R&R Insurance Blog

A loading dock worker was loading drywall onto a flatbed truck when a forklift being operated by a co-worker surged forward, fatally pinning him against the truck.

At another workplace, a textile plant supervisor was operating a forklift truck when another forklift fell from a loading dock, causing the supervisor's forklift to flip over. He was crushed under the roll cage and died.

And elsewhere, a warehouse worker died after he was crushed between a reversing semi-trailer and a loading dock. Investigators believe that he was likely paying more attention to the contents of the trailer than to where he was standing.

Loading docks are busy places where machine operators and truck drivers must perform a delicate dance around workers on foot. Along with being congested, loading docks may also be poorly lit, slippery, cramped, crowded with debris, riddled with blind spots and crisscrossed with ramps, stairways and uneven surfaces.

Here are just 5 of the possible hazards:

1. Slips, trips and falls;
2. The possibility of workers on foot being struck by vehicles;
3. Being crushed by unstable loads that shift suddenly;
4. The possibility of a forklift driving over the edge of the dock and having it or its load land on workers below; and
5. The possibility of a trailer whose wheels aren't properly chocked creeping forward or backward into workers.

Loading docks are a hub of activity. Workers need to be trained on how they can protect themselves. If you would like to know more about how R&R is helping keep its clients more safe in this particular area, please contact a knowledge broker.

“Jamie, on behalf of New Berlin Grading, Inc., thank you for the service you and R&R Insurance have given our account. Through your professional and personal attention to our needs and challenges we have been able to lower our EMR from a .99 to a .65. We attribute this success to the direct efforts of you and the resource team.”

Dennis Schmit
New Berlin Grading, Inc.

Like many young companies in the construction industry Squared Away Builders, Inc. concentrated on working hard, staying busy and taking care of their customers. This left little or no time to manage other things like workman’s compensation insurance premiums. In the case of Squared Away, learning how to manage workers compensation insurance was one key to lowering costs, making the company more safe and enabling the company to become proactive instead of reactive when it came to workman’s comp.

A feeling of helplessness…
“When it came to work comp there was an inherent feeling of helplessness” says Brett Wittig, President of Squared Away Builders, Inc. “As a small business you try to do the best you can managing your employees while managing your business for profit at the same time and when the WC premium rolled around it felt like a slap in the face. We had been working hard all year, concentrating on the basics of running a business and it felt like we were helpless and couldn’t do anything about this large premium.”

We didn’t know what was coming…

“After our third year in business, we knew our modifier was 1.71 but we had no idea where this number came from, how it was determined or how it affected our premiums directly. We did know however after three years of large premiums that we had to do something to lower our costs if we wanted to stay competitive.”

The search for knowledge…
“Frustrated about work comp but still trying to concentrate on making a profit and taking care of our employees Bill Katzfey caught our attention. His philosophy of creating a knowledge based culture change in our organization in order to help manage work comp costs was something that Squared Away needed. What’s more important was that Bill was able to give us the knowledge, specifically in regards to the construction industry, which we needed as a company in order to make that culture change. R&R Insurance Services has given us and continues to give us a solid understanding of what it truly costs to have an injured worker”, states Dan Wittig, Operations Manager.

The difference it has made…
“We have had the program we designed with the knowledge and techniques provided by R&R for three years now and we finally are seeing the benefits. We have used the premium savings to invest in our employees and in the future of our company. There is no doubt in my mind that we would not be in the position we are in today without the help and knowledge of R&R Insurance Services has provided us.”

“Since 2001 we have been applying the concepts that R&R teaches in their WC seminar. It took a lot of hard work, consistent communication of a solid message and a little patience.”

Brett & Dan Wittig
Squared Away Builders

“The insurance team at R&R insurance helped me to put in place a safety program that will reduce my Workers’ Comp premium by $30,000 in the coming policy year. R&R tracks our claims and their accuracy. They found additional savings of $14,000 this policy year… R&R Insurance is a necessary tool for Merit Asphalt Inc.”

Bob Pederson
Merit Asphalt, Inc.

"R&R Insurance Services has provided insurance coverage to us for many years. Brad Stehno and Nancy McMurry are both knowledgeable and professional. They have been very helpful in updating our Safety Program and providing help with our Safety Meetings. We have implemented a return-to-work program with their help and have seen the results of employees returning to work sooner and lowering Workman’s Compensation costs. Our Experience Modification has also continued to go down since we have been with R&R. We appreciate their availability when we have questions or concerns. Working with Brad and Nancy has been a great experience.”

Larry Schlueter
D.F. Tomasini

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has rolled out its new program, the Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) to identify employers with repeated, serious citations, and intend to subject them to increased, multi-worksite inspections and higher penalties.

