Create a Zero-Accident Construction Culture

Key steps to reduce your workers’ comp claims.

The construction industry has to deal with thin margins, regardless of economic conditions, and the last several years have tested even the most successful performers.

Workers’ compensation insurance, in particular, can be a significant expense on your balance sheet. Even successful contractors who comply with OSHA guidelines work with their insurance carriers and have written safety programs still experience losses.

Key components of a safety culture (set by the senior management team) include a written safety program and daily safety measures, such as using personal protective equipment appropriately. Once you have these basics in place, you can take additional proactive measures to reduce your workers’ comp claims.

Hiring Practices

Using a consistent formal hiring protocol for all new hires will help you avoid accidents. Before hiring long- or short-term workers, you must have a screening process that includes a formal application, comprehensive background checks and drug testing. Also, invest in physicals and practical job testing.

We have even seen customers reduce losses substantially by using temporary labor contractors for short-term unskilled positions, never exposing their workers’ compensation policy to losses.

Safety Culture

Once you have new employees on board, integrate them into your safety culture. Your employee handbook should establish the rules of the workplace, and you must have a supervisor responsible for training and monitoring compliance.

Most companies actively drive their safety culture and eliminate hazards through traditional safety techniques including inspections, safety committees, training and accident investigations. After implementing these processes, many companies still wonder why they experience accidents.

These traditional safety techniques encourage your employees to exhibit a positive safety behavior. However, some workers will still not follow safety practices. Workforce safety management is critical to a company’s safety program that many companies do not address. Processes specific to certain individuals need to be implemented.

Overconfidence, burnout (a “just get it done” mentality), motor skills and learning rate ability, spatial disorientation and misconception of conditions can all lead to injuries that must be managed one employee at a time. Safety committees, inspections and similar safety techniques do not address these preconditions for unsafe acts.

Claims Management

The nature of the construction industry requires many firms to face layoffs due to seasonality and temporary projects. These employment disruptions can lead to increased claim activity.

All compensable claims should be handled quickly and efficiently while minimizing the opportunity for fraudulent or retaliatory claims.

Examples of claims management include a daily sign-out log indicating an employee has worked a safe day or instructing an injured employee about where to seek treatment.

If an employee reports an injury, treatment can be sought or a report-only claim can be filed. Early claim reporting to your carriers will reduce the overall cost of claims. It also provides the opportunity to get timely treatment, witness statements and drug testing of an injured worker. If you only report an injury at the time of a layoff, investigations may take place.

Also, invest in increased supervision and site documentation when a project reaches an end. This should include daily inspections that document any issues, which might include photos of the site if appropriate.

Also, assign workers in teams to ensure your projects have co-worker oversight. If an incident does occur, report it to your carrier immediately so that witness statements and contact information can be gathered while the team is still together.

Return-to-Work Programs

Studies have shown that when an injury occurs, a light-duty Return-to-Work (RTW) program helps reduce insurance and medical costs. It also keeps an injured worker active and engaged in the workplace. But like the rest of your safety culture, it requires an investment long before the loss occurs.

Conduct a Job Analysis (JA) for each of your key positions to make RTW a viable alternative to temporary disability for your employees. Perform a detailed analysis by identifying all the tasks an employee in a given position must perform. Review each activity to analyze the physical demands.

Weights and measurements, as well as frequency durations of each essential function of the position must be captured. (To define a task as an essential job function means that removing it would fundamentally change the job.)

This analysis can then be used, in conjunction with an occupational health professional, to determine what, if any, part of the position an injured employee can perform.

Having your JAs ready to share allows you to get employees back into productive roles quickly and with maximum productivity.

This also illustrates to your employees that you have made a commitment to safely engage your employees in active duty and bring them back to work.

While we all strive for a zero-accident workplace, the greatest accomplishment may be a zero-accident culture.

Safety truly does pay—not only for your employees but your bottom line as well.

Claims Management Checklist

Keep a daily sign-out log indicating an employee has worked a safe day.

If an employee reports an injury, treatment should be sought or a report-only claim should be filed. Instruct an injured employee about where to seek treatment, gather witness statements and drug test the injured worker.

When a project reaches an end, invest in increased supervision and site documentation. This should include daily inspections that document any issues (which might include photos of the site if appropriate). Also, assign workers in teams to ensure your projects have co-worker oversight.

Offer light-duty Return-to-Work (RTW) programs to reduce insurance and medical costs. RTW programs keep an injured worker active and engaged in the workplace.

Conduct a Job Analysis (JA) for each of your key positions to make RTW a viable alternative to temporary disability for your employees.

Did you know?

Overconfidence, burnout, motor skills and learning rate ability, spatial disorientation, misconception of conditions and many more factors drive injuries that need to be managed one employee at a time.

Construction Business Owner, December 2011