Safety Performance:  A Call to Action
by Kirk Lloyd, Risk Management Services, Inc.
503-559-2239 or RiskMgt4Ag@aol.com

On several occasions in the past, we have used this space to discuss our Workers’ Comp Discount Group with SAIF Corporation.  Group discounts are available under Oregon insurance regulations.  The basic premise is that a groups’ actual performance must exceed statistical expectations to earn a discount, and the amount of the discount reflects the degree to which the group has outperformed those expectations.  Those of you who belong to the group have no doubt noticed the trend toward smaller discounts.  This trend simply reflects the fact that our actual performance really has not been much better than the statistical expectations.  Obviously, there is an urgent need to improve safety performance and reverse this trend! 

Even for our members who do not belong to the Workers’ Comp group, improved safety performance equates to reduced pain and suffering as well as significant cost savings.  Here is an overview of key points that need our immediate attention.

1.  Bosses and workers must understand that VERY few “accidents” are truly accidents.  The vast majority are predictable statistical outcomes, resulting from risk-taking behaviors and/or physical hazards in the workplace.  We have the capability to reduce the likelihood of injury by improving these behaviors and conditions.  It is not acceptable to just play the odds and hope for the best; each member must manage the odds so that we can significantly exceed those statistical expectations.

2. Reducing risk-taking behaviors requires constant communication and supervision.  Owners and managers need to teach employees the least-risky ways of doing the work.  High safety expectations must be conveyed, through both words and actions.  Employers have to provide enough supervision to know what’s going on in the workplace, and supervisors must be equipped to correct unsafe practices and encourage the better choices.  This requires daily attention, especially during those periods of peak activity when the old notion of “too busy for safety” may creep into our mindset.

3. Physical hazards like unsafe equipment, missing guards, tripping hazards, poorly designed workspaces, and the like, need our immediate and ongoing attention.  Some injuries will be prevented directly by correcting these hazards.  Many more injuries will be prevented indirectly, as the work to reduce hazards sends that powerful message that YES we are serious about safety.  Tight budgets are a problem, right?  Well, many physical hazards can be corrected or reduced at very little cost.  It’s sure not going to save any money if that uncorrected condition results in an injury.  And, if OSHA gets a look at the hazard, the employer will bear both the cost of correction and the cost of a fine.

4. When injuries do occur, minimizing the cost of recovery is vital.  SAIF tells us that while the total number of claims is down (following a downward trend in payrolls) the average cost of each claim has risen sharply due in large part to increasing time-loss days.  Our members need to be very aggressive about providing modified duty jobs during recovery, and otherwise working closely with the claims professionals to manage the expense associated with recovery for injured workers.