Avoiding injury in snowy, icy weather can be difficult. Stay on your feet this winter by using these safety tips.
You can find more information and resources about winter safety on our slips and falls prevention page .
It’s time for workplaces to shine a light on common disorders that often go undiagnosed and unmentioned.
As two of the most prevalent disorders in the United States, depression and anxiety directly affect the workplace with both social and economic costs.
The National Institute of Mental Health reports that 7.1 percent of U.S. adults – 17.3 million people – experienced a major depressive episode in 2017. Women were more likely to experience depression than men – 8.7 percent to 5.3 percent, respectively.
Anxiety has similarly overwhelming numbers. In the U.S., anxiety sits at number one of the most common mental illnesses. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America says it is affecting 40 million adults (18 and older) or 18.1 percent of the population, annually.
Overall, The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates around 280 million people live with depression.
In a 2016 American Psychological Association Work and Wellbeing survey, 16 percent of employees said mental health problems made job challenges more difficult to handle, and 15 percent said mental health issues kept them from achieving their goals at work.
A national survey on anxiety in the workplace , led by the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA), found that people with anxiety listed difficulty with common job-related situations like meeting deadlines, maintaining personal and professional relationships, participating in meetings, giving presentations, managing staff and dealing with problems that arise.
As a result, those living with anxiety are more likely to call in sick, use short- and long-term disability, or be distracted and restless at work.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) protects employees from job discrimination when their medical needs impact their working ability, but the ADAA survey revealed that many people living with anxiety have a fear of sharing their disorder with anyone at work. The survey says 31 percent of people fear being labeled “weak,” while 22 percent of people fear it could affect opportunities for promotion and another 22 percent fear it would go in their file.
The costs of depression and anxiety are staggering:
In the APA study, only 41 percent of employees reported that their employer provided the resources necessary for employees to meet their mental health needs.
Because depression and anxiety are so prevalent, it’s important that managers feel prepared if an employee discloses a mental health concern.
Remember that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) includes mental illness in its requirements for ADA compliance. The EEOC has a guide for workers called “Depression, PTSD, & Other Mental Health Condition in the Workplace: Your Legal Rights .”
Additionally, employers can be proactive in demonstrating that they care about their employees’ well-being. The CDC recommends several strategies for employers to support mental health. The three ideas below can be a good starting point:
By learning more about how depression and anxiety affect individual employees and what it looks like in the workplace, employers can take steps to provide helpful resources and reduce the harmful effects of this illness.
This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.
In the movies, when you see a shady character slip into a corner store, stick an item under his jacket, and make a beeline for the exit, you expect to see the shopkeeper chase him at full speed down the street.
But in the real world, a scene like this could cause an employee to fall, get hit by a car, or worse. The shoplifter could have a weapon or accomplices waiting.
At Kowalski’s Markets, a local chain of grocery stores in the Minneapolis area, Security Manager Scott Nelson advises employees never to chase a shoplifter.
“I always start by telling employees that there’s nothing in any of these stores that’s worth anybody getting hurt or risking injury,” he said. “I want to stress safety because obviously, our customers’ safety and our employees’ safety is our first concern.”
Instead, Nelson advises employees just give exceptional customer service to everyone, even to those they suspect might be stealing.
“If you greet them with customer service, they know you’re onto them and they typically drop the stuff and leave,” he said.
I want to stress safety because obviously, our customers’ safety and our employees’ safety is our first concern.
~ Kowalski’s Security Manager Scott Nelson
At times when there aren’t as many employees and customers around, Nelson advises staff not to overstock shelves with the pricier items that typically attract thieves and to put those items in visible places.
Even if these tactics don’t work, with video cameras, other security measures and good relationships with local police, Nelson can usually catch thieves after the fact, so chasing a suspect is never necessary, he said.
“I appreciate that employees sometimes just want to help, but I always say, ‘We care about you more than that thing he was stealing,'” he said. “My first concern for all our stores is that safety comes first.”
