Author: Patty Busse

Streamlined phone reporting option available

Posted on by Patty Busse

In response to feedback from employers and workers, we’re offering a new option when you call the SFM Work Injury Hotline to report injuries.

When you call during business hours (7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday), you will have a streamlined report-only option for times when your employee would not benefit from speaking with a nurse. This is a good option for cases where the employee is not available for the call, or has already decided whether to get medical treatment.

The option to speak with a nurse will still be available 24/7.

SFM has learned that many employers prefer to report all injuries by phone, so we hope this is a timesaver in cases where the employee does not need or want a treatment recommendation. We want to make it easy for policyholders to report claims immediately through whatever method is most convenient for them.

For times when an injured employee is unsure whether to get medical treatment, the option to speak with a nurse is still available. The nurses are specially trained in responding to work injuries. They will provide a treatment recommendation and also report the injury to SFM.

Calls outside of business hours will automatically be taken by a nurse.

For more information on work injury reporting options, visit our report an injury page.

A legal perspective on injuries while working from home

Posted on by Patty Busse

Tom Davern, Esq.

By Tom Davern, Esq., Senior Defense Counsel with SFM’s in-house law firm

It can be challenging to determine whether an employee’s injury is considered work related, even in the typical work environment. Working from home can present unique workers’ compensation issues due to the inevitable mix of work-related and personal activities.

When an employee sustains an injury while engaged in work activities at home, it is a compensable workers’ compensation injury. The standard rule is that if you’re engaged in work activities at home, this will be considered the same as working at the office for the purposes of workers’ compensation. The standard compensability analysis used for each state applies to the home office pretty much the same as it would in the actual office. In Minnesota, you look to see whether the injury happened in the course and scope of employment (time and place) and whether it arose out of the employment (work-related connection). However, it can be a challenging line to draw in the home office environment when you mix in child care, laundry and leisure throughout the workday.

For example, consider a situation where your employee is injured while shoveling the driveway after getting a foot of snow the night before. If the employee needed to clear the driveway to go out on a sales call, it would likely be considered a work-related injury. However, what about a situation where there is only a half inch of snow in the driveway and the employee still decides to shovel before the sales call?  A defense could be raised that the employee was outside of the course and scope of employment because the driveway did not need to be shoveled to get the vehicle out on the road. The employee elected to complete a personal task that was not required in order to continue or further a work purpose.

Injuries during ‘personal comfort’ breaks

SFM’s core states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota all recognize the personal comfort doctrine in some form and to some degree. This means that injuries that occur on the premises during the workday while the employee is attending to personal needs (taking a break) are potentially compensable workers’ compensation claims. The personal comfort doctrine transfers to the home office. The big question is: “Was the injury truly incidental to an authorized break, or did the employee engage in a personal task that removed them from workers’ compensation protection?” This is one area of the law that justifies the use of the legal cliché “case by case” basis.

In Minnesota, an injury was held to be compensable when an employee fell down the stairs after walking from his home office to his kitchen for coffee. At the same time, there is a line an at-home worker can cross that would take the employee outside of the protection of workers’ compensation. So, while incidental injuries incurred during lunch or a break may be compensable, it is not necessarily a work injury.

Imagine an employee decided to hang shingles on a lunch break and fell off the roof. This would be a denied claim, as the employee went outside of the course and scope of employment by engaging in a dangerous personal activity that had no connection to the employment. Another example of a potential denial would be if an employee came down with carpal tunnel syndrome as a result of playing video games every day during breaks. I would argue that this was personal in nature and not an activity subject to the personal comfort doctrine. The pivotal question is whether the employee was truly engaged in a personal comfort activity or had deviated from the employment to engage in an unrelated household chore or activity with no work connection.

