Month: April 2021

Increasing blue light exposure has a dark side

Posted on by Patty Busse

The use of electronic devices has become almost inevitable in our daily lives. For the majority of employees working in corporate settings, nearly the entire workday is spent looking at computer screens. Could this amount of screen time be detrimental to our health? Researchers say it’s possible.

What are the effects of blue light exposure?

Back-lit digital devices like computers, tablets and smart phones all emit blue light, a high-energy, short wavelength visible to the human eye. Emerging research shows that blue light does have physical effects on the body, though few of them are positive.

Relatively short exposure to blue light can temporarily stimulate the brain and improve mood. Prolonged exposure, however, is likely to damage retinal cells over time and may contribute to the development of:

  • Eye strain
  • Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)
  • Cataracts
  • Nearsightedness
  • Sleep disruption
  • Mood disorders

Findings from a recent Harvard University study name High Energy Visible blue light, the type of light emitted by most digital devices, as the most dangerous light to the human eye. As the world becomes increasingly digitized, blue light exposure will likely remain an ongoing threat.

How can employees protect themselves from blue light exposure?

Fortunately, there are several ways to reduce digital eye strain and ultimately protect against long-term damage.

Research shows that staring at a screen for an extended period of time reduces blink rate, which often leads to dry, tired eyes. According to The Vision Council, employees in office settings can prevent this by using a strategy they call, “the 20-20-20 rule.” Every 20 minutes, take a 20 second break and look at something 20 feet away.

It’s a natural tendency to lean forward when looking at computer screens. Try to be mindful of the habit and do your best to straighten your posture. The ideal sitting position keeps eyes a full arm’s length from the screen.

Some have also found relief by using blue light glasses. With lenses designed to shield your eyes from harmful rays, these glasses may reduce eyestrain and brain stimulation, ultimately leading to improved sleep quality.

Experts also suggest reducing screen brightness as much as possible. Darkening the screen lowers the intensity of light taken in by your eyes. If the brightness can’t be adjusted, consider purchasing a tinted film to apply to the screen itself. Additionally, if you’re working with a device that features multiple light modes, the preset “night mode” produces significantly less blue light than others, making it the safest option for your eyes.

Tips to cut down on virtual meeting fatigue

Posted on by Patty Busse

The coronavirus pandemic has affected the workplace in many ways, including a shift to virtual meetings.

People are also using video calls outside of work to keep up with friends and family.

Video call fatigue

A recent study by global staffing firm Robert Half indicates that workers may be suffering from video call fatigue.

Among the 1,000 people surveyed, 76% said they participate in virtual meetings and that they spend about one-third of their workday in front of a camera. That time really adds up, as more people observe that not having in-person meetings allows individuals to fill their schedule with more meetings each day.

As a result, 38% of respondents said they have experienced video call fatigue since the beginning of the pandemic. Those surveyed said their main video call pet peeves include dealing with technical issues and having too many meeting participants with people talking over one another.

SFM Chief Information Officer Chad Hagedorn oversees everything technical at the SFM offices. The Information Services department that he manages has worked tirelessly since the beginning of quarantine to provide employees with the equipment they need to work from home. That has included webcams and headsets so employees can video call.

“People may get used to video conferencing in the long term, so the frustration may go down,” Hagedorn said. “But in the meantime, individuals can take some steps to make the whole experience better.”

Hagedorn shared these best practices for virtual meetings:

  • Test your setup ahead of each meeting. This usually takes a minute or two, but can save you from missing a meeting or joining late if you have to do a little unanticipated troubleshooting.
  • Use the same equipment each time you join a virtual meeting. Having a familiarity with your computer, camera, microphone and the virtual meeting application makes the process go smoother. The same goes for mobile devices and tablets.
  • Request to have virtual meeting applications installed onto your work computer. The desktop versions of these applications, such as Zoom, GoToMeeting and WebEx, usually include more features than the web-based connections. If possible, have your IT department install them onto your company-provided computer.
  • Limit the guest list. Keep the meeting group as small as possible to allow for better communication among participants and to reduce the opportunity for people to talk over each other. Requesting that participants raise their hand when they want to talk can also help improve the quality of communication during a video call.
  • Find a quiet location before you start up your camera and microphone. Noises in the background are unnecessary distractions during meetings. If you can’t control your environment, it’s a good idea to keep your microphone on mute until you need to talk.

