MEMIC Safety Blog

Got Occupational Safety and Health Specialists?

 Posted by John Dodge

Where is the new generation of Occupational Safety and Health Specialists? Employers may be asking this question soon.

A report from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) informs us that demand for safety, health and environmental professionals is strong.  A recent NIOSH study indicates that employers plan to hire at least 25,000 SH&E professionals over the next 5 years, and only about 12,000 new graduates are expected to be available. Clearly the rest will come from non-traditional students and people seeking a career change.

Let's find and mentor these people!  Please recommend the MEMIC Center for Workplace Safety at Central Maine Community College. CMCC's Occupational Health and Safety credit courses and workshops are waiting for aspiring safety professionals or current safety & health practitioners seeking to improve their skills. Please contact the MEMIC Center for Workplace Safety’s Bryan Wallace at 207.755.5282 or at bwallace@cmcc.edu.

Hang Up and Drive

 _{^{Posted by Randy Klatt}}

On Tuesday December 13, 2011, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended a nationwide ban on all portable electronic devices (PED’s) for all motorists.  The NTSB came to its recommendation after investigating a multi-vehicle crash in Gray Summit, MO that involved a driver who was texting. The crash, which occurred on Aug. 5, 2010, killed two people and injured 38 including children in two school buses.  The National Safety Council (NSC) made this recommendation many months ago and was quick to endorse this NTSB vote.

It is clear that drivers are frequently distracted by electronic devices.  Naturally this creates a safety concern not just for the distracted driver, but for everyone else on the road, in cross walks, and in construction work zones.  The NSC estimates 1.3 million crashes, or 23 percent of all crashes, involve distracted drivers using cell phones. “Quantifying crashes and fatalities involving cell phone use while driving is challenging due to several factors such as a driver’s unwillingness to admit the behavior and lack of witnesses. Additionally, cell phone use currently is not consistently captured on police reports. We are able to develop an estimate of crashes based on risk and exposure, but the problem could be much larger than we estimate,” says Janet Froetscher, NSC President and CEO. 

The links below offer the latest information concerning this topic.  If your employees drive as part of their work routine, then it is time to review your fleet plan and consider eliminating this risk.   

National Safety Council

National Transportation Safety Board Fact Sheet

Cellphone Driving Ban: Good Idea?

Hiring Practices That Make Smart “Cents” for Safety

 Posted by Greg LaRochelle

As the sluggish economy begins to heat up rendering a more favorable business climate, cost conscious employers looking to grow their workforce need to be even more vigilant to their hiring practices.  The search for a suitable fit can be an exhaustive exercise for a small business owner as well as for an HR professional in a large corporation.  Finding and hiring the right person demands that safety be at the forefront of the decision-making process.  Here’s why:

According to the Business & Legal Reports safety website, workplace injury statistics reveal that new employees are 5 times more likely to experience a lost-time injury in the first month of employment compared to the experienced worker.  Additionally, studies show that 40 percent of all workers injured on the job have been at it less than a year.  

 Given these facts, ensuring the safety of the “newbie” is of utmost importance, particularly where a business’s greatest asset is its people.  Equally, smart hiring practices and new employee safety orientation translate to preservation of the bottom line.

Proactive loss control measures in hiring should include:

• Post-offer, pre-placement physical exams, especially for physically demanding job positions.
• Written job descriptions that detail the physical aspect of the work tasks. 
• New employee orientation and training on the equipment and tools associated with the job, emergency evacuation routes, location of first-aid kits, MSDSs, and items such as fire extinguishers. 

Most occupational health providers offer pre-placement physicals for a nominal fee. These are designed to determine the functional capacity of the individual.  The written job description stipulating physical demands can also be used in determining light duty activities for an injured employee with temporary work restrictions. 

Use of an orientation checklist while showing the new hire the safety features of the workplace can serve as documentation of the facility safety tour. 

As a timesaver, MEMIC has assembled a number of training checklists including an employee safety orientation form in the on-line MEMIC Safety Director resource library.  (Note: MEMIC Safety Director requires user registration and is exclusively for MEMIC customers.) For additional resources on hiring practices, click on the Human Resources link under the bold heading Action Plans on the Safety Director’s home page. 

Young workers, old story: Too many injuries

The special health section in Monday's Boston Globe featured a cover story about an issue important to every parent and, hopefully, every employer: workplace safety for young workers, particularly teenagers.

