workers comp
February 6, 2024
OSHA Proposes to Issue a New Emergency Response Standard
On Feb. 5, 2024, OSHA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to issue a new safety and health standard, titled Emergency Response, to replace the existing Fire Brigades standard. The new standard would address a broader scope of emergency responders and include programmatic elements to protect emergency responders from various occupational hazards. OSHA requests...
January 23, 2024
Best Practices for Return-to-Work Programs
One of the biggest components of workers’ compensation is an effective return-to-work (RTW) program. Eliminating injuries and illnesses is paramount for reducing workers’ compensation costs, but after an incident, an RTW program can significantly reduce workers’ compensation costs for employers and improve the lives of employees by getting them back to work when there is...
January 11, 2024
California Will Require Employers to Develop Workplace Violence Prevention Programs
On Sept. 30, 2023, California adopted Senate Bill 553 (SB 553), a bill that requires employers to establish a workplace violence prevention plan (WVPP), document incidents of workplace violence and train employees on how to identify workplace violence hazards by July 1, 2024. Affected Employers SB 553 applies to California employers. State law defines “employer”...
December 13, 2023
2024 Workers’ Compensation Insurance Market Outlook
Market Outlook Profitable underwriting results have generated favorable conditions across the workers’ compensation insurance segment for nearly a decade. According to the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), the segment produced a combined ratio of 87 in 2022, demonstrating continued profitability. These conditions pressed on in 2023, but industry experts reported that reserve redundancies stemming...
December 7, 2023
OSHA Form 300A Posting Requirements Begin Feb. 1
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employers subject to its recordkeeping requirements to post copies of their OSHA Form 300A between Feb. 1 and April 30 of each year. The OSHA Form 300A, also known as the “Summary of Work-related Injuries and Illnesses,” must be completed by Feb. 1 using data from the...
November 20, 2023
Fostering a Culture of Workplace Safety
Fostering a strong safety culture provides many benefits. In addition to reducing the risk of workplace accidents, such a culture can also help improve employee morale, enhance a business’s reputation and minimize related costs and liabilities. This article explains what it means to have a strong safety culture, outlines associated benefits and provides strategies companies...
November 16, 2023
NLRB and OSHA Announce Partnership to Strengthen Worker Safety Protections
On Oct. 31, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding a partnership to strengthen worker safety protections. The partnership is designed to enhance protections for workers who speak out about health and safety conditions in the workplace or engage in a...
November 9, 2023
Employer-reported Nonfatal Workplace Injuries and Illnesses Up 7.5% From 2021
Private industry employers reported a 7.5% increase in nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2022 compared to 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The incidence rate of total recordable cases was 2.7 cases per 100 workers who are full-time equivalent (FTE). In 2022, the rate of injury cases remained at 2.3 cases...
October 26, 2023
Fall Protection Tops List of OSHA Citations for 2023
For the 13th consecutive year, lack of fall protection topped the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s preliminary top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety violations for fiscal year 2023. OSHA tallied 7,271 violations of its general fall protection requirements, according to the list released Tuesday at the National Safety Council’s Safety Congress & Expo....
October 16, 2023
NCCI Deconstructs Trends Around High-Cost Workers’ Comp Claims
There’s widespread interest in large claim trends for compelling reasons — they can be devastating for the injured worker and can have significant implications for carrier operations. Workplace injuries that result in large claims — e.g., exceeding $1 million in claim costs — form a small share of all lost-time claims, less than 0.5%. But they...