they can bake into their COGS (Cost of Goods & Services). If done properly they can reduce their insurance program costs by 35% which allows them to grow profits, market share, or both. Remember every dollar you save in your insurance program falls directly to the bottom line.

To understand if your company could benefit from a partial or full-on program restructuring CLICK HERE to schedule a 15-minute call. In 5 questions we can figure out if the strategy has legs for your org.

Construction Practice Group Content, Food & Beverage Practice Group Content, Human Services Practice Group Content, Marketplace News, Risk Financing, Risk Management, Transportation Practice Group Content, Workers Compensation Insurance, Workers Compensation Premium Audits

How Workers’ Compensation Class Code #8873 “Telecommuter Reassigned Employees” Can Help You Save Money On Your Insurance Premium

The New York Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Board (NYCIRB) has released a new class code for ‘Telecommuter Reassigned Employees’.

If you are a business owner you might be wondering how do I adjust my workers’ compensation rates for employees that we kept on the payroll, but did not actually perform their duties? It doesn’t make sense to pay workers comp premiums for an expensive labor class during a workers comp audit when those employees were essentially paid to sit home. 

 

Over the past eight months, we have experienced difficult and trying times due to the pandemic. One critical aspect of the first few months of the pandemic was the ability of employers to keep their employees on the payroll whether or not they were actually performing their duties. The PPP program went a long way in helping employers achieve that important concession. 

 

The question that has come up recently with many employers is how do we properly account for that portion of payroll we paid our workers when they actually didn’t perform their actual duties. In industries like construction or healthcare, the insurance costs basis can generate a lot of insurance premiums because the class codes for those labor components have a high insurance rate tied to it. 

Now there is a relief for workers compensation premiums for these “reclassified” employees.

The New York Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Board (NYCIRB) has released a new class code for ‘Telecommuter Reassigned Employees’.

Temporarily Reassigned Employees, which establishes new classification code 8873, Telecommuter Reassigned Employees, requires that it be applied to the payroll of employees who, during New York’s stay-at-home order related to the COVID-19 pandemic (and future stay-at-home orders), are reassigned to either (a) not perform any work duties (idle), or (b) perform clerical work duties at home that they otherwise would not perform. The rate per $100 of payroll for Classification 8873 will mirror the rate for Classification 8810 (clerical office employees).

Further, this provision is applicable at the start of New York’s stay-at-home order and for up to 30 days after its conclusion. Employees who are classified to code 8871, Telecommuter Clerical Employees, are to remain classified as 8871.

In other words, the new 8873 classification only applies to employees who are reassigned and meet one of the two conditions described above. These amendments are effective for all new and renewal policies effective May 1, 2020, as well as to all in-force policies as of March 16, 2020.

We have provided the NYSIF Q&A sheet of commonly asked questions about this new workers’ compensation class code.

We would be happy to review the parameters of the new class codes and the impact it may have on your business. Please contact one of our Risk Advisory to discuss further.

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

COVID-19 on NYS Workers Compensation

The COVID-19 outbreak has spread all throughout America, but most notably in New York. Considering America’s largest metropolitan hub is New York City, when the disease hit it was bound to be catastrophic. Due to the heavy outbreak in New York, Governor Cuomo ordered a stay-at-home rule for nearly three months. This resulted in higher unemployment and less in-person work happening.

Increase in COVID-19-Related Workers Comp Claims

What exactly does this mean for Workers Compensation claims? It depends on what types of workers comp claims. Considering health care workers and essential first responders are eligible for workers comp, the workers comp claims due to the contraction of coronavirus have been large in quantity and amounts paid out. Coronavirus claims have been costly for insurance carriers per claim for two reasons.

First, the medical bills related to treatment of the virus are hefty: 6 days of hospitalization can cost $40,000. Second, insurance carriers set a high standard for respiratory Workers Comp claims after the 9/11 attacks. Respiratory diseases lime coronavirus can have permanent or long-term impacts, meaning more money out of insurance carriers. And because the coronavirus is a temporary pandemic and is no fault of the employer, premiums can not necessarily increase, meaning greater losses for carriers due to the costly COVID-19 workers comp claims.

