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Once employees have gone through safety training, make sure that they use what they've learned. When every worker knows and chooses the safe way on a daily basis, you'll have a workplace with less chance of accidents and injuries. This four-step approach to job safety will pay dividends: Team up to solve problems and improve safety. Create employee teams in every department to gather information on potential hazards, analyze problems, develop and test solutions, and implement and monitor results. Being part of a team makes workers feel that they share responsibility, which keeps your safety message top of mind. Talk up safety every day. Update employees on information that affects their safety. Provide ongoing feedback, praising safe performance, correcting unsafe behavior, and pointing out areas for improvement. Make sure that communication flows both ways. Urge workers to offer suggestions, identify problems, and pose questions - for example, through a safety suggestion system. Encourage employees to become hazard detectives — and reporters. Make every worker responsible for finding hazards. Create an effective system for reporting problems, and respond promptly to correct hazards that employees identify. This is harder than it sounds because it means that management has to listen when workers discuss safety concerns. Create a "want-to" safety culture. Encourage your workers to do the safe thing, not because they have to, but because they want to avoid injuries. Remind them of how many safety-related decisions they make every day - and how one bad decision is all it takes to get hurt. For professional advice on creating or updating your workplace safety program, just give us a call.

A study commissioned by the British government found that for every lost-time injury of more than three days, there were 189 non-injury cases. No business can afford to ignore these near misses, which provide invaluable opportunities to identify and correct safety hazards on the job before they lead to accidents or injuries. However, according to an article in the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) journal, employees often resist reporting these close calls for such reasons as fear of management retaliation, peer pressure, concern about a safety record, complicated reporting forms and lack of feedback. To encourage employee reporting of near misses in the workplace, experts recommend these guidelines: Provide your employees with safety training. Develop strategies to measure how reporting near misses improves safety performance. Recognize and reward employees for proactive safety engagement. Have your safety committee oversee the reporting process. Provide incident investigations training for all managers that includes mentoring help for new staff members. Investigate everything! The time you spend investigating near misses will yield long-term rewards by eliminating the time, expense, and hassle of dealing with major (possibly fatal) injuries or property loss - not to mention the impact on productivity and workplace morale. Conduct comprehensive follow-up on corrective action plans. Ask who, what, and by when - and make sure that these changes are made. Report on all investigations. Making sure that every employee hears about every near miss will encourage reporting of future incidents, as workers realize that speaking out will help them do their work more safely. Our agency's specialists would be happy to provide their advice on encouraging your employees to help keep their workplace safe. Just give us a call.

...ience, drive an action, inform a community, break the status quo, or change an...

I hear agents every day tell me that they already have carrier appointments and they don’t feel like they need more. So, why do you need more markets? The answer is quite simple. You want to grow your agency by selling more premium correct while earning more commission.

A lack of maintenance or poor quality maintenance causes thousands of on-the-job accidents every year. What's more, maintenance workers face significant risks associated with their jobs. According to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics job fatality report, deaths due to poor maintenance rose 14%, year to year, in 2011, the highest level since 2006. Accidents from maintenance have a variety of causes: everything from falls caused by working heights, confined spaces or harsh environments associated with accessing equipment, and shocks and burns if power is not properly isolated, to injuries from moving machine parts, musculoskeletal problems caused by working in awkward spaces and exposure to asbestos and dangerous chemicals. There are three types of maintenance: Routine or preventive maintenance keeps equipment working - such as a scheduled overhaul or replacement. Corrective maintenance gets broken equipment up and running again. Predictive maintenance uses tests for maintenance that is or will soon be needed. To make your maintenance activities safer and more productive, follow these guidelines: Emphasize planning and scheduling on every maintenance task. Invest in affordable technology such as a thermographic camera (around $1,000) to detect variations of temperature that can reveal when a machine motor is not running properly. Make sure that supervisors convey the right message consistently. Employees need to be told that accidents happen as a result of short cuts, such as failing to lock out a piece of equipment before performing maintenance. Teach workers to intervene. If an employee walks by a piece of equipment that's making an unusual noise and doesn't tell their supervisor, it's the same as ignoring a co-worker who is working unsafely. Get employees engaged and accountable. This can lead to culture change which makes safety the responsibility of everyone - not just of the safety and maintenance department. For more information on maintaining your safety maintenance program, just get in touch with us.