We know that inexperienced workers are twice as likely to be hurt at work as experienced employees. And, of course, by their very nature, teenagers are inexperienced. Couple that with the fact that they are often hired to do jobs with inherent danger and you have a potential tragedy.

What's the answer? Well, in part, it's training and supervision. And yet, this is reported in Elizabeth Cooney's story from the Globe:

When researchers from the Teens at Work Project interviewed 208 teens under age 18 who had been injured at work from 2003 through 2007, about half said they had no safety training. About 15 percent said there was no supervisor on site when they were hurt. Almost a quarter said they had no work permit.

This is inexcusable. If you have teen workers, make sure they get the training they need. And if you're a parent of a teen worker, ask them about safety. Have they been trained? Is someone supervising them when they are engaged in potentially dangerous tasks?

Work teaches lots of valuable lessons, but if the lesson comes from a workplace injury, its price is too high.

Maine construction subcontractor law gets an emergency update

 Posted by Michael Bourque

If you attempt to closely follow the laws around subcontractors and workers' compensation, you have been busy. This is an active area in nearly every state in country. It's confusing to some and confounding to many, but it's important. If you misjudge whether or not your relationship with subcontractors actually makes them your employees for purposes of workers' compensation, you can end up paying premium you didn't expect to pay. If your work is closely tied to competitive-bid contracts, this can be a significant problem that won't show up until it's too late to recover your costs.

As we insure nearly 20,000 employers in Maine, we watch these laws closely, and provide input to our elected representatives and regulators where appropriate. Last January, a new law in Maine came into effect regarding subcontractors in the construction industry. In an attempt to close loopholes and the make a level playing field, the new law created a new 12-part test to determine whether a subcontractor should be treated by their general contractor as an employee for purposes of workers' compensation. While the test itself appears to based on good policy, the administration of the new law for those who want to prove that they meet the test (and therefore are not considered the general contractor's employees) was unwieldy and bureaucratic. Not surprisingly, in difficult economic times, it became clear that an unintended hurdle had been placed before the entire industry.

And so, the Legislature asked a group of contractors representatives as well as representatives from the Maine Workers' Compensation Board and from MEMIC, to weigh in with a solution to this problem. The result (LD 1815) was signed into law last week by Governor John Baldacci. As emergency legislation, it took effect immediately.

The new law makes it possible for subcontractors to get "predetermined" by the Maine Workers' Compensation Board to be independent (not employees) under the new law. This predetermination, once approved, would be portable for the subcontractor to use as evidence with the many general contractors with whom the sub may work. It will also be valid for one year, provided the nature of their work and their contractual relationships do not change. The change means that the Maine Workers' Compensation Board can (and now has) provide a form that is considerably less intrusive (the old form asked for three years of tax returns as well as a list of customers).

If you work in the construction industry in Maine, you should keep your eye on this issue.  Whether you're a general contractor or a subcontractor, make sure you know where you stand.  Your insurance agent is a good resource for you. Most insurers will ask that you provide copies of approved predeterminations or certificates of workers' compensation insurance for any of your subcontractors.

To read more about the new law enacted in January, you can got to MEMIC's alert on the issue.  It was mailed in December and has recently been updated.

Can GPS enhance Fleet Safety?

  Posted by Randy Klatt

Technology is everywhere in the 21st century.  This includes Global Positioning Systems (GPS) that are now compact, affordable, and easy to use.  If you operate a fleet of vehicles it might be time to look at GPS for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is safety.

Workers are more likely to die on the job from auto crashes than any other occupational hazard.  There are many steps that can be taken to improve the safety of a fleet operation including the review of driver’s motor vehicle records, requiring documented vehicle inspections, conducting recurring driver training, and employing DOT physicals.  However, employers cannot control the conditions in which employees are driving, or be with them at all times to ensure they are obeying traffic rules or following company policies.  Here is where GPS offers some help.

You can now actually know if your vehicles are exceeding speed parameters you have set.  You can instantly see where all your trucks, vans, or cars are located and their current speeds.  Dispatching, schedule changes, and responding to emergencies all becomes easier and more efficient.  Determining an ETA (estimated time of arrival) is no longer a guess; customers will appreciate this accurate information.  More efficient responses will also mean less temptation for drivers to exceed speed limits, especially since they know their movements can be seen.  For those who have hours-of-service restrictions, GPS can be used to ensure accurate reporting and log keeping.   

