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The time is right
to plan for the upcoming school year
Now is a good time for administrators, principals, department leads and anyone handling workers' compensation claims or safety to be thinking about your processes for the upcoming school year. Revisit the processes that didn't work last year with thoughts for improvement. Remember successes and make plans to ensure the same success.
Cut workers' compensation costs by standardizing your claims management processes and being proactive in looking for and eliminating hazards.
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Make the injury reporting process clear. Remind employees: what a work injury is; how, when and to whom to report; and where to seek medical care.
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Bring injured employees back to work quickly. Communicate to employees that transitional jobs are available. Follow up with injured employees so they know you want them back at work.
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Focus on safety. Prevent accidents from recurring. Review accident reports from last school year. Look for trends. Determine corrective actions to prevent similar incidents.
- Conduct a risk assessment. Analyze physical conditions like wet floors, broken equipment and employee behaviors like a custodian lifting improperly. Make change based on your findings.
- Educate faculty about the hazards. Improper lifting, slips and falls, driving, and falls from elevated heights are common in schools. Use SFM's resources to educate your staff.
- Hold employees accountable for safety policies. Challenge staff to work safely and set goals for the district. For example, enforce a "do not stand on tables or chairs" policy. Require teachers to use step stools or ladders when hanging decorations in their classrooms.
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Sometimes the little things make a big difference. Doing these will help ensure that everyone is working toward the same goals: 1) keeping employees injury free, 2) when an injury does occur, managing the claim successfully to control costs and 3) bringing the employee back to work as quickly as possible.
Contact your SFM claims or loss prevention representative for assistance at (952) 838-4200 or via email.
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Advice from SFM's
Controlling costs
Forward-thinking employers benefit from wellness programs
What's driving the increase in health care costs? There continues to be an increase in the quantity and cost of catastrophic claims nationally. Also, slower levels of hiring have resulted in slightly older workers who are more prone to costly medical conditions.
Poorer health overall — leading to increases in costly conditions such as diabetes and heart disease — makes it difficult for employers to implement tactics that drive short-term cost savings.
What employers can do
Read more to find out what effective approaches combine short- and long-term tactics.
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Hazard Alert
Prevent the 'repeat' injury—repetitive stress
Office employees may suffer repetitive stress injuries when school begins in fall. Employees conditioned to the tasks and who stretched regularly last school year need to be reminded to resume their good stretching habits. Others may be working at different workstations all together and need to be evaluated for the proper fit including desk height, chair height, and reaching distances, for example.
Be proactive. Determine which employees may be exposed to physically demanding, repetitive office tasks. Schedule time to evaluate their workstations for proper ergonomics and remind them of the benefits of regular stretching exercises. Contact your SFM loss prevention representative for guidance.
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