Decrease in Non-COVID-19 Related Workers Comp Claims

However, the COVID-19 impact on NYS workers comp does not end there. Because of the lock down, the number of non-COVID-19 workers comp claims has significantly shrunk these past 3 months. So, financially, while the COVID-19 claims are more expensive than regular workers comp claims, the number of COVID-19 claims is still not as large as the average amount of workers comp claims, meaning that both of these effects of the outbreak have offset each other financially.

The question is now whether insureds will protest that due to there being less workers on payroll and claims being filed, WC premiums should decrease, meaning insurance carriers charge less on premiums to pay out almost the same amount of money. It is important to know the outbreak is not over and these figures may change when the pandemic finishes. Keeping up to date with the official NYCIRB and NY officials is the best way to keep track of insurance on workers comp effects from the pandemic.

Still confused? Still have questions? Call a risk advisor today at 914-357-8444 or visit us here at our website.

Note

*All of these statistics and findings were found in a June 2020 report on COVID-19 and Workers Comp claims written by the NYCIRB. The link is mentioned in the article, and can be found here.

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, Employers Practice Liability Insurance, HR Challenges, Risk Management, Workers Compensation Insurance

Heat Injury and Illness in the Workplace

An Under looked problem

Heat injury and illness is a serious work-related danger that affects millions of American workers each year. Not only do heat injuries directly cause injuries/illness, but at times they are the underlying reason for mishandling of equipment, and lack of focus that leads to other work-related injuries. While federal agencies such as OSHA publish articles on measures to prevent heat-related injuries/illness, at times these cautions do little. It is on the management to provide resources, knowledge, and safety measures for workers in constant risk of heat injuries and illness. Here are some ways to prevent heat injuries and illness.

How to Avoid Heat Injury and Illness

Provide Rest Breaks:

Management should provide several work breaks other than lunch every day. These breaks should include free water and a shaded location. This well help workers stay out of the heat, cool down body temperature, and replenish fluids.

Provide Information:

Your workers need to understand the dangers of working in constant heat. Manual labor in heat will cause a slower release of body heat and less sweat. This traps more heat in the body, raising the body temperature. This is a dangerous result, as 2 degrees fahrenheit higher than normal body temperature can cause dizziness, lack of focus, and dehydration. Once you hit 5 degrees past normal body temperature you are flirting with possible fatal illnesses. The more your workers know, the safer your workers will work under intense heat.

Training:

Training workers on how to avoid what prevention is nearly impossibly. However, training project supervisors on proper safety plans and measures is beneficial to all. Having set heat prevention measures in place for your supervisors to execute can save you money in claims and injuries.

Sometimes, these precautions still are not enough. Workers may still suffer from the effects of high heat and humidity. Here are a few steps to deal with a worker with a heat injury or illness.

How to Treat Heat Injury and Illness

Immediately Bring the Worker to Shade:

Give the worker tons of water to hydrate them. Ice packs to cool down their body temperature is also recommended. The best spot to cool down a worker is the back of the neck, as it helps control your entire body’s temperature.

Bring the Worker Medical Assistance:

If their symptoms continue to worsen or remain stagnant, calling an ambulance is the best option. Make sure to call the ambulance within the hour the worker first felt symptoms.

Loosen Clothing:

Loosening the worker’s clothing can help free entrapped heat between the skin and clothing. This will help cool the workers’ internal body temperature. It will also help with quicker blood flow, which will help the worker recover quicker.

Heat injuries and illnesses are not small cast-offs when talking about workers’ injuries and workers comp. These are critical parts of worker safety and health, especially in construction and work done primarily outside. Hopefully, this article will help bring important information to project supervisors and management about proper steps and safety precautions regarding heat injuries and illnesses.

Still confused and want advice? Call a risk advisor today at 914-357-8444 or visit our website here for more information.

Claims Management, Workers Compensation Insurance

Requiring Sunscreen as PPE

The dog days of July and August have come. And with those months come extreme heat, humidity, and higher risks of staying in the sun. Injuries and illnesses related to heat are real and affected millions of workers a year. Sunstroke, severe dehydration, and fainting due to dizziness are common. However, one of the overlooked effects of the sun is the damage of UV rays on the skin. Requiring sunscreen as PPE can help minimize that risk.

Without skin protection, extreme heat in the summer may cause permanent sun damage and illnesses in the future. These may form skin cancers that appear decades afterward. Making sure workers are protected can save costs and claims. The solution happens to remain very simple.