Employers responsible to provide safe work environment, regardless of where

Since the home is seen as an extension of the workplace, this means that an employer could also be held liable for a cumulative injury due to a home office setup that’s not ergonomic. Obviously, employers have less control over employees’ home office environments. I would not be surprised to see an increase in cumulative back injury claims due to employees sitting in bad chairs for eight hours a day. It may be a good idea to be proactive with communication with your employees regarding at home ergonomic issues as it could potentially save a workers’ compensation claim down the road.

Navigating the legal and safety issues surrounding working from home can be challenging. Your SFM account team and our in-house attorneys are here to help.

Ladder safety resources

Posted on by Patty Busse

Skip, SFM’s safety hero, is on a crusade to prevent slips, trips and falls — including falls from ladders.

Falls from heights continue to be a top cause of workplace injuries. More than a third of workplace fatalities in the U.S. in 2018 were due to a fall from elevation, OSHA reports.

According to the American Ladder Institute (ALI), the five most common causes of ladder accidents include:

  • Missing the last step when climbing down
  • Overreaching
  • The ladder was not the right size for the job
  • The individual stood on the top rung/ladder cap
  • The ladder was not in good working condition

Practice safe ladder use

You can prevent many falls from heights by following a few simple rules.

  • Use the right ladder for the job. Don’t use a step ladder as a straight ladder.
  • Make sure the ladder is in good condition – see our tips on proper ladder inspection.
  • Ensure the load rating is adequate for the job and make sure to include the weight of the worker, materials and tools in your estimation.
  • Keep it placed on a firm surface. Use plywood or other similar materials if the ground is too soft.
  • Keep the base of the ladder 1 foot away from the wall for every 4 feet of height.
  • Don’t overreach. Maintain your balance when working on a ladder and rather than reaching, climb down and move the ladder to a better position.
  • Maintain three points of contact on the ladder.
  • Never climb a ladder with your hands full. Instead use proper carrying devices.
  • Face the ladder when climbing or descending.

Woman climbing up a ladder

Ladder safety resources

Proper ladder use can be made easier by accessing the ladder safety app from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health . The app includes an angle measuring tool, inspection checklist and rules for proper use.

OSHA also has ladder safety tips to stop falls .

SFM offers hundreds of safety training resources to help prevent workplace injuries. Download these ladder safety resources to remind your employees not to risk a fall.

Safe lifting techniques for preventing injuries

Posted on by Patty Busse

In the workplace, back injuries are one of the most common injuries and one of the most debilitating. But they can also be easily avoided using safe lifting techniques such as proper methods of body mechanics and material handling.

Knowing the right technique for safe lifting is essential for preventing injuries. Remember to lift from a position of power by following these four steps:

  • Keep your head up

Keep your eyes and chin up. Face forward and keep your eyes parallel to the floor. Using this position helps maintain a neutral curve in your back while lifting.

  • Keep the load close

The closer the load is to your body, the better. Holding the load away from your body can increase the chance for strains and sprains to the shoulders, arms and back.

  • Use a staggered stance

While lifting, place feet shoulder width apart with one foot slightly back and turned outward to improve your balance. This will provide improved foot placement for quick reactions, a more stable lift, and decrease the risk of a back strain.

  • Nose follows toes

Avoid twisting by keeping your feet and head aligned. Use your feet to change direction, making sure to keep your entire body in line as you do so.

Safe lifting techniques

If you can, find ways to avoid manual, physical lifting. When available, use mechanical lifts such as lifting tables, powered pallet jacks, forklifts and overhead lifting systems. Look for opportunities to integrate conveyor systems. Alternatively, try pushing or rolling instead of lifting, if possible.

When lifting is necessary, take measures to make the lift as easy as possible. Don’t store materials on the floor or where you’ll have to reach high to lift them. Instead, store them at heights between the knees and shoulders, especially if they are heavy. Find ways to reduce the carrying distance and decrease the duration of the lift.