Create boundaries and a routine

Individuals working from home may find themselves clocking more hours than ever in front of a computer screen, simply because there are fewer reasons to get up and move away from their desk.

Hagedorn suggested the following tips to help you organize some breaks for yourself and optimize your workspace:

  • Switch your monitors to the “night light” setting to reduce the blue light emitted by the screens. Macs and PCs both offer this option under display settings.
  • Set up your desk to be ergonomically correct, so you prevent injury from hours of sitting and working with repetitive motion.
  • Stand up and stretch every hour, and go for walks during your breaks.
  • Set your office hours within your work email calendar and stick to them.
  • Block off a few periods during a busy day so you have time outside of meetings to work on other things, or take breaks and stretch.
  • Establish boundaries between work and home. Close your office door when you’re done for the day, or turn off your monitors and silence your work phone if your home office is in your living area.

“That 30 minute drive home was the separation period people needed to mentally wind down after work,” Hagedorn said. “We forget how important it was to take that time and observe the physical separation from the office and the break from screens.”

Read our blog on ergonomic safety tips when working from home to learn more about how to set up your home office so it is safe and comfortable.

Subrogation: When third parties bear responsibility for work injuries

Posted on by Patty Busse

By Tom Davern, Esq., Senior Defense Counsel with Lynn, Scharfenberg and Hollick, and Julie Bischoff, Senior Subrogation and Special Investigations Representative

When one of your employees is injured in the course and scope of employment and a negligent third party bears some responsibility, we can sometimes recover a portion or all of the workers’ compensation claim costs from the responsible party through subrogation.

Each of SFM’s core states have different workers’ compensation subrogation laws, but the basic principles are the same across the board. If a third party’s negligence causes a work injury to some significant degree, there is a possible subrogation claim. The employer and insurer have to prove negligence, causation and damages.

When we recover claim costs, it lowers the impact that the claim has on future workers’ compensation premiums by mitigating the hit to the employer’s experience modification factor (e-mod). In 2020, our Subrogation Team recovered more than $1.5 million. In many cases, SFM recovers 100% of what was paid on the claim. In fact, full recovery was received on over 50% of the subrogation claims in 2020. A complete recovery is most likely when there is no liability dispute and the injury is not serious enough to allow or motivate an employee to pursue a personal injury claim. If the employee pursues a claim for damages against the third party, it usually results in a partial recovery for the employer and insurer.

Common recovery scenarios

Motor vehicle accidents, slip-and-fall injuries and dog bites are just three types of claims where we can often make subrogation recoveries.

For example, if a pizza delivery driver is hit by a drunk driver, we may be able to recover the workers’ compensation benefits paid from the at-fault driver’s insurer.

If there is provable negligence, slip-and-fall claims can result in a subrogation recovery; however, these have to be carefully analyzed on a case-by-case basis. There is not going to be a viable claim if a slip and fall happened in a parking lot during a blizzard, but if a vendor spilled oil in a hallway and failed to clean it up, there may be a claim.

If a dog bites a home health care worker or delivery person at a customer’s home, we may be able to recover costs from the individual’s homeowners or rental insurance policy. SFM also pursues product liability claims, medical malpractice and restitution in criminal matters.

How employers can help

If you have a claim that has recovery potential, your claims representative or someone from our Subrogation Team may reach out for assistance in the investigation. It is helpful to gather and preserve any available evidence in cases that may have recovery potential.

Anytime you think a third party could be responsible for a work injury, let your claims representative know. SFM aggressively pursues recoveries on behalf of our policyholders when another party is at fault.

