PREVENTING WORKPLACE ACCIDENTS: A How-to Approach

Provided by : Jaeger & Flynn Assoc., Inc.

2008, 2010 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved.

Good loss control blends both the theoretical potential for loss reduction, and the practical application of loss control techniques with the customers corporate culture, operations and future plans in mind.

Program Objectives
Learn how to place safety next to production at the top of the priority list. Evaluate the impact of corporate/safety culture on safety program effectiveness. Identify the elements of an effective safety program. Develop a list of ideas for improving your companys safety program. Identify a strategy for selling change and getting more support for the safety effort.

Safety as a Priority
To make safety a top priority in your company, you must
Remove subjectivityUse objective tools to quantify savings when implementing a safety program. Make safety an enterprise value, not just a cost center. Compete successfully for limited budget dollars. Change employee health and safety from reactive to proactive.

Take safety out of the back room and put it in the boardroom.

Safety as a Priority
Safety Professional/Facilitator Skills:
People-oriented skills Management and business skills Language skills Flexibility for change Improved technical skills

Safety as a Priority

Past Business Model:

Hierarchy Equates capital with power National boundaries restrict business initiatives and relationships Focus tasks around individual

Present Business Model:

Flatters organization Equates knowledge with power Global marketplace Focus tasks around team

Safety as a PriorityInjury Statistics

According to OSHA
On the downside: 75% of OSHA citations classified as serious, repeat, or willful. 50 workers are injured every minute. 14 workers die each day. 4.2 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses reported in 2008.

On the up side, with increased safety prevention programs: Fatality statistics reduced by 50% since 1970. Injury and illness rates reduced by 40% while employment doubled (56/111 million), and the number of worksites has doubled (3.5/7 million). Overall fatal work injury rate was lower in 2009 than the rate for any year since the fatality census in 1992.

Safety as a PriorityOSHA
Each employer:

General Duty Clause

Shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees; Shall comply with occupational safety and health standards promulgated under this Act.

Each Employee:
Shall comply with occupational safety and health standards and all rules, regulations, and orders issued pursuant to this Act which are applicable to his own actions and conduct.

Safety as a PriorityOSHA Multi-Employer

Citation Policy On multi-employer worksites (in all industry sectors):
More than one employer may be cited for a hazardous condition that violates an OSHA standard. A twostep process must be followed in determining whether more than one employer is to be cited.

Safety as a PriorityInjury Statistics

Time to Reflect
What are your companys injury stats? How many people in your company know your injury stats? Do you have improvement goals? How many know what your goals are?

Safety Culture
Why prevent workplace accidents?
The Heinrich Accident Model of 1931
Accidents are similar to a set of dominoes in which one action initiated a sequence of actions. The falling dominoes represent the failure to prepare for and prevent accidents and those that remain standing do so only because of default. Heinrich explained that the dominoes would eventually fall because they are a consequence of one specific event. In this case, the consequence is not creating a safety culture designed to prevent accidents.

DuPont Accident Theory

Accidents are preventable when the responsibility for actions are assigned to a specific individual or group and that entity is made accountable for his/her/their actions. Accident losses and costs can be reduced if someone is made accountable.

Safety Culture
Traditional Approach:
Engineering Education Enforcement

Comprehensive Approach:
Awareness through education Compliance through enforcement Engineering Creating a safety culture Safety management Behavior modification

Safety Enforcement Example:

Require employees to wear safety goggles while doing all tasks on the plant floor.

Elements of a Safety Program

Critique your current precautions by grading preventative measures from A through F. Conduct a safety audit of all preventative measures and see how they measure up to current OSHA safety recommendations.

Elements of a Safety Program

Simmons Method:
Calculate a representative number of incidents for:
Dispensary cases only Medical Treatment Lost Time

Determine the average for each incident type. Use this average (for the case type) to determine uninsured costs.

Elements of a Safety Program

Experience Mod Factor:
Comparison of actual losses to expected losses. Benchmark Tool in which 1.00 is average. Lower than 1.00 is better than average. Higher than 1.00 is worse than average. Measure dollars, not number of claims. Based on a rolling three years. Used as a multiplier for premium calculation.

Elements of a Safety Program

TYPE OF INSURANCE
Compensation Benefits Employers Liability Bodily Injury By Accident Each Accident Bodily Injury By Disease Policy Limit Bodily Injury By Disease Each Employee
CODE
2812 7380 8810

LIMIT
Statutory $100,000 $500,000 $100,000

CLASSIFICATION
Cabinet Workers Drivers Clerical

PAYROLL
$3,100,000 $175.00 $800,000

RATE
4.98 5.17 0.25

PREMIUM
$154,380 $9,048 $2,000 $165,428 $191,896 ($16,503)

Estimated Manual Premium Estimated Standard Premium (Based on 1.16 Exp Mod) Estimated Premium Discount Expense Constant ESTIMATED ANNUAL PREMIUM

$210
$175,603

Elements of a Safety Program

Loss Sensitivity Analysis
MEDICAL & INDEMNITY CLAIMS A
ACTUAL INCURRED LOSS

MEDICAL ONLY CLAIMS C

ACTUAL INCURRED LOSS, LESS 70%

B
3 YR. PREMIUM

D
3 YR. PREMIUM COST

E
SAVINGS Column B less Column D

$500

$1,135

$500 x .70 = $150 $1,000 x .70 = $300 $2,000 x .70 = $600

$378

($757)

$1,000

$2,334

$693

($1,641)

$2,000

$4,605

$1,389

($3,216)

Elements of a Safety Program

Workers Compensation Pricing Programs:
Guaranteed Cost Flat/Level Dividend Sliding Scale/Variable Dividend Retrospective (Retro) Plan Self-Insured Deductibles

Elements of a Safety Program

OSHAs Draft Proposed Rule: 29 CFR 1900.1 The purpose of this rule is to reduce the number of jobrelated fatalities, illnesses and injuries. The rule will accomplish this by requiring employers to establish a workplace safety and health program to ensure compliance with OSHA standards and the General Duty Clause of the Act (Section 5(a)(1)). This rule applies to hazards covered by the General Duty Clause and by OSHA standards.

Ideas for Improvement

Develop a list of ideas for improving your companys safety effort.

Selling Strategies
Identify a strategy for selling change internally and getting more support for the safety effort.