GPS can be used to run an operation both more efficiently and with a greater degree of safety.  Maintenance costs can be reduced as vehicles are actually being driven with more care.  This allows companies to make disciplinary decisions when necessary and reward those drivers who are doing the right thing.

Choices, choices

  Submitted by Peter Koch

 

“The history of men is never really written by chance but by choice.”  ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

That second it takes to make a choice, right or wrong, can be the difference between success and a loss.  That choice is yours and your employee’s to make.  Whether you like it or not, as a supervisor, once clocked in, the choices they make are your responsibility. 

In the event of an injury, consider what drove the choice(s) that caused the event.  What changed to cause the injury?  Could it have been production volume, environmental or working conditions, fatigue?  Or, just staff becoming more comfortable, perhaps too comfortable, with their job and working conditions? Though these reasons may be uncovered in the accident analysis, they are all normal evolutions of our work climate, which can be anticipated and controlled.  How can you influence the choices that caused the event?  Here are some questions to assess:  

• What did you do early on in their employment to affect the choices made by your staff?
• Have you continued repeating the message(s)? Are they still listening?
• How ingrained is the safety message/culture you want to have?
• Have you observed the behavior of the staff in the field compared to the expectations?
• Have you thoroughly discussed and analyzed the targeted losses from your company with your staff?
• Have you been able to focus the discussion on the choice that caused the event, or the conditions that drove the choice?

Influencing choices and changing behavior starts with developing policies and procedures that address expected job performance while prohibiting behaviors that are not essential for the job, or are excessively hazardous.  This is a necessary – and critical – part of managing work-related risk.  

Take a minute to review what you do to affect the daily choices of your staff.  Start with the policies and procedures, then move on to how you communicate the expectations of the job.  Can you be more effective at influencing the choices your staff members make once they punch the clock?

Task Force Begins Look at Employee Misclassification in Maine

I have reviewed hundreds of construction jobsites over the years. Inevitably, owners ask me what can be done about the illegal use of subcontractors. Specifically, they vent about their competition classifying their employees as subcontractors and thereby sidestepping a number of state regulations. In essence, owners are irate about playing by the rules while the competition does not. These conversations have gotten heated and understandably so. The playing field is not level, and everybody knows it, including many regulators. Yet, nothing has been done. Happily, I can report that this is being addressed in many ways all around the country.

In my home state of Maine, Governor John Baldacci recently enacted an Executive Order, creating a task force to look into this obvious problem. The issue has been discussed by many different groups over a number of years and it looks like finally some corrections may be made. It's too early to tell exactly what will take place or when any changes may be made. But this is certainly a step in the right direction. This isn’t just limited to the employers --  certain rights and coverages will extend to Maine's employees too. If done right, this could definitely be a win-win situation if there ever was one.

The WorkCompCentral newsletter has additional information and some very interesting statistics that form the foundation for the governor's actions. As this process gets underway it's inevitable that interest will be generated. I will keep you updated when information is released.

Trouble for Hire

Here is a scenario that any business owner or human resources director would love: You need a new employee and, without even advertising, a young person walks in, not only able to do the job, but willing to take on additional tasks. They go on to retire from the company after 35 happy years of exemplary service. Happens every day, right?

Every outfit, from a residential contractor to a restaurant to manufacturing plant, knows that their success and stability lies within their employees. Yet there are still businesses, usually small to midsized, that set themselves up to fail because of their hiring practices. 

Excuses include: "I don't have time," "We are too small," and "I know a good man (or woman) when I see one." If you don't take the time on the front end, you may pay the price in many ways. And how can you be too small? A $20,000 back injury is a $20,000 back injury no matter what your size. In fact, who takes a more painful hit—the residential contractor or the shipyard? And if a small retailer with five employees is missing a person with an injury (or even perhaps a purported injury), isn’t it more of a problem than a 50-employee shop?

Bringing on new employees always has a degree of risk.  Fortunately, there are proven methods to minimize and in many cases eliminate the hiring of "trouble."

MEMIC has written a guide to better hiring practices that has saved many organizations the negative costs that may come with a new employee.

Some of the fair and legal hiring practices it covers include:

• Six ways to publicize a job opening along with the advantages and disadvantages of each method,
• tips on using application forms, and
• what questions you should ask on a job interview and which to avoid.

For the complete guide, download “Five Steps to an Effective Hiring Practice.”