According to OSHA, the SVEP will “focus increased enforcement attention on significant hazards and violations” by concentrating on employers that have demonstrated “indifference” to workplace safety obligations through willful, repeated, or failure-to abate-violations in four areas:

1. Fatality or catastrophe situations;
2. Industries that expose employee to the most severe hazards–among the “high-emphasis hazards” covered by the SVEP are falls, amputations, crystalline silica combustible dust, lead, and excavation and trenching;
3. Industries that expose employees to the potential release of highly hazardous chemicals;
4. Egregious enforcement actions.

Once an employer is selected for the SVEP, OSHA will undertake a number of enforcement steps including enhanced follow-up inspections, as well as inspections at other worksites of that same employer—potentially on a nationwide basis. The program includes new features that will allow OSHA to conduct more aggressive multi-worksite inspections against those employers that fall within the program, as well as a nationwide referral program and closer coordination with states having OSHA state plans.

"Higher penalties and more aggressive, targeted enforcement will provide a greater deterrent and further encourage these employers to furnish safe and healthy workplaces for their employees," said DR. David Michaels, OSHA Assistant Secretary of Labor.

In addition, the agency will be increasing civil penalty amounts under SVEP. OSHA said that companies can expect average penalty for a serious violation to increase from about $1,000 to an average $3,000 to $4,000. Future penalty increases would also be tied to inflation.

"Better to be safe than sorry." This is normally a good philosophy to live by. But when it comes to filling out your company OSHA 300 log, this is one time where that rule can cost you.

Unfortunately, many of the people assigned to fill out the OSHA 300 log on behalf of their company haven't been the beneficiaries of any formal training. The OSHA log may have been thrown on their desk and because of that, they operate by the philosophy that if I send it into workers' compensation, then I'm going to also put it on the OSHA 300 log. This can result in over recording and inflated incident and severity rates - which could have serious consequences for your business!

The incident rate and severity rate (or DART rate) are two formulas that OSHA uses to measure workplace safety. Safety professionals will use these numbers as a benchmarking tool to compare accident rates for companies nationwide in the same industry – regardless of company size. These rates are an equalizer of companies of all different sizes because it's based on total hours worked in the company.

Incident rates are determined by taking the number of OSHA recordables (taken from the 300 log at the end of the year) multiplied by 200,000 divided by the total number of hours worked in your company - both by employees and temporary employees.

The DART Rate, which is an acronym for Days Away or Restricted Time, is a measure of accident severity. It counts the number of cases in the calendar year in which a company had an employee away from work due to an injury or who was working under restrictions due to a work injury.

Knowing the above information, let's take a look at a real-world example of a company who was operating with the "better safe than sorry" mentality and how it could have affected their chance to bid on a new piece of business.

CASE STUDY:

We received a phone call from a painting contractor who needed our help because they had to calculate their incident rate in order to bid on a job - it was a requirement of the bid.

In looking at their OSHA 300 log, this painting contractor had 8 incidents recorded in the calendar year. The problem was that they had only worked 90,000 hours that year. Using the formula explained above, we calculated their incident rate at 17.8. This rate was 4 times the national average for painting contractors. For companies or general contractors looking to hire this painter, this is a serious red flag and could likely be a deciding factor in determining if they get the work.

Based on years of experience, our first thought was that they didn't complete the OSHA 300 log properly.

We sat down with this contractor and went through each of the 8 cases on their OSHA log in detail. It turns out that in 3 of those 8 cases, the people never even went to the doctor - which means it shouldn't be on the 300 log. We also noticed a few other inaccuracies. So, when finished, there were only 2 legitimate injuries that should have been entered on the OSHA 300 log. We made the necessary corrections and recalculated their incident rate to be a legitimate 4.44 - which compares very well with the national average of 4.0 for painting contractors.

This new incident rate is something a potential customer or general contractor would feel much more comfortable with, as opposed to the incident rate of 17.8, which would be alarming.

If you're over reporting on your OSHA 300 log, your company can end up with excessively high frequency and severity rates, which can draw the wrong kind of attention. Typically, if OSHA sees a company with a high incident rate, they would be concerned that the company is not controlling the work place. They, along with potential customers, see it as an out-of-control injury situation.

Do you know if your OSHA 300 log is filled out correctly? Are you over recording? What you don't know could be costing you.

Contact us today to set up an appointment and learn how our risk management and loss control experts can help you. If you're interested in learning more about the OSHA 300 log, consider attending one of our OSHA 300 Webinars.

There is often confusion over the similarities between the policy for Pension and Welfare Fund Fiduciary Responsibility Insurance and the Employee Benefits Liability (EBL) endorsement for the Commercial General Liability Coverage portion. Although some coverage duplication exists in the area of administrative errors and omissions, the thrust of the two forms is different.

The EBL endorsement was designed primarily to provide coverage for administrative errors and omissions for a large variety of benefit plans. The Fiduciary policy form was designed to cover ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) exposures of fiduciaries for specifically designated plans to the extent that they are caused by a “wrongful act”. Fiduciary Liability vs. Employee Benefits Liability Tip Sheet.

