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It’s far less painful to prevent job-related injuries than to treat
them. Although many factors contribute to rising workers compensation
costs, the best solutions are in the workplace. By setting up and
following an effective loss prevention program, your company will benefit
in many ways:
- Loss prevention is the most direct way you can control your
insurance premium.
- Fewer accidents and injuries mean less disruption to your
business.
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- Lower insurance premiums contribute to profit margins and enable
you to be more competitive, especially when submitting bids.
- A safety and loss prevention program shows your employees you’re
concerned about their welfare.
Please take the time to read the following tips on developing
an effective loss prevention program: |
Adopt a safety attitude
Identify safety hazards
Establish and enforce safety standards
Set up a health and safety committee
Establish a recordkeeping system for all
job-related injuries
Form first aid and emergency response teams
Educate employees about safety
Provide informational literature
Adopt a safety attitude
“Think safety to work safely” sounds trite, but it’s true. The
safety mindset should start at the top; senior management must actively
demonstrate its commitment to safety in each and every company activity.
Supervisors are the key to ensuring that employees do their jobs safely.
Identify safety hazards
Before you can set safety standards for your company, you need to
know what your hazards are. Start your loss prevention efforts by reviewing
your past losses to identify any trends, then survey your premises for
conditions that might cause injuries.
During your inspection, remember to identify hazards that may exist
in work area design and layout.
Equipment and machinery may pose dangers even to veteran employees.
Scrutinize work procedures and work habits.
Harleysville's risk control representatives can help you identify
potentially dangerous situations. They’ve surveyed thousands of small
and mid-sized businesses; they can often spot “accidents waiting to
happen” that you may not see.
When identifying your hazards, you should look for areas that might
contribute to these leading causes of workers compensation losses:
- Repetitive motion injuries
- Exertion-related sprains and strains
- Slips, trips and falls
- Work-related stress
After you’ve identified your exposures, take steps to reduce or
eliminate as many as you can. Inspect your premises weekly or monthly to
spot additional problems that may develop. Report deficiencies in
writing to the at-fault departments, using a form that allows you to
quickly note hazards with a simple check mark. Then, look ahead by
setting up safety standards that cover all aspects of your operations.
Establish and enforce safety
standards
Based on the nature and size of your business, you should:
- Establish clear-cut standards for footwear, eyewear and
equipment usage.
- Comply with all federal, state and local safety codes and
regulations that apply to your business.
- If your employees travel on business, make it a company
policy that drivers wear safety belts at all times.
- Provide defensive driver training to all operators of
company vehicles.
- Consider implementing an effective drug-free workplace
program.
- Have written safety procedures for each job activity on
file.
- Review your safety procedures regularly and keep them
up-to-date. In addition, we recommend preparing a safety manual spelling
out the managers’ and employees’ safety responsibilities; we’ll be
happy to help you.
- Develop a written company policy that requires your
employees to report any job-related injury to their supervisor as soon
as is practical, but no later than within 24 hours. (Since the Workers
Compensation Act does not provide you with any controls in this area,
you should consider a policy that provides for disciplinary action when
a violation occurs.)
Set up a health and safety
committee
Start by appointing a chairperson with the rank and authority to see
that safety policies are carried out. Be sure to include managerial and
non-managerial employees.
Depending on your business, your committee may have one or more of
these responsibilities:
- Approving safety procedures and policies.
- Investigating job-related injuries.
- Charting the injury trends and taking steps to prevent
recurrences. You may want to chart injuries by department, location,
shift, age, unsafe acts or conditions and nature of injuries.
- Setting and publicizing safety standards.
- Determining safety requirements covering company purchases
and subcontracts.
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Safety committees assist supervisors in the investigation and review
of accidents and often help develop control options to correct hazardous
conditions.
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Establish a recordkeeping
system for all job-related injuries
Faulty recordkeeping is the number one OSHA violation in terms of the
number of citations issued. Safety records should provide:
- Documentation of a company’s safety efforts.
- Evidence of management’s commitment to safety, quality,
and the well-being of its employees.
- The basis of a claims defense against legal liability and
negligence—no records = no defense = guilt and responsibility.
OSHA has
recordkeeping standards that apply to most employers in this country. A
Harleysville risk control representative can assist with training
and support in the development of an effective recordkeeping program.
Form first aid and emergency
response teams
Emergency planning is key to determining potential catastrophes.
Designate certain individuals to identify disasters and the appropriate
emergency response. Duties should include:
- Contacting the fire department/rescue squad.
- Shutting down vital equipment.
- Taking steps to prevent further injury and/or property
damage.
At a minimum, an on-site employee should be certified in
administering first aid and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Post
emergency phone numbers. Provide fire extinguishers and train employees
to use them properly.
Educate employees about safety
Let new employees know you’re serious about their safety from
“day one.”
General safety training should be scheduled automatically for all new
employees. New employees should also receive detailed job-safety
training in their department.
Have new employees sign a statement that they have received safety
training and understand their roles.
Employees preparing for supervisory positions should receive
additional training on equipment that will become a part of their
responsibilities, as well as on first aid, firefighting, recordkeeping
and any other job safety issues.
Remind all employees how important it is to report job-related
injuries immediately.
Provide informational
literature
Distribute booklets, newsletters, posters and signs reminding
employees to take safety seriously. We will be glad to help you prepare
and present safety information to your employees. Please contact
Harleysville risk control at 800.523.6344, ext. 8100.
Questions?
Contact your independent Harleysville agent with
questions about any of the information provided in this section—or in
other parts of our claims site. Don’t know the name of your company’s agent? Call Harleysville’s
customer support staff at 866.577.9040.
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