Other lifting recommendations include:

  • Get your body warmed up and stretch prior to the lift.
  • When lifting, keep your back straight and use the knees and legs to take most of the load. Don’t bend at the waist.
  • Know how much the item weighs prior to lifting to avoid an unexpected strain.
  • Plan your route and make sure the path is clear.
  • Ask another employee for help when lifting heavy loads. The NIOSH limit for lifting is 35 pounds per person under ideal circumstances before team lifting or mechanical lifting devices are recommended.
  • Communicate with the people around you. Let them know where you are and where you’re going in order to avoid accidents.

Safe patient handling

Within a health care setting, there are a few more things to keep in mind when lifting patients or residents.

Always use mechanical assist devices whenever indicated by the care plan. Devices should be readily accessible and kept in good condition. Examples include sit-to-stand lifts, friction reducers and slide boards, walkers and shower chairs, trapeze bars and safety rails. If you don’t know how to use this equipment ask your supervisors for instruction and assistance.

When feasible, ask the patient to help you as much as possible and communicate with them about what you are going to do. If you need assistance, get help from a coworker.

Using these safe lifting techniques will not only help you avoid painful back injuries, but it’s also more comfortable and less invasive for your patients.

Lifting resources

See the full list of SFM’s lifting resources.

Why you have to stay vigilant on work injuries

Posted on by Patty Busse

Ideally, your employees will let you or a supervisor know right away any time they are injured at work, even if it’s a minor injury.

But what if they don’t? Can you be legally required to report an injury that was never reported to you?

In many states, the answer is yes. If you become aware of an injury by seeing it occur, or even suspecting it, it can be considered “constructive notice.” In other words, you should have known.

This matters because there are state deadlines that limit how much time can elapse between the time you become aware of an injury and when workers’ compensation benefits must be paid or denied.

This means that as soon as you’re aware of an injury, it’s important to report it to SFM so your claims representative can investigate and make a determination on whether workers’ compensation benefits are due.

Following are a few things you can do to make sure work injuries are reported right away at your organization:

  • Train your supervisors to watch out for work injuries and report them immediately. Make sure they know it’s their responsibility to report all injuries as soon as they learn of them. It’s not up to the employee to decide whether to report.
  • Help supervisors remember how to report injuries through the SFM Work Injury Hotline by hanging posters and through other communications.
  • Make sure supervisors and employees know that all work injuries, no matter how minor, should be reported immediately.
  • If you suspect that the employee was not injured as reported, it’s still important to report the injury right away. Let your claims representative know your concerns. We have the resources to investigate fraud.

What happens when you choose the SFM Work Injury Hotline nurse option?

Posted on by Patty Busse

When you report a work injury by calling the SFM Work Injury Hotline at (855) 675-3501, you’ll have the option to let your employee speak with a nurse. This is a good option if your employee is unsure whether to seek medical treatment.

Here’s what happens when you call and choose the nurse option:

1. A nurse will answer.

The registered nurse will talk first with the supervisor, and then ask to speak with the employee.

2. The nurse will ask the employee questions about the injury.

These questions will help to determine severity of the injury and the best way to address it. The nurse uses patented software to assist them in asking injured workers the right questions to determine what type of medical care the employee needs.

3. The employee will get a treatment recommendation.

This could range from self-care to a clinic referral or even emergency treatment. If the nurse recommends self-care, instructions can be emailed or faxed to the workplace.

After the call, the nurse will send the report to SFM.

Injured workers who choose to self-treat can call back for further advice if their condition changes or worsens.

 

How the nurse service is provided

To make nurses available to injured workers, SFM partners with Medcor, a Midwest-based company that has pioneered workplace injury triage since 1997.

Medcor’s nurses are specially trained in responding to work injuries, and they operate under the supervision of a full-time medical director who is board certified in emergency medicine.

They use software that supports the company’s patented methods for making the best triage recommendations for injured employees.