Here's a common question we get; “I am supplied a car by my employer and am permitted to use it for both work and pleasure. My employer told me that I need to get my own insurance to cover me when I use the car off duty. How can I do that under my personal auto policy?”

The answer: The Personal Auto Policy has an exclusion that states that there is no coverage for the use on a vehicle furnished or available for your regular use. Thus, when driving the employer-owned company vehicle there is no coverage under his personal auto policy. This would be the same if the spouse or another family member used the company vehicle. This is a little known gap in all personal auto coverage, but a very common situation.

Normally, the policy written in the name of the business would protect the employee, but in this case the employer told the employee he was not protected off duty. This being the case this person has a huge gap in coverage.

The answer is to add an endorsement to the personal auto policy referred to as the Extended Non-Owned Coverage for Named Individuals to the personal auto policy. Each person in the family should be named in the endorsement if there is any chance they would drive the company vehicle.

This endorsement will fix the gap in coverage when an employee is furnished an auto for this regular use (or even has one available for his regular use out of a pool of vehicles). But note this is only for Liability coverage and there is not going to be any physical damage coverage for the vehicle.

If the company won’t add the extended non owned endorsement (or a similar one) to the personal auto policy or can't add it, the next option would be to buy a Named Non Owned policy to fill the gap in coverage. In effect, this accomplishes the same thing as the Extended Non Owned Coverage for a Named Individual but may be more expensive.

There are other examples when you would want to add the Extended Non Owned Coverage for a Named Individual. For example your neighbor might have an extra vehicle that they allow you to use whenever you need it, or a student in college who has the use of a room mate’s vehicle.

Here is another scenario: You don’t own a vehicle and don’t have a personal auto policy, but you do have a company vehicle to use. You then borrow someone’s auto and have an accident. There is no coverage under your company car policy. Here are the two solutions to fix that gap in coverage. #1 have the company amend their commercial auto policy to add the Drive Other Car Coverage endorsement or buy a Named Non Owner policy for yourself.

There are some other reasons that someone who has a company vehicle would want to add the Extended Non Owner Coverage for a Named Individual onto their auto policy even when the business auto policy extends protection to the employee, and that is that the limit of liability must be shared with the named insured (the employer). Or, the employee may not feel comfortable with the liability limit on the business auto policy, or may not have faith that the company will keep the coverage in force or keep the liability coverage at the same level. Many times the employee who has this company vehicle isn’t in any type of a position where they would even know if the company policy would cover them.

Another sound reason for any employee who drives a company owned pickup, van or larger truck on the job to have Extended Non Owned protection is that fellow-employee suits are becoming more common. This is, an increasing number of courts are allowing one employee to sue another (at fault) employee for injuries sustained in the course of employment. The employee’s personal auto policy excludes business use of a truck and the employer’s policy excludes bodily injury to a fellow employee. Thus, the employee is left without protection under either policy. The simplest way of coverage for this exposure is endorsing the employee’s policy with extended non owned coverage.

These are all great reasons why having the advice of a good, professional independent insurance agent can be invaluable!

The OSHA 300 log, formally known as the "Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses", is used to classify work-related injuries and illnesses and to note the extent and severity of each case. The log itself is really a listing of employee injuries, and any contract or temporary employee injuries that happened during that calendar year. So, if you have temps working for you and they are injured at your work place, you are required to put that on your OSHA 300 Log.

The OSHA log differs from workers' compensation loss runs in that the OSHA log goes on a calendar year basis. Your work comp policy may go from July 1st to July 1st, but the OSHA log is always on a calendar-year basis.

If everybody has Workers' Compensation Loss Runs why do we have to do OSHA record keeping?

The short answer: Because OSHA says so.

The long answer: OSHA wanted a consistent way to track and measure injury rates throughout the country for various industries - the OSHA log allows them to do that. OSHA wants to capture the injury data from all the different companies in the U.S. They don't simply rely on workers' compensation records because workers' compensation laws vary from state to state and there can be differences in the individual laws - what's considered an injury, how much is paid, etc. But, with OSHA record keeping, it's supposed to be consistent from state to state across America. This is important because it allows OSHA to look at a company in Georgia and very directly compare it to a company in California, as far as injury rates are concerned.

What must be put on the OSHA 300 log?

Cases must be logged on the OSHA 300 Log if:

• There is a death
• Days away from work
• Job transfer or restriction
• Loss of consciousness
• Other recordable case

Most of these are easy to make a determination on. The one that is open for a lot of debate is the "other recordable case." We can tell you from experience, that if a company is skimping or putting too much on their OSHA 300 log, most of the time it's due to the "other recordable case" and how a company decides to interpret some of those standards that OSHA has set for this category.

It's important to know which companies are required to fill out the OSHA 300 log, what you should be putting on your log and why putting too much on your log can really hurt you. We will discuss all of these issues in upcoming blog posts. Be sure to check back frequently, or subscribe to our RSS Feed to automatically be updated on when new articles are published.

OSHA 300 Log Free Webinar:

December 14, 2010
January 20, 2011