Workplace Safety

Unfortunately, there are all too many bullies in the workplace — and, all too often, their abusive behavior has led to violent, even fatal, employee rampages that have made the headlines. It makes sense for business owners and managers to deal with on-the-job bullying before it escalates into a potentially deadly situation.

Recognizing a bully in the workplace can be difficult. These people often have “Jekyll and Hyde” personalities: They can be extremely charming, polite, and respectful in public. However, as a rule, bullies: 1) don’t believe in following the rules of society; 2) crave negative attention; 3) try to put others down by manipulating and degrading them in front of their peers; 4) seek power; and 5) spread untrue rumors in the workplace, disrespect their victims, and refuse to listen to them.

Because there are no federal or state laws against workplace bullying, it might be hard to fire a bully right away. However, there are ways to deal with this problem.

Institute a zero-tolerance policy toward bullying. Your employee handbook and codes of conduct should set a clear definition of the consequences and punishment for bullying, with a specific list of actions for dealing with it.

Enforce the policy. When it’s time to discipline a bully, sit down with the accused person, their supervisor, and someone from your human resources department. If the bully offers to apologize and promises never to repeat the behavior, you might settle the matter by writing a letter of reprimand to be kept in their personnel file. You might also put the employee on probation, with close supervision by their supervisor, and let them know that any further bullying will result in termination.

If you’d like advice on creating and implementing an anti-bullying policy for your workplace, just give us a call.

Industry experts expect a 13% average hike in Workers Compensation premiums in 2013, driven by a variety of reasons, from widespread fraud to the growth of lawsuits for work-related injuries.

One factor in these increases: Higher medical expenses for treatment of obese workers for the “co-morbid” ailments (such as diabetes and heart attacks) that stem from their expanding waistlines. A 2007 Duke University Medical School study found that overweight workers file more Comp claims, have higher medical costs, and miss more workdays due to job-related injuries than do their non-obese counterparts.

A recent nationwide study of insurers doing business in 40 states confirms this conclusion. The survey by NCCI Holdings, Inc. found that the length of Workers Comp indemnity benefits paid to the most severely obese workers is more than five times greater than that of non-obese workers who file comparable claims. When the study included the duration of permanent partial disability, the multiple climbed to more than six to one.

This relationship between worker obesity and Workers Comp costs reinforces the need for employers to offer their workers weight management programs. In addition to keeping these costs under control, these plans will help to reduce absenteeism and increase workplace productivity — not to mention help employees get, and remain, healthy. What’s not to like?

Our agency’s Workers Comp professionals stand ready to help you develop and implement a weight reduction program for your employees. Feel free to get in touch with us at any time.

When it comes to workplace safety, have you considered the company parking lot or garage? Your workers use it at least twice a day to stow and shelter their vehicles, but beyond that it’s fairly invisible. A closer look reveals that predators might easily be lurking there. To minimize this threat, experts recommend ensuring that workers (as well as visitors) take these precautions:

1. Stay alert for cruising vehicles, whose drivers can stop suddenly and jump out to rob or assault you.
2. If you’re using a parking lot, park near the building in a visible, lighted area.
3. In a parking garage, park near the parking attendant (if there is one) or near a well-lit exit. Women should avoid using stairs and elevators, if possible.
4. Use the main exit/entrance rather than a side or secluded one.
5. Lock any valuables (including GPS, shopping, other bags, etc.) out of sight. If you’re walking to your vehicle after hours, ask a co-worker or security officer to accompany you.
6. If you have to walk alone, ask someone to watch from inside, if possible. Turn around frequently to make sure you’re not being followed and pretend that you’re waving to someone ahead to give the impression you’re not alone.
7. Don’t talk on your cellphone or listen to music with ear pods — predators are looking for victims who seem distracted or unaware.
8. Have your car keys and personal alarm or whistle ready as you approach your vehicle.
9. If someone nearby looks suspicious, keep walking and get to a safe place where you can call for help.
10. Before you unlock the door, take a good look around, inside, and behind the vehicle.
11. Once you enter the vehicle, lock all doors promptly and keep your windows up until you’ve exited the lot or garage.

Words to the wise.

An Idaho woman who was collecting on a Workers Compensation claim for an alleged foot sprain, combined with a case of depression, decided that a change of scenery would be the perfect cure – or so it seemed.

Her suspicious employer retained the services of a professional claims investigation firm. The chase was on. First, the firm tracked the claimant down to a small tourist island off the coast of Washington and videotaped her as she ran errands around the island. Then another investigator followed the claimant by ferry to another island, where she got into a friend’s car and was filmed as she shopped and dined.