 

Common questions about the nurse option

Here are answers to some of the questions you might have about the hotline:

  • What if the injured employee doesn’t speak English?
    The nurses can access interpreters for more than 200 languages.
  • Are third-party administrator, high-deductible and assigned risk plan policyholders included in this program?
    Clients whose claims are administered by SFM Risk Solutions (as a third-party administrator) or Superior Point (for the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Assigned Risk Plan) are NOT included in this program. Policyholders with deductibles over $100,000 can choose whether to participate. If you are a third-party administration client and need to report, go to the Report a TPA injury page. If you are insured through the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Assigned Risk plan, report your claims on the Superior Point website .
  • Is there any fee for this service?
    No, it is free for most SFM policyholders to call the SFM Work Injury Hotline. The only exception is policyholders with deductibles over $100,000 that choose to participate.
  • What if an injured employee disagrees with the nurse’s recommendation?
    It is still up to the employee to decide whether to follow the nurse’s advice.

Four reasons why you should report work injuries immediately

Posted on by Patty Busse

If there was an easy way to ensure better medical treatment and a faster, smoother recovery for each of your organization’s injured workers, would you do it?

What if it was as simple as making sure that employees at your organization report injuries as soon as possible after they occur?

Here are four key benefits to reporting work injuries to your workers’ compensation insurer as soon as possible:

  • Better medical care.
    Sometimes injured workers are unsure whether they need medical care. That’s why we offer the option for workers to speak with a nurse when you report injuries by phone. This helps prevent both under-treatment and over-treatment.
  • Better accident investigation.
    Figuring out what caused an accident is important because it helps you determine how to best prevent a similar one in the future. Investigating an accident can also help bring your attention to the rare case in which an employee is committing fraud. Talking with witnesses and the employee right away will help you get the best picture of what happened, or misstatements in the employee’s story, before memory of the incident fades.
  • Better contact with medical providers.
    When you learn about work injuries before your employees seek treatment, you have the chance to be proactive in working with medical providers. You can give the injured employee a work ability report to be completed by the doctor so that you know which work restrictions the employee has, and you can let the doctor know you offer light-duty work.
  • Better communication with injured employees.
    Staying in contact with injured employees, and assuring them they’ll have jobs to return to is the number one way to prevent litigation. Injured employees tend to seek out attorneys when they feel their livelihood is in jeopardy. When your employees report their injuries right away, you get the opportunity to assure them right away that they will be taken care of.

Avoid fines by reporting injuries right away

An additional benefit of reporting injuries right away is avoiding fines.

Even if a claim isn’t compensable, insurers — and ultimately employers in some cases — face fines for late denial of liability if claims aren’t reported on time.

Fines range from $100 to $5,000.

Penalties can be twofold. Depending on the state, insurers can be charged both for reporting late and making late benefit payments to injured workers, so reporting late can cause fines to add up quickly. If there is a penalty due to the employer reporting late, the insurer may seek reimbursement from the employer, depending on the state. In some states, the employer may be fined directly by the regulatory agency.

If you question the legitimacy of a claim, still report it right away and let the claims representative look into it.

If you’re like most professionals, you have so much to do each day that some tasks must be delayed for another day. Don’t let injury reporting become one of those tasks. Instead, report right away to save yourself time in the long run and ensure the best outcome for your injured employee and your organization.

Need to know how to report an injury? If you’re an SFM policyholder, visit the Report an Injury page for details.

 This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.

Laptop and tablet ergonomics

Posted on by Patty Busse

Ever notice how working on your laptop from the comfort of your own couch often leads to discomfort in your neck?

Mobile devices like laptops, tablets and cell phones allow you to work anytime, anywhere. But this can make it harder for you to be sure you’re doing it safely.

These devices all pose ergonomic challenges, but there are ways to minimize the risk.

The ergonomic problems with laptops

The ergonomic challenge laptops present is simple. Because the keyboard and monitor are attached, either the keyboard is too high to properly position your wrists and arms, or the monitor is too low to look straight ahead as you work. So, if you use your laptop computer in your lap, as the name suggests, neck pain will likely follow.