Common requests for subrogation claims

  • Motor vehicle accident: Police report, photographs of the property damage or scene, third-party driver/insurance information, and video of the incident (if available)
  • Dog bites: Name and address of the dog owner and police or incident report
  • Slip, trip and fall: Photographs of the area of the fall, any available video (we also recommend reporting the incident to the property owner)
  • Assault: Whether criminal charges were filed, and if so, the name of the assailant
  • Product liability claims: Secure the product and provide owner manuals, maintenance records, purchase receipts and manufacturer information (for equipment malfunctions, we recommend also taking photos and keeping any broken equipment)

Work injuries 101: Reporting injuries and supporting workers

Posted on by Patty Busse

No one starts out their day expecting a work injury.

On-the-job injuries are unanticipated, urgent and unfortunate for everyone involved, but there are best practices you can follow to make a bad situation better for you and your injured employee.

When to report work injuries

One key step is to report any work injury as soon as you can. Reporting immediately helps workers’ compensation claims go more smoothly for a number of reasons, including:

  • Employees get any needed care right away
  • Workers’ compensation benefits are paid promptly
  • The carrier has time to review and submit the injury to the state

To make this happen, employees and their supervisors must be trained to identify work injuries and report them immediately. If a supervisor sees an injury occur, or hears about it in another way, in many states the employer is required to report the injury. This is true even if an employee does not formally report a work injury, in most states. In South Dakota, employees are required to report injuries to their employers within a specified time period.

We recommend reporting all work injuries, even if they are so minor they do not require medical attention. This way if the injury worsens over time and does lead to a doctor visit or time off, you will have captured information needed to manage the claim.

Reporting incident-only work injuries (injuries which do not lead to medical or lost-time expenses) does not impact your experience modification factor (e-mod).

How to report work injuries

When you’re ready to report an injury to SFM you have a number of options, but the two most common methods are by phone and online.

You can call the SFM Work Injury Hotline anytime at (855) 675-3501 to report work injuries. Here are a few tips for reporting via the hotline:

  • We now offer a streamlined report-only option during business hours (7 a.m. – 4 p.m., M-F) for situations where the employee does not need to speak with a nurse. We recommend choosing the nurse option when the employee is unsure whether to seek medical treatment. (Calls outside of normal business hours will automatically go to a nurse.)
  • If a supervisor is not available, an employee can call the SFM Work Injury Hotline alone.
  • If the employee has already received medical treatment or is not available for the call, we recommend choosing the report-only option (Option 1) during business hours.

You can also report online on our website (sfmic.com) anytime. You do not need to log in to report injuries online. You just need your policy number. This is a fast and easy choice. Many employers opt to report online in cases where the worker has already received medical care.

For more information on reporting injuries, visit sfmic.com/report and download a copy of our claim packet.

Understanding the injury

After a work injury occurs, it’s important to figure out what happened and what you can do to prevent similar injuries in the future.

You can analyze a work injury in four steps:

  • Collect data: Talk to witnesses, take pictures and review maintenance and training records.
  • Identify the causes: Determine whether equipment, risky behavior, inadequate training, lack of personal protective equipment, the work environment, or other factors were to blame in causing the injury.
  • Analyze the findings: Examine all the facts and distinguish between the immediate causes (such as a broken ladder rung) and underlying causes (such as lack of training).
  • Develop a plan: Identify the steps to prevent similar injuries in the future.

For more information on accident analysis and a worksheet to guide you through the process, download our Accident analysis CompTalk from the resource catalog on sfmic.com.

How to assist employees who are recovering from injuries

When employees are off work due to on-the-job injuries, it’s important to show concern right away and stay in contact until the employee returns to work. When employers don’t reach out, employees can feel isolated and worry that they will not have a job to return to.

We recommend bringing employees back to work as soon as possible, even if you have to modify their regular job or provide light-duty work to accommodate medical restrictions. Bringing employees back to work as soon as you can helps them:

  • Recover faster
  • Stay in the routine of working
  • Feel productive
  • Maintain workplace relationships

This also helps keep wage-loss benefits down, which helps limit the impact of the injury on your future workers’ compensation premiums.

Work injuries are better prevented, but when they do occur, your SFM team is here to help. Your claims representative is always available to guide you through the process and answer any questions. You can also find more resources in the Employers section of sfmic.com.

When an employee is injured, these resources can help

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