Few business owners have happy thoughts when they think of the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA). The first thought is usually of red tape and obsolete regulations instead of the possible benefits from taking advantage of the services offered by OSHA to reduce workplace illness, injury, and fatality. There are three very obvious ways in which any effort to mitigate losses from workplace illness, injury, and fatality can help a business: It helps to ensure minimal day-to-day work-flow disruption. It helps to boost employee morale. It helps to manage liability insurance costs, including that of Workers Compensation claims. OSHA helps in these areas through an array of education, outreach, and compliance assistance programs. For example, OSHA offers a variety of training materials and guidelines that can help workers and employers to understand and comply with safety standards. These may be obtained online, on CD-ROM, and in print. There’s also a 24-hour toll free number that employers can call for assistance on workplace safety issues. For small business owners that need onsite help to identify and correct possible workplace hazards and/or establish health or safety programs, OSHA offers free workplace consultations among its many other services. Through cooperative programs, like the Alliance Program, OSHA works directly with entities such as educational institutions, businesses, trade organizations, and labor organizations. Certain industries, such as food processing, shipbuilding, and construction, are specifically targeted through OSHA’s Strategic Partnership Program. The Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) are considered the superstars of the OSHA cooperative programs. One of these programs is called the Star Program. It’s designed for businesses that have shown an exemplary workplace (injury and illness rates below the national average for their industry) through successful and comprehensive health management and safety programs. Businesses in this program will undergo a review and onsite investigation of their health and safety programs, a review of past inspections, an onsite condition assessment, and have their management team and employees interviewed. Incident rates are reviewed yearly and overall reevaluation takes place every three to five years to ensure that Star participants still meet the program requirements. The Merit Program is another voluntary protection program. It’s a stepping stone of sorts to the Star Program and is for those with good health and safety programs. These businesses have areas needing improvement, but demonstrate the potential for excellence. Involuntary inspections are an even large part of OSHA’s preventative measures. Many are the direct result of a workplace injury or death report or complaint. In fact, of the 37,000 involuntary inspections OSHA conducted in 2002, around 9,000 stemmed from an accident report or complaint. These inspections resulted in almost 80,000 violations and $73 million dollars worth of penalties, $11.8 million of which was from the most serious violation category, the willful violation. The average OSHA fine was $28,000 and the most often inspected industries were manufacturing and construction. Since its 1971 start, OSHA has proven itself a successful branch of the Department of Labor. Despite heavy employment growth overall, through OSHA inspection, education, outreach, and enforcement, workplace illnesses have decreased by more than 40% and deaths have decreased by more than 50%. Even though many small businesses, especially those not in frequently-targeted industries, aren’t highly concerned with OSHA compliance and regulatory monitoring, OSHA can still be a valuable asset when it comes to occupational safety and health and risk management.

A lot of companies say "Safety is our Number One priority." However, when the chips are down and production needs to increase, safety might suddenly become Number Two. In an effective workplace health and safety program, the employer places a high priority on a safe workplace, employees participate willingly in keeping themselves safe on the job -- and the company's Workers Comp premiums stay low! To develop and maintain safety as a "core value" among your employees, we'd recommend following these guidelines: Encourage employees to think about safety 24/7. Talk about safety all the time. Make sure employees work safely. This job falls largely to your supervisors, who need to have good safety attitudes. You and your staff should keep checking up, monitoring performance, and being visible. Encourage employee participation, suggestions, questions, and even complaints about unsafe conditions. Set an example. If workers see you and your safety staff wearing PPE, following rules, eliminating hazards, and investigating incidents, they'll follow your lead in taking safety seriously. Provide positive feedback for safe performance and attitudes. People love recognition and praise for doing the right thing. Correct reported safety hazards immediately. Nothing shows that you have a good safety attitude more than demonstrating that you care and are looking out for your workers.

Enjoy longer days and warmer nights while protecting your investment. Summertime is the best time to be outside enjoying the weather. Make sure your deck or patio is ready for the summer sun by keeping in mind the seasonal maintenance tips below. Check deck or patio for possible deterioration and safety hazards such as loose boards and protruding nails. Check electrical outlets for potential fire hazards such as frayed wires or loose-fitting plugs. Be sure not to overload electrical outlets, fuse boxes, extension cords or any other power service. Check all window and door locks to ensure correct functioning. Make sure all locks are secure and there are no holes in any of the screens. Inspect recreational equipment for proper operation and possible dangers (e.g., Are swing sets secure, and do they contain any rusty bolts?). Carefully inspect your toilet. Look for the erosion of plastic floater valves, and check all pipe connections. Clean or replace your furnace filter. Clean the clothes dryer exhaust duct and space under the dryer. Remove all lint, dust and pieces of material. Inspect washing machine hoses periodically, and replace hoses that show signs of wear or leakage. Have your roof inspected by a professional once every few years to identify areas of potential leakage.

In the event of severe damage to your home or business, having a current inventory of your possessions — including their make and model numbers — can help you get your insurance claim settled faster, verify losses for your income tax return and help you purchase the correct amount of insurance. While most people think of their home when discussing an inventory, it is important to document the contents of your business as well. Watch "Emergency Preparedness: How Taking a Home Inventory Can Help You Recover Sooner" Here are some suggestions for getting started. Take a picture. Take pictures of rooms and important individual items. Label pictures with a description, including where you bought it and the make, model and serial number. Remember items that are in storage closets or drawers. Video record it. Walk through your home or office with a video recorder or tape recorder and describe the contents. Create an electronic file – Use your computer or mobile device to create and store your inventory list. Take advantage of mobile applications or free online software like www.knowyourstuff.org to organize pictures or descriptions of your belongings by room or category. Store the list, photos and tapes. Regardless of how you create it (written or electronic list, flash drive, photos, video or audio), keep your inventory along with receipts in your safe deposit box, on a disk or at a friend or colleague’s home. Doing so will help ensure you will have something to give your insurance representative if your home is damaged. When you make a significant purchase, add the information to the inventory while the details are fresh in your mind. Consider expensive items. Valuable items like jewelry, art and collectibles may have increased in value since you received them. Check with your agent to make sure that you have adequate insurance for these items. They may need to be insured separately. This information was taken from an article from the Insurance Information Institute (www.iii.org)