How to use a laptop on a desk at home

If you’re working on your laptop at a desk in your home office, you can use either a docking station, or an external keyboard and mouse with a riser to work comfortably. A docking station connects your closed laptop to an external keyboard, mouse and monitor. Risers lift the laptop monitor up to eye level, and the external keyboard can be positioned so your arms and wrists are in a neutral position. A riser can simply be a few books to set the laptop on, or any other means of raising the level of the monitor.  It is best to have the remote keyboard and mouse at the same level, to ensure proper posture with both wrists.

What to look for to achieve a neutral position:

  • Eyes looking straight ahead at the monitor, not up or down
  • Upper arms resting comfortably at your sides
  • Elbows bent at a 90- to 100-degree angle
  • Wrists are straight and flat when using your keyboard and mouse, not flexed, or deviated sideways, up or down.

If multiple people are using the same workspace, you may need to get an adjustable riser.

How to comfortably use a laptop on the go

Unless you carry a riser and external keyboard around with you, it’s not likely that you’ll be able to create an ergonomic setup at a coffee shop, library or inside your car. Minimize the amount of time you spend working on your laptop in these environments. If you need to move around while entering information into your laptop for some reason, such as doing inventory, use a cradle that goes over the shoulders.

It is important also to reduce any glare that may be coming from nearby windows or if working outdoors in the sun.  This glare can make it difficult to view the screen and, over time, could result in headaches.

Choosing an ergonomic laptop bag

When you’re choosing a laptop bag, remember, two straps are better than one — making a backpack a good choice — and carrying the bag over your shoulder is better than carrying it in your hands. People tend to carry things in their hands at the end of their fingertips, which pulls on their tendons.

Make sure not to overextend your reach when moving the bag in and out of your car.

Avoiding ‘tablet neck’

Reading on a tablet computer isn’t ergonomically worse than reading a book. Anytime you’re holding your head forward for a prolonged period of time, it’s going to cause neck discomfort. So what’s the issue with tablets?

“It’s not apples to apples because these machines can keep you a lot more captivated than a book can,” said SFM Loss Prevention Representative Jason Clausen. “You’re on it all the time.”

And while tablet computers weren’t really built for doing a lot of data entry, they’re being used more and more for productivity.

If you find yourself using your tablet more like a laptop, use an external keyboard and follow the guidelines above to properly set up your workstation. Also, consider using dictation software to minimize typing on the device.

In other cases when you’re using a tablet for an extended period of time, take short breaks to stand up and stretch your neck and arms. For more on stretching, see our page on preventing strains and sprains.

Tips for any mobile device

In today’s society, it’s not realistic to think you will never work with your computer on your lap or your head bent over your tablet, but it’s important to limit the amount of time spent working in these less-than-ideal positions and take regular micro breaks while doing it.

“If you give yourself short, periodic recovery periods, you can really reduce the chance for musculoskeletal disorders,” Clausen said. “Ergonomic risk factors are largely a function of repetition, force and duration.”

More resources:

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Research finds stress is bad for workers, bad for business

Posted on by Patty Busse

Work-related stress has significant costs for worker health and for a business’s bottom line. Three studies looked at stress in the workplace from different angles.

The workplace and health study

A workplace and health study described in the Harvard Gazette reported widespread stress at work, with 43 percent of workers saying their job is bad for their stress, and only 16 percent saying work had a positive impact on their stress levels. Forty-six percent of working women say their job has a bad impact on their stress level, compared to 40 percent of men.

The poll, conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, National Public Radio and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found that, “One in five working adults (20 percent) say they have experienced a great deal of stress at work in the past 12 months, while 37 percent have experienced some stress at work.”

Workers facing challenging circumstances, such as workers caring for a sick family member, working 50 or more hours per week or those in self-reported dangerous jobs, were more likely to report that work harmed their stress levels. For the workers who described their job as dangerous, 52 percent say their job had a negative impact on their stress level.