This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.
Back in 2015, before opioids were regularly making news headlines, SFM began a concerted effort to help injured workers reduce or quit use of the addictive painkillers.
Since then numerous individuals have thanked our claims team for helping them “get their lives back,” sometimes after years of disability. And with drug overdose deaths at an all-time high in the U.S. due primarily to the opioid epidemic, these efforts can be life-saving, too.
We’re continuing to help injured workers get off these drugs, and we’re now focusing more on preventing long-term use in the first place.
In 2015, we hired a prescription drug e to identify high-risk cases and work with injured workers and their doctors to prevent opioid addiction.
Since then we’ve seen a reduction of 77 percent in the number of injured workers taking a higher dosage of opioid painkillers than is recommended for long-term use, said SFM Director of Medical Services, Ceil Jung, R.N., BSN, CCM.
Among a group of injured workers who were taking opioids in 2015, 87 percent have been weaned off completely, or are taking lower doses.
SFM sends letters to treating doctors of injured workers taking high doses of the drugs, and then works with injured workers and their doctors to provide weaning schedules that help them reduce or quit using the drugs over time.
While we’re happy with the success of these efforts, we’re not backing down. Rather, we’re now focused on making sure short-term use doesn’t evolve into long-term dependence on the drugs.
Opioids are generally recommended for short-term pain relief due to an injury or surgery.
They’re much more likely to become problematic when they are used for longer periods of time. When used long term, they can increase a patient’s sensitivity to pain, requiring higher doses for the same level of pain relief. This pattern can contribute to dependence.
“Our best chance of success is early intervention — not letting them get to 90 days of use,” Jung said.
To do this, our medical professionals monitor injured workers who are undergoing surgery. If three weeks after surgery they’re still taking opioid painkillers, she will send a letter to the treating doctor.
“Doctors have been very receptive and cooperative in helping get injured workers off opioid painkillers before an addiction can develop,” Jung said. “We’re thankful for increased awareness of the dangers of these drugs.”
Injured workers also receive copies of the letters we send to their doctors. This oftentimes spurs them to request that their doctors take them off these prescriptions.
A combination of public awareness, stiffer regulations and deliberate effort has helped us improve and perhaps even save lives. We take our responsibility to injured workers seriously, and will continue to work at preventing dependence and addiction.
“Opioid addiction can destroy lives and tear families apart,” Jung said. “If we can help free an individual from addiction or prevent one from ever taking root, that’s something we can really feel good about.”
By Mike Fetting, CSP
A burned ear drum. Just the thought makes you cringe, doesn’t it?
It’s as painful as it sounds, and it’s one of the injuries that can result when welding slag flies into your ear at high speed.
This can result in tinnitus, ear infections, balance problems and permanent hearing loss. It may require surgery.
These injuries can occur anytime someone is welding without ear protection, and the risk is especially high when a welder is working at an odd angle, such as underneath a wheel well.
Those who weld on the job suffer these types of injuries more often than you might think, but many don’t know to wear protection to avoid an accident.
The good news is it isn’t hard for welders to protect themselves from hot slag. To avoid a painful and sometimes lifelong injury:
Other resources:
By Beth Giebel, Esq.
Employers can be surprised and frustrated to learn that an employee who is injured while violating company safety rules can still receive workers’ compensation benefits.
This isn’t always the case.
In these situations, it is possible to deny liability for an injury on the basis of the “prohibited act” defense, but the employee’s injury must occur as a direct result of a violation of a clearly stated, and consistently enforced, prohibited act, policy or rule.
A Minnesota case illustrates the applicability of this defense.
In Smith v Metro Transit , the employee, a bus driver, was driving his route when a passenger wanted to get off at a non-designated stop. The employee did not feel it was safe, so declined to stop. At the next designated stop, the passenger spat in the employee’s face as he exited the bus. The employee then got off the bus and chased after the passenger. When the employee caught up with the passenger, the passenger shoved the employee, causing him to fall and injure his shoulder.