Make all workers wear high-SPF sunscreen as PPE. If gloves protect the hands and goggles protect the eyes, sunscreen should protect the skiing. Even a subtle injury such as sunburn can affect a workers productivity for the next few days. We also recommend workers wear more clothing to hide their skin as well as using sunscreen. UV rays are more extreme and direct in the summer and workers protection is imperative.

This article is a great guide to PPE protection and goes over sunscreen use in the summer. If you still have questions, contact a risk advisor today at 914-357-8444.

Claims Management, Construction Practice Group Content, Risk Management, Workers Compensation Insurance

Hand Sanitizers Risks in the Workplace

Hand Sanitizer Problems

According to a recent event that occurred on a construction site, the Mechanical Contractors Association of America has announced to be extra cautious with brand-name liquid hand-sanitizers at the workplace. Many of these sanitizers contain isopropyl alcohol, a highly-flammable but important component of the sanitizer. If the skin does not absorb the entire sanitizer, the solution can ignite when set near other flammable objects.

According to the MCAA, an event occurred where a construction worker used the sanitizer then touched a metal beam. Because the sanitizer did not fully absorb, the worker received first-degree burns. This news rightly frightens many, as millions of Americans use hand sanitizers every day.

Hand sanitizers are becoming a commonality when entering a new building due to COVID-19. Liquid sanitizers containing isopropyl alcohol are supposedly effective at combating COVID-19. Yet it is now apparent they are also effective at causing serious flammable problems.

The other component of hand sanitizer labeled as dangerous by the FDA and CDC is methanol. The FDA recently placed recall orders for various hand sanitizers from Mexico because of their use of methanol. The sanitizers claim the use of ethanol, a regulatory hand sanitizer component. However, there has been traces of methanol instead. methanol is wood alcohol usually used in dry adhesives and paint thinners. More than 4% methanol in a hand sanitizer is considered “poisonous” by the FDA. This is due to the fact that methanol can cause serious, permanent damage or death when directly ingested or rubbed onto the skin.

How to Prevent the Hand Sanitizer Problems

To prevent accidents like these from happening, experts say to just let the sanitizer soak into the skin. Waiting an extra three minutes before starting to work can be the difference between disaster and containing a pandemic.

To prevent using methanol, make sure to read the full FDA banned sanitizer list and know what sanitizers to buy and not buy. Also, make sure the hand sanitizer is government approved and not some homemade liquid mixture. These are becoming prevalent due to the hand sanitizer shortage.

Causes

Some things that may assist in the ignition of isopropyl are open flames, electrical tools/machinery, sparks from static electricity, as well as smoking cigarettes.

With the need of isopropyl alcohol to actually defend the skin against COVID-19, the problem will not be going away anytime soon. However, small changes such as waiting an extra 2 or 3 minutes or wearing gloves can make a drastic impact. COVID-19 has already impacted our work lives plenty the last 4 months, a relatively small hand sanitizer issue should not stop us from re-entering the workplace.

Still confused by this article? Still concerned about your health and safety? Contact a risk advisor today at 914-357-8444/

Construction Practice Group Content, Food & Beverage Practice Group Content, Human Services Practice Group Content, Transportation Practice Group Content, Workers Compensation Insurance, Workers Compensation Premium Audits

Who Is Exempt From Workers Compensation Coverage?

The New York workers’ compensation insurance law requires the majority of employers to have appropriate workers comp insurance coverage in place. However, there are three key exemptions.

Sole Ownership

If you run your business alone and don’t have any employees, you may not need to have workers’ compensation coverage.  You should note, however, that in order

not to inadvertently break the law, you must not use the services of volunteers, such as family or friends.

Partnership

Partnerships set up under New York laws may also be exempt, but only where they comply with the provisions applicable to businesses in sole ownership outlined above.

Small Corporation

Where one or two people have set themselves up as a corporation, hold all the offices and own all the stock, they might also be exempt, as long as they have no employees of any kind, as per the other two exempt categories above.

Sub-Contractors

It is important to note that should your otherwise exempt business use the services of sub-contractors, you should make sure they have their own insurance coverage. Otherwise, the New York Workers Compensation Board may rule that they are employees. Similarly, when a sole owner, partner, or small corporation owner works as a sub-contractor, he or she is required to hold personal New York workers compensation insurance.

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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.