Later, the claimant was taped boarding a plane from Seattle to Boise, Idaho. In a single day, she was able to keep two doctor appointments in town, return to the Boise airport, and fly back to Seattle. She was back on the island soon, apparently walking quite well on her injured ankle and in a great mood for someone so depressed.

Once the employer turned the video over to the insurance company and the state insurance fraud division, we suspect that the claimant’s depression became quite real.

Although exposing Workers Comp scams might seem like the stuff of intrigue novels, businesses such as yours do it all the time. If you suspect fraud, please contact us. We can provide suggestions and solutions.

Although there’s nothing new about perils on the job, the dangers facing workers today – from deranged employees with firearms to the threat of mass terrorism – are increasingly complex and dangerous. This makes it essential to integrate a security policy into how your business operates, rather than seeing it as an add-on service.

Use this questionnaire to assess your readiness and ability to create and maintain a secure workplace:

• Do you check references and conduct background checks when hiring new employees?
• Are supervisors trained to heighten awareness and use conflict resolution?
• Do you have written policies covering employee theft, workplace violence, drug trafficking, and other criminal activities in the workplace?
• Are employees told to report any strangers they see in the facility or on company property?
• Are employees instructed never to lend their security badge, keys, access cards, etc. to anyone?
• Do you use surveillance cameras to monitor high-risk areas of your facility, such as loading docks, warehouses, and outdoor storage areas?
• Are keys and access codes or cards given only to employees who need them to gain access to their work area(s)?
• Do you recover keys, access cards, and ID badges when employees leave the company?
• Are locks and codes changed after any incident of suspicious activity, or when an employee with access to critical areas or information is fired or leaves under strained circumstances?
• Are computers protected by passwords known only to operators and other authorized personnel?
• Do you require all visitors to sign in and out at a central reception area and be escorted to and from their destinations within the facility?
• Are employees required to enter and leave the facility through assigned entrances and exits?
• Are staff members trained to identify suspicious packages and know what to do if one arrives?

Our agency’s professional staff would be happy to provide a complimentary review of your security procedures and recommend upgrades to make it even more effective. Just give us a call.

If your workers take a “rules are for fools” attitude when it comes to workplace safety, and supervisors don’t enforce these standards, you could end up paying through the nose for their indifference.

Consider this story, based on a real court case:

Joe was a wrapper at ABC Furniture. One afternoon, he worked overtime to help his supervisor, Mario, build an enclosed office within the company warehouse. Late that afternoon, Mario told him to pick up a load of sheetrock, using a forklift – even though Joe wasn’t trained or certified to use it. The result: he overloaded the forklift, which turned over and crushed his leg, an injury that required amputation. When Joe applied for Workers Compensation, ABC fought the claim, arguing that because he violated company safety policy by operating a forklift without authorization or training, he was injured while acting “outside the scope of his employment.”

However, a state superior court, disagreed, ruling that Joe could collect benefits – even though he had violated company safety rules and wasn’t performing his usual job. In this case, both he and his supervisor, Mario, clearly had no commitment to a policy that would have prevented the accident.

All too often, employees sidestep safety rules, while their supervisors turn a blind eye to this reckless behavior. Many of these cases involve misuse of equipment and forklifts, usually by younger, risk-taking workers.

The bottom line: If employees don’t know and/or follow safety rules, and supervisors don’t enforce them, resulting in an accident – especially one that involves a serious injury – your business will suffer such unpleasant consequences as higher Workers Comp rates, lower productivity, and declining workplace morale.

It happens every day. A firm faces a large increase in its Workers Compensation premiums because the government or insurance carrier has decided that all of its independent contractors are really employees. All too often, the true relationship between the firm and the other party was left ambiguous. When it comes to Workers Comp, “ambiguous” often means “employed.”

It makes sense to minimize this gray area. In many states, laws define the independent contractor relationship. Where there’s no such definition, the worker’s status is usually determined by applying the “common law test,” which the IRS uses for FICA, FUTA, and FIT withholding.

This standard has three parts: behavioral control, financial control, and the relationship of the parties – all considered together. The IRS offers these guidelines:

• Behavioral Control shows whether your company has a right to direct or control how the worker does the work, whether or not it actually does so.
• Financial Control shows whether there’s a right to direct or control the business part of the work. For example, workers who are not reimbursed for some or all business expenses might be independent contractors. Also, workers’ ability to make a profit or incur a loss suggests that they might be in business for themselves as independent contractors.
• Relationship of the Parties illustrates how the business and the worker perceive their relationship. For example, a written contract might show what both you and the worker intend. This might be highly significant if it’s difficult to determine status based on other facts.