The employer, Metro Transit, had published a bus driver’s guide that established guidelines for bus drivers in terms of dealing with unruly passengers. Their bus drivers were instructed to “avoid physical confrontations wherever possible and were told to refrain from leaving the bus operator’s seat to settle disputes unless it was necessary to do so in self-defense.”
The employee had previously acknowledged these work rules and had been disciplined for violating them.
The compensation judge denied the employee’s claim and found that the injury occurred as a direct result of the employer’s prohibited act. The Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of compensation, and reviewed the six factors to consider in determining whether the prohibited act defense would disallow the employee’s claim:
Violations of standard safety procedures, such as failure to wear a hard hat or eye protection, do not typically bar compensation if an employee is injured while otherwise performing his or her authorized employment activity.
Failure to abide by safety policies and procedures may provide the basis for disciplinary action against the employee, but the presence or absence of safety equipment does not necessarily give rise to a prohibited act defense.
Depending on the laws in your state, failure to follow safety rules could result in decreased compensation.
For example, in Wisconsin, compensation is decreased by 15 percent if an injury is caused by the employee’s failure to use a safety device, provided in accordance with a statute or with a Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development administrative rule, if the device is adequately maintained and its use is reasonably enforced. Compensation is also reduced if the injury is caused by the employee’s failure to obey a reasonable safety rule adopted and enforced by the employer where notice is given.
Having policies that clearly articulate prohibited practices at the workplace can improve the safety and health of your employees, decrease costs and missed work days, help control your workers’ compensation premium and send a strong message that may warrant a denial of compensation for certain injuries.
But having a policy is just the first step. Be sure to:
This will help make your policy as effective as possible in preventing injuries among your employees.
This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.
If you cook often, you’ve probably been burned once or twice in your own kitchen. Now, imagine working in a kitchen where the pots are bigger, the heat is stronger and the pressure is higher. It’s easy to see why food service workers are at high risk for burns. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 6,910 workers in the accommodation and food services industry lost time from work in 2017 due to burns caused by heat.
Food service employees can get burned in a number of ways, including:
Follow these tips to prevent burns in restaurant and other kitchen environments:
This video from WorkSafeBC features food service workers talking about how they prevent burns and scalds:
This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.
Technology is rapidly changing. Have your company’s driving policies kept up?
If you have employees who drive as part of their jobs, your driving policy should address cell phone use. Drivers interacting with cell phones have a 17 percent higher risk of being involved in a crash or near crash, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety . Most of the increased risk is attributable to reaching for, answering or dialing a cell phone.
The risk of a crash or near crash is five times higher for drivers who are texting, according to the institute. There were 3,450 traffic fatalities in 2016 due to distraction-related crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration , and 42 percent of drivers admit to reading texts or emails while behind the wheel, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association .
Awareness of the connection between car crashes and cell phone use is increasing. Many states are starting to pass laws prohibiting certain kinds of cell phone use while driving.
Starting on August 1, 2019, the use of hand-held cell phones while driving is banned in Minnesota. Drivers are required to use a hands-free device or voice commands if they are using a cell phone. The only exceptions are to obtain emergency assistance, report emergencies, hazards or crimes and report that a person’s life or safety is in danger. Drivers in authorized emergency vehicles are also exempt while performing official duties.
SFM’s other core states also have cell phone laws, although they are all more lenient.
In Wisconsin, drivers with a probationary license or instruction permit are prohibited from using both hand-held and hands-free devices except in case of emergency. Wisconsin has also banned use of hand-held devices in construction zones, and all texting while driving is prohibited.
South Dakota also bans texting while driving, as well as hand-held cell phone use for drivers under 18.
Nebraska and Iowa have both banned texting while driving.
A total employer cell phone ban covers: handheld and hands-free devices, all employees, all company vehicles, all company cell phones and all work-related communication, even in a personal vehicle using a personal cell phone.