Stress influences workers’ compensation claim frequency and cost

One large study of nearly 17,000 employees across multiple industries examined relationships between employee health risk factors and workers’ compensation claims.

The study by the Center for Health, Work & Environment at the Colorado School of Public Health, “Health risk factors as predictors of workers’ compensation claim occurrence and cost ,” was published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

Researchers found that workers who experienced stress at work were more likely to experience a workplace injury, and certain sources of stress influenced the overall cost of the workers’ compensation claim.

“Stress at work is predictive of workplace accidents — if you want to prevent workers’ comp claims, you need to look at causes of stress in the work environment,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Natalie Schwatka, in Risk & Insurance .

Mortality and health costs attributed to workplace stress

The third report analyzed 10 sources of stress and their impact on health care costs.

Professors Joel Gol, Jeffrey Pfeffer and Stefanos A. Zenios determined that workplace stress contributes to a staggering 120,000 deaths a year and costs from $125 to $190 billion a year in their paper, “The relationship between workplace stressors and mortality and health costs in the United States.”

The stress factors related to the workplace included lack of health insurance, work-family conflict, job insecurity and high work demands. According to their mathematical model, job insecurity and high work demands each contribute to about 30,000 deaths a year. High demands at work results in an estimated $48 billion in health care spending.

The Harvard Business School reported on the results, saying, “All of these numbers point to conclusions that they suspected — that workplace stress is a significant contributor to both health problems and costs.”

When looking at all three studies together, the research paints a picture of just how expensive stress can be, both for workers’ health and for their employers.

Retirement presumption can affect workers’ comp benefits

Posted on by Patty Busse

When injured workers receiving permanent total disability (PTD) benefits advance to retirement age, the impact on their benefits differs by state.

For example, in Wisconsin and South Dakota, PTD benefits are owed for life. In Iowa and Nebraska, PTD benefits are owed as long as the individual remains disabled.

In Minnesota, depending on the date of injury, an employee receiving PTD benefits under the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Act will either have benefits for life, will be presumed retired at the age of 67 or 72, or will be eligible for only five years of PTD benefits.

Injuries prior to Oct. 1, 1995

For injuries prior to this date, Minnesota Statute 176 did not provide a presumption of retirement, hence, employees were eligible for lifetime PTD benefits.

Injuries from Oct. 1, 1995, to Sept. 30, 2018

On Oct. 1, 1995, Minnesota Statute 176.101, subdivision 4 was revised to include a presumption of retirement at the age of 67. This presumption is rebuttable, or in other words, the employee could dispute this presumption based upon the employee’s testimony and the totality of the circumstances surrounding retirement.

Factors to be considered include:

  1. The employee’s expressed intent to retire or continue working;
  2. Whether an application for Social Security benefits was made;
  3. Evidence of financial need for employment income and the adequacy of retirement income;
  4. Whether the employee had initiated discussion of retirement;
  5. Whether the employee engaged in or sought vocational rehabilitation; and
  6. Whether the employee was working after age of presumption.


Davidson v. Thermo King, 64 W.C.D. 380 (W.C.C.A. 2004).

If it was clearly established that an employee that was injured beyond the age of 67 had rebutted the presumption of retirement, that employee could receive PTD benefits through his or her lifetime.

Injuries after Oct. 1, 2018

Due to the trend of employees working later in life, for injuries occurring after Oct. 1, 2018, the presumption of retirement was pushed to age 72.

Additionally, the updated legislation provides a cap of five years if an employee was injured after the age of 67. In other words, if an employee was injured at the age of 69 and deemed permanently and totally disabled, that employee could receive PTD benefits from the age 69 through 74, rather than the potential lifetime of benefits under the earlier legislation.

Tip for employers: Document employees’ references to retirement

If any statement is made by an employee about intent to retire, make a note of the statement for future reference. Employers also should document the circumstances of any retirement discussions, such as who raised the issue and whether the employee approached the employer.

This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.

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