Did you know:
Jefferson founded the university in 1819 on land that once belonged to eventual President James Monroe. Jefferson is the only president to have ever founded an institution of higher learning.
After finishing his undergraduate degree in 2 years, James Madison stayed at the university for an additional year, making him the Ivy League institution’s first graduate student.
and
Polk, probably aware that many other politicians desired to run for the office, made an explicit campaign promise that if he was elected president, he would leave after 4 years, a promise that he kept.
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What’s your company’s “brand?” Whether you’ve had one developed professionally or simply let it happen, experts all agree that you definitely have a brand.
Call it “image” or “reputation,” but it’s there — and it goes far beyond advertising and marketing. At its core lies the emotional connection your products or services make in the minds of your customers or prospects: Either terrific or toxic. The question is whether your brand is enhancing or detracting from your success.
A crucial attribute for any business is trust, based on an ethical approach to every relationship and transaction. Is your brand trusted? Ask your customers and prospects what your brand says to them.
We’d also like to ask what our brand means to you. We want nothing less than to be your trusted advisor. Let our professionals take your concerns about protection and insurance issues off your plate, so that you can focus on building your brand into a valued enhancement to the future of your business.
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Few business owners have happy thoughts when they think of the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA). The first thought is usually of red tape and obsolete regulations instead of the possible benefits from taking advantage of the services offered by OSHA to reduce workplace illness, injury, and fatality. There are three very obvious ways in which any effort to mitigate losses from workplace illness, injury, and fatality can help a business:
- It helps to ensure minimal day-to-day work-flow disruption.
- It helps to boost employee morale.
- It helps to manage liability insurance costs, including that of Workers Compensation claims.
OSHA helps in these areas through an array of education, outreach, and compliance assistance programs. For example, OSHA offers a variety of training materials and guidelines that can help workers and employers to understand and comply with safety standards. These may be obtained online, on CD-ROM, and in print. There’s also a 24-hour toll free number that employers can call for assistance on workplace safety issues. For small business owners that need onsite help to identify and correct possible workplace hazards and/or establish health or safety programs, OSHA offers free workplace consultations among its many other services.
Through cooperative programs, like the Alliance Program, OSHA works directly with entities such as educational institutions, businesses, trade organizations, and labor organizations. Certain industries, such as food processing, shipbuilding, and construction, are specifically targeted through OSHA’s Strategic Partnership Program.
The Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) are considered the superstars of the OSHA cooperative programs. One of these programs is called the Star Program. It’s designed for businesses that have shown an exemplary workplace (injury and illness rates below the national average for their industry) through successful and comprehensive health management and safety programs. Businesses in this program will undergo a review and onsite investigation of their health and safety programs, a review of past inspections, an onsite condition assessment, and have their management team and employees interviewed. Incident rates are reviewed yearly and overall reevaluation takes place every three to five years to ensure that Star participants still meet the program requirements. The Merit Program is another voluntary protection program. It’s a stepping stone of sorts to the Star Program and is for those with good health and safety programs. These businesses have areas needing improvement, but demonstrate the potential for excellence.
Involuntary inspections are an even large part of OSHA’s preventative measures. Many are the direct result of a workplace injury or death report or complaint. In fact, of the 37,000 involuntary inspections OSHA conducted in 2002, around 9,000 stemmed from an accident report or complaint. These inspections resulted in almost 80,000 violations and $73 million dollars worth of penalties, $11.8 million of which was from the most serious violation category, the willful violation. The average OSHA fine was $28,000 and the most often inspected industries were manufacturing and construction.
Since its 1971 start, OSHA has proven itself a successful branch of the Department of Labor. Despite heavy employment growth overall, through OSHA inspection, education, outreach, and enforcement, workplace illnesses have decreased by more than 40% and deaths have decreased by more than 50%. Even though many small businesses, especially those not in frequently-targeted industries, aren’t highly concerned with OSHA compliance and regulatory monitoring, OSHA can still be a valuable asset when it comes to occupational safety and health and risk management.
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Unfortunately, there are all too many bullies in the workplace — and, all too often, their abusive behavior has led to violent, even fatal, employee rampages that have made the headlines. It makes sense for business owners and managers to deal with on-the-job bullying before it escalates into a potentially deadly situation.
Recognizing a bully in the workplace can be difficult. These people often have “Jekyll and Hyde” personalities: They can be extremely charming, polite, and respectful in public. However, as a rule, bullies: 1) don’t believe in following the rules of society; 2) crave negative attention; 3) try to put others down by manipulating and degrading them in front of their peers; 4) seek power; and 5) spread untrue rumors in the workplace, disrespect their victims, and refuse to listen to them.
Because there are no federal or state laws against workplace bullying, it might be hard to fire a bully right away. However, there are ways to deal with this problem.
Institute a zero-tolerance policy toward bullying. Your employee handbook and codes of conduct should set a clear definition of the consequences and punishment for bullying, with a specific list of actions for dealing with it.
Enforce the policy. When it’s time to discipline a bully, sit down with the accused person, their supervisor, and someone from your human resources department. If the bully offers to apologize and promises never to repeat the behavior, you might settle the matter by writing a letter of reprimand to be kept in their personnel file. You might also put the employee on probation, with close supervision by their supervisor, and let them know that any further bullying will result in termination.
If you’d like advice on creating and implementing an anti-bullying policy for your workplace, just give us a call.
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A lot of companies say “Safety is our Number One priority.” However, when the chips are down and production needs to increase, safety might suddenly become Number Two.
In an effective workplace health and safety program, the employer places a high priority on a safe workplace, employees participate willingly in keeping themselves safe on the job — and the company’s Workers Comp premiums stay low!
To develop and maintain safety as a “core value” among your employees, we’d recommend following these guidelines:
- Encourage employees to think about safety 24/7.
- Talk about safety all the time.
- Make sure employees work safely. This job falls largely to your supervisors, who need to have good safety attitudes. You and your staff should keep checking up, monitoring performance, and being visible.
- Encourage employee participation, suggestions, questions, and even complaints about unsafe conditions.
- Set an example. If workers see you and your safety staff wearing PPE, following rules, eliminating hazards, and investigating incidents, they’ll follow your lead in taking safety seriously.
- Provide positive feedback for safe performance and attitudes. People love recognition and praise for doing the right thing.
- Correct reported safety hazards immediately. Nothing shows that you have a good safety attitude more than demonstrating that you care and are looking out for your workers.
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Industry experts expect a 13% average hike in Workers Compensation premiums in 2013, driven by a variety of reasons, from widespread fraud to the growth of lawsuits for work-related injuries.
One factor in these increases: Higher medical expenses for treatment of obese workers for the “co-morbid” ailments (such as diabetes and heart attacks) that stem from their expanding waistlines. A 2007 Duke University Medical School study found that overweight workers file more Comp claims, have higher medical costs, and miss more workdays due to job-related injuries than do their non-obese counterparts.
A recent nationwide study of insurers doing business in 40 states confirms this conclusion. The survey by NCCI Holdings, Inc. found that the length of Workers Comp indemnity benefits paid to the most severely obese workers is more than five times greaterthan that of non-obese workers who file comparable claims. When the study included the duration of permanent partial disability, the multiple climbed to more than six to one.
This relationship between worker obesity and Workers Comp costs reinforces the need for employers to offer their workers weight management programs. In addition to keeping these costs under control, these plans will help to reduce absenteeism and increase workplace productivity — not to mention help employees get, and remain, healthy. What’s not to like?
Our agency’s Workers Comp professionals stand ready to help you develop and implement a weight reduction program for your employees. Feel free to get in touch with us at any time.
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