Here are a few examples of policies you can draw from to address employee cell phone use while driving:
Note that employers have been held liable for crashes caused by their employees’ cell phone use.
Distraction comes in different forms, according to the organization EndDD :
Research shows the cognitive distraction of talking or texting while driving is dangerous, even when drivers have both hands on the wheel. According to 2013 research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety , these mental distractions slow reaction times and cause drivers to miss important visual cues.
Research from the University of Iowa showed that subjects engaged in answering true and false questions, intended to mimic the distraction level of a phone conversation, took twice as long to look at new objects on the screen in front of them than those who were not engaged in answering questions.
This video from the National Safety Council highlights why a cell phone policy that covers hands-free devices is so important.
After your company has the right policies in place, it’s important to make sure employees follow them.
Our 5-minute solution safety training talk on cell phone use provides talking points you can share with your employees including:
Training employees on the dangers of distracted driving really does make a difference. A study of health care workers showed a 50 percent decrease in distracted driving following an awareness campaign.
For more information on safe driving, check out these downloadable resources:
This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.
Follow these tips from our resident safety super hero, Skip, to stay more aware of potential hazards in the workplace.
For resources to share the safety message with your employees, search SFM’s safety materials or visit the “Safety” section of our website for other great safety-related resources.
A workers’ compensation premium audit is a routine and regular process for every policy. In fact, SFM premium auditors complete more than 20,000 of them each year.
Here’s why premium audits are so important, and how to ensure yours goes smoothly, year after year.
The annual premium audit helps ensure you end up paying the right amount for your workers’ compensation coverage — not too little, or too much.
The premium you pay for your workers’ compensation coverage is initially an estimate, based on your expected payroll and job classifications. Once the policy period has ended, we audit your actual payroll and classifications to determine your final premium. As a result, you might receive a bill or reimbursement to make up the difference between the estimate and the final audited premium amount.
Depending on your organization’s characteristics, an auditor might visit to complete the premium audit, or you may be able to complete the premium audit online.
The records you’ll want to have on hand for your premium audit include:
Certain types of companies may have additional record requirements.
We’ve worked to make the premium audit process as simple as possible. In fact, in recent surveys, 92% of policyholders who had an onsite premium audit rated the experience a 4 out of 5 or higher. Sixty-six percent rated the premium audit experience a 5 out of 5.
Hear more premium audit basics in this short video featuring our Premium Audit Team Leader Ken Johnson:
Classifying subcontractors when it comes to workers’ compensation can be confusing.
Workers’ compensation regulations set by your state may define employees and independent contractors differently than the IRS or your state unemployment insurance department. Don’t assume that someone considered an independent contractor for tax purposes is automatically considered one for workers’ compensation purposes.
That’s why our premium auditors examine payments made to people performing labor outside of your payroll. Whenever you’re paying people for labor but they are not included in your workers’ compensation premium, our auditors need to verify that they meet the criteria as independent contractors as defined by your state’s laws.
If you need help determining whether a subcontractor is an independent contractor or employee, don’t hesitate to ask your agent for help. See our post “Are your workers independent contractors or employees?” for more details.
Because your workers’ compensation premium is initially an estimate, based on your expected payroll and job classifications, your audit results may surprise you if your actual payroll and classifications change significantly over the year.
Here are some tips to avoid unwanted surprises in your premium audit:
When you receive the auditor’s request to schedule your premium audit, don’t delay in starting the process.
Premium audit noncompliance could result in policy cancellation or a hefty charge of up to 200 percent of your estimated annual premium.
The premium audit noncompliance charge is a National Council on Compensation Insurance rule that has been in place on every policy since January 1, 2017. The Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Insurers Association and the Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau also adopted the rule.
Please respond to our attempts to complete the premium audit as soon as you can. If you have questions about the premium audit process, we’re here to help! Call your assigned premium auditor or our Premium Audit team at (800) 937-1181.
