Risk & Business Magazine Spectrum Insurance Magazine - Spring 2019 | Page 7

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COSTS
communicated to key participants, good
execution of that plan based on developed
competencies, and a culture that inspires
and rewards people to do their best.
When developing any business initiative,
there must be an emphasis on frontline
supervisors and helping them succeed.
Every good businessperson knows that any
new program—safety, quality, or anything
else—lives and dies with the frontline
supervisor. If the frontline supervisor
knows the program and wants to make it
happen, the program succeeds. If not, the
program is a source of constant struggle
and an endless drain on resources and
energies. Providing supervisors with
knowledge and skills through training is
critical to the success of any program.
A solid OSHA program integrated into
the daily operation and led by competent
supervisors is just the beginning. Successful
safety programs focus on being proactive
instead of always reacting to issues.
Accident investigations provide an excellent
source of information on real or potential
issues present in the workplace.
INVESTIGATE ALL INJURIES AND
ILLNESSES
Workers’ compensation is designed to
recompense employees for injuries or
illnesses they suffer in the course of their
employment. This should not come as a
surprise, but increasing numbers of claims
drive up workers’ compensation costs. To
reduce those costs, you must simply reduce
your accidents, and the ability to reduce
accidents is significantly enhanced when
those accidents are fully investigated
instead of simply being reported.
Accident reports are historical records only
citing facts, while accident investigations
go deeper to find the root cause and make
improvements. Businesses that stop rising
workers’ compensation costs have an
effective accident investigation process that
discovers the root cause of the problem.
Unless the root cause is discovered,
recommendations for improvement will
remain fruitless. Again, training proves
beneficial because a supervisor skilled in
incident analysis is a better problem solver
for all types of production-related issues,
not just safety.
ALL ACCIDENTS SHOULD
BE INVESTIGATED TO
FIND OUT WHAT WENT
WRONG AND WHY. SOME
PEOPLE MAY SUGGEST
INVESTIGATING EVERY
ACCIDENT IS A BIT OVER
THE TOP AND ONLY THOSE
ACCIDENTS THAT INCUR
SIGNIFICANT COSTS ARE
WORTHY OF SCRUTINY.
BUT ASK YOURSELF THIS
QUESTION: IF YOU ONLY
INVESTIGATED SERIOUS
QUALITY CONCERNS
INSTEAD OF EVERY LITTLE
DEVIATION, WOULD YOUR
QUALITY PROGRAM STILL
BE EFFECTIVE? COMPANIES
WITH SOLID QUALITY
PROGRAMS INVESTIGATE
AND RESOLVE EVERY
DEVIATION FROM
QUALITY STANDARDS. 1) Studies indicate there is a return on
investment and that companies see direct
bottom-line benefits with a properly
designed, implemented, and integrated
safety program.
If your emphasis is only on those incidents
that have to be recorded on the OSHA
300 log, you close your eyes to the
biggest accident category: first-aid-only
incidents. Many companies get upset about
recordables or lost-time accidents because
of the significant costs involved, but they
don’t realize that the small costs and high
numbers of first-aid-only incidents really
add up. 3) A competency-based safety program
lowers accidents, and fewer accidents
lower workers’ compensation costs. When
incidents do occur, a competency-based
safety program fully evaluates the issue and
finds the root cause to prevent reoccurrence
and provides a workplace that is free from
recognized hazards.
Statistics show that for every 100 accidents,
10 will be recordable and one will be a
lost-time incident. If you investigate only
recordables or lost-time accidents, 89
accidents go unnoticed. Would you call a
quality program that allows an 89 percent
failure rate successful? Reducing serious
accidents means you must reduce your
overall rate of all accidents—including
first-aid-only incidents. That only happens
when every incident is fully investigated to
find the root cause and remedial actions
are identified and integrated into daily
operations.
TRAINING AND AUDITING FOR
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
The final steps focus on training and on
auditing your program for continuous
improvement. Training plays a significant
role in safety and in reducing workers’
compensation costs. The goal of training
is to develop competent people who have
the knowledge, skill, and understanding
to perform assigned job responsibilities.
Competence, more than anything else, will
improve all aspects of your business and
drive down costs. Supervisors must have
the knowledge and ability to integrate every
safety program into their specific areas of
responsibility. Every employee must know
what is expected of them when it comes
to implementing safe work procedures.
Once the programs are developed and
implemented, they must be reviewed on
a regular basis to make sure they are still
relevant and effective.
This might require a significant change in
how you manage your safety program, but
if your workers’ compensation rates are
high, it may be time to make this leap.
TANGIBLE BENEFITS
2) A competency-based safety program is
compliant with OSHA requirements and
therefore reduces the threat of OSHA fines.
4) A safer workplace creates better
morale and improves employee retention.
Auditing keeps your programs fresh
and effective and drives continuous
improvement.
5) A competency-based program
produces people who are fully engaged
in every aspect of their job and who are
satisfied and fulfilled, producing high-
quality goods and services.
7