Safety and Workers' Compensation Management

BWC Hires Inclusion & Diversity Director

The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) announced: “A diversity expert with the state of Ohio joined the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) Monday as its first director of Inclusion & Diversity.

“Carolina Thatcher assumes the role following a similar stint with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, where she designed and implemented an inclusion and diversity strategic plan to recruit and retain top talent and better serve the agency’s customers.

“At Job and Family Services, Thatcher’s duties included curriculum development, training and implementation, and serving on several multi-agency inclusion and diversity committees across the state. Prior to that she worked as an insurance underwriter for State Farm Insurance in Newark and as an assistant program director for East End Community Services Corp. in Dayton, where she established the nonprofit as a leading agency on immigrant issues.

“A native of the Republic of Chile in South America, Thatcher speaks Spanish and English and holds a master’s degree in public administration from Wright State University. She and her family live in Hillard.” 4/5/2018

Webinar: OSHA Crystalline Silica Standard for General Industry

OSHA’s respirable crystalline silica standard requires employers to take steps to protect workers from exposure to respirable crystalline silica dust, which can cause serious silica-related diseases.

General industry employers must comply with all requirements of the standard by June 23, 2018.

Workers can be exposed to the dust during these and other activities:

• Manufacture of glass, pottery, ceramic, brick, concrete, asphalt roofing, jewelry, artificial stone, porcelain, or structural clay products
• Use of industrial sand in operations such as foundry work

OMA is holding a webinar on the standard on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Register here. 3/24/2018

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month

The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) posts: “With smartphones, busy schedules and multitasking, it’s easier than ever to be distracted while driving. In fact, it’s now the No. 1 cause of crashes in the U.S., with nearly 3,500 Americans killed by distracted driving in 2015.

“April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and the perfect time to discuss the dangers of this growing problem with family, friends and co-workers. At BWC, we’re doing our part to raise awareness about distracted driving as part of our newest safety campaign.”

Here are safe driving resources from the BWC. 3/27/2018

OSHA Will Enforce Beryllium Standard Starting in May

According to the agency, OSHA will start enforcement of the final rule on occupational exposure to beryllium in construction, shipyard, and general industries on May 11, 2018.

The start of enforcement had previously been set for March 12, 2018. In response to feedback from stakeholders, the agency is considering technical updates to clarify and simplify compliance. In the interim, if an employer fails to meet the new exposure limits, OSHA will inform the employer and offer assistance to ensure compliance.

Here is more information. 3/19/2018

Upcoming BWC Employer Webinar

The March 29 BWC webinar provides information about preparing for an audit, review of estimated annual premium, outstanding balances certified to the Ohio Attorney General, the Better You, Better Ohio!™ program, upcoming important dates, and the monthly safety tip.

Read more and register here. 3/18/2018

Managing Reasonable Suspicion in Your Workplace

Here’s a short video from OMA Connections Partner, Working Partners^(R), with a few tips about managing reasonable suspicion in your workplace. 3/12/2018

Federal Court Finds OSHA has Unlimited “Look-Back” Period to Search for Repeat Violations

From OMA Connections Partner, Frantz Ward: “Thanks to a recent federal appellate court decision, OSHA now has even more leeway to issue costly repeat citations to employers. As many employers know, there are different classifications for civil violations of OSHA regulations, including other-than-serious, serious, repeat, and willful. Penalties, both monetary and non-monetary, increase with higher classification levels. OSHA recently increased the maximum penalty for repeat violations to $129,336, and additional increases to the maximum penalty are expected.”

And: “… on February 14, 2018, a federal appellate court gave OSHA unlimited latitude to search employer citation histories as far back as necessary to establish repeat violations.”

Read more about this from Frantz Ward here. 3/2/2018

Here’s part of the OMA Workers’ Compensation Services team at the BWC Safety Congress & Expo this week: Karen James, Jeremy Sesco, Georgia Booth and Dan Noreen.

Navistar Wins 1st Place in BWC’s Safety Innovation Competition

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) awarded four Ohio employers with Safety Innovation Awards for innovations that addressed safety concerns in their workplaces.

The awards were presented during BWC’s Safety Congress & Expo, the agency’s annual occupational health and safety conference at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

The winners and cash awards include:

• 1st place ($6,000 award): Navistar, Springfield
• 2nd place ($4,000 award): MPW Industrial Services, Hebron
• 3rd place ($3,000 award): Terracon Consultants Inc., Cincinnati
• 4th place ($1,500 award): Ramco Electric Motors, Inc., Greenville

MPW Industrial Services also was selected to receive the People’s Choice Award by OSC18 attendees and will receive an additional $1,000.

The four finalists, selected from dozens of applicants, showcased their innovations at the Safety Congress Expo Marketplace this week. A panel of independent judges evaluated and scored the innovations based on a number of criteria, including risk reduction, innovation and cost savings, presentation quality and potential for the innovation to be used by other employers.

Read more about the winning innovations here. 3/8/2018

OSHA Delays Enforcement of New Beryllium Standards

OMA Connections Partner, Dinsmore, posted this: “OSHA was scheduled to begin enforcing its new beryllium rule for General Industry March 12, 2018. That enforcement date has been delayed 60 days. In a March 2, 2018, memorandum from Tom Galassi (Director, Directorate of Enforcement Programs) to OSHA’s regional administrators, Galassi instructed, “[n]o provisions of the beryllium final rule may be enforced until May 11, 2018.”

Galassi explained the reason for the delay:

“OSHA has been in extensive settlement discussions with several parties who have filed legal actions challenging the general industry standard. In order to provide additional time to conclude those negotiations, we have decided to delay enforcement of the general industry standard by 60 days until May 11, 2018. …”

The full memorandum can be accessed here. 3/7/2018

Private Employer Workers’ Comp Rates Fall 12 Percent

Last week, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) Board of Directors approved the proposed 12% cut in rates that will save private employers in the BWC system $163.5 million over this year’s premiums.

BWC Administrator/CEO Sarah Morrison attributes the agency’s ability to reduce rates to many factors, including slow growth in medical inflation, fewer claims, a changing workforce and safer workplaces.

The actual premium paid by individual private employers depends on multiple factors that include expected future claims costs in their industry, their company’s recent claims history, and their participation in various BWC discount programs. 2/26/2018