For more information, or to be certain that you’re up to date on the latest requirements in your state, please contact our Workers Compensation specialists. Minimizing the gray isn’t just about hair color anymore.

Security cameras in the workplace can help employers stave off fraudulent Workers Compensation claims – as long as the companies using them are careful not to violate employees’ privacy.

CEC Entertainment Inc. (Irving, TX), which operates Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurants, reduced fraudulent Comp and Liability claims significantly after installing surveillance cameras in 2009 and 2010. Says CEC Director of Sales Management Jeff Strege, “We’ve made a number of claims literally vanish once we produce the video footage to show that what the claimant said didn’t really happen.”

Commercial insurance broker Marsh Inc. recommends that such businesses as retailers, manufacturers, transportation companies, and financial institution use cameras to monitor workplace safety and evaluate potential injuries as a way to monitor and validate incidents that could generate costly claims. What’s more, adds Paul Braun of Aon Risk Consulting, employees who know that they’re being taped will be less likely to try claims scams.

Using surveillance video can run afoul of privacy laws that prohibit companies from filming employees inside of restrooms, and require them to post signs informing workers that they’re under video surveillance. In general, says Thomas Martin, CEO of Martin Investigations & Security Services (Lima, OH), “Where your eyes are allowed to see, the cameras are allowed to see.”

Although cameras can’t film all areas of a company, employers should look closely at Workers Comp claims that happen outside the cameras’ view. Notes Martin, “If you have pretty much 75% coverage, and they happen to fall and claim an injury in the other 25%, it becomes very suspicious that (the injury) wasn’t recorded.”

Insurance and security experts generally agree that the cost of installing and maintaining video monitoring systems in the workplace is well worth the investment in discouraging or preventing phony – and costly – Comp claims.

We’d be happy to offer our recommendations on video surveillance security firms that can help meet your needs.

Cardiac disease kills or disables more Americans than any other condition – and costs businesses billions a year in lost productivity and profits. There’s no better time to have a heart-to-heart talk with your employees about how to reduce their risk of suffering a cardiac episode.

Spend some time on the symptoms. Make sure that employees can recognize the signs of a possible heart attack – whether in themselves or a co-worker. Common symptoms include: 1) chest discomfort, mainly in the center of the chest, that lasts for more than a few minutes or goes away and returns; the discomfort might feel like an uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain; 2) discomfort in other areas of the upper body, including pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw, or stomach; 3) shortness of breath often accompanies chest discomfort, but can also occur before chest pains; and 4) other symptoms, such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea, or light-headedness.

Warn employees not to ignore any possible symptoms. Even if they’re not sure it’s a heart attack, they should still have it checked out. Fast action saves lives. A delay in getting treatment can result in permanent heart damage that can greatly reduce the ability to perform everyday activities – or even result in death.

Emphasize prevention. Let your employees know that they can help reduce the risk of suffering heart attack by taking a few basic steps:

• Don’t smoke. It doubles your risk of heart attack. However, soon after you stop smoking, your risk drops to that of a lifelong nonsmoker.
• Eat healthy. Choose nutritious foods low in cholesterol and saturated fat, focusing on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and low fat and nonfat dairy products. Avoid junk food and sugary snacks.
• Get some exercise. Find an activity that you enjoy and do it regularly.

Workers Compensation claims can be complex, posing a variety of challengers to employers and claims adjusters alike.

These guidelines for handling claims can go far to make life a lot easier for everyone.

• Get the main contact for the claim involved from the get-go. Make sure that he or she is ready to provide the adjuster with all the facts and information, including the employee’s file, wage records, details about the injury, and any statements from witnesses.
• Be sure that the main contact responds to the adjuster in a timely manner.Making the adjuster leave messages, send e-mails, and/or wait for a long time will only make things worse. The key to a successful and easy claim is to get back to the adjuster with the needed information, preferably on the same day, but ideally within the hour.
• Have a specific medical clinic or doctor that treats injured workers. When injured employees visit their own doctor it not only makes the process more complicated, but also creates an air of suspicion because neither the employer nor the adjuster knows this health-care provider.
• Make sure that the medical clinic is familiar with the employer and understands what light duty options are available to injured workers. This will give the doctor the opportunity to suggest alternative tasks for the employee instead of taking him or her out of the workplace altogether.

Remember, the sooner and more effectively you settle Workers Comp claims and get these injured employees back on the job, the better for them, the higher your productivity – and the lower your premiums!

The professionals at our agency stand ready to advise you on handling Comp claims. Just give us a call.