Month: March 2024

OSHA electronic reporting requirements for employers

Posted on by Patty Busse

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA passed regulations in 2019 and 2023 requiring submission of certain injury reports through the Injury Tracking Application (ITA) .

You may have questions about whether your business is required to submit information electronically, and what information you will need to submit. Below, you will find a broad overview of OSHA’s electronic reporting requirements, and where you can find more information directly from OSHA and relevant state agencies.

Electronic submission requirements

Only employers with establishments that employ a certain number of workers need to electronically report. For those states covered by federal OSHA, the reporting requirements depend on the number of employees in each establishment, and whether the employer falls into certain categories of high-hazard industries. Different sizes of establishments and categories of employers must report different information.

As of the most recent OSHA rulemaking issued in July 2023, the federal reporting requirements are:

  • Establishments with 100-plus employees in the highest hazard industries must submit Form 300 Logs, 300A Summaries, and 301 Incident Reports
  • Workplaces with 20-249 employees in high hazard industries have to submit their 300A Annual Summary data
  • Workplaces with 250-plus employees in any industry must submit their 300A Annual Summary data

OSHA defines an establishment as “a single physical location where business is conducted or where services or industrial operations are performed. A firm may be comprised of one or more establishments.” This corresponds with your OSHA Form 300A, which is tracked at an establishment level.

Minnesota adopted OSHA’s rulemaking guidelines but does not limit the reporting requirements by industry. Minnesota establishments with 20 or more employees are required to submit 300A data and employers that have establishments with 100 or more employees are required to submit OSHA 300 log, OSHA 300A and OSHA 301 data.

Reporting requirements: federal and state

At a high level, OSHA’s reporting requirements are as follows.

Employers must submit 300A data if their establishment meets one of the following criteria:

Employers must also submit 300/301 data if their establishments have 100 or more employees and is in an industry listed in Appendix B to Subpart E of 29 CFR Part 1904 .

Company officials can also use the ITA Coverage Application  to help determine if their establishment is required to submit this data.

Minnesota

Minnesota does have its own reporting requirements.

Establishments with 20 or more employees are required to submit 300A data and employers that have establishments with 100 or more employees are required to submit OSHA 300 log, OSHA 300A and OSHA 301 data.”

There is no reporting requirement for employers with 19 or fewer workers in Minnesota.

Other states

Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin follow the OSHA guidelines.

Employer that operate in states across the U.S. should review the laws where they have locations to maintain compliance.

Resources for more information

 

 

Originally posted February 2019; updated March 2024.

 

This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.

Measuring workplace wellness program ROI and VOI

Posted on by Patty Busse

There is more to consider than return on investment (ROI) when measuring the success of your wellness program.

More employers are realizing that looking strictly at workplace wellness program ROI — money saved on health care costs for every dollar spent on the program — fails to encompass some of the very real, but tougher-to-calculate, business benefits of employee wellness.

In the 2022 Workplace Wellness Trends report from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP), only 31 percent of employers say controlling or reducing health-related costs is their primary reason for offering wellness programs. The other 69 percent provide wellness programs with the goal of improving overall worker health and well-being.

That’s where value on investment (VOI) comes in.

When making the business case for your own corporate wellness program, measuring both ROI and VOI will illustrate a broader picture of the impact the program makes.

VOI is broader than ROI. It measures not just cost savings, but also other elements that contribute to work satisfaction, employee well-being and business performance, such as improved productivity and higher employee retention.

The value of employee well-being

According to IFEBP studies, common VOI measures among employers were:

  • Health risk assessment data
  • Healthcare costs
  • Absenteeism
  • Employee engagement
  • Productivity
  • Overall financials and growth
  • Recruitment
  • Disability/workers’ compensation claims
  • Retention

VOI also includes costs that are avoided — such as future diseases that don’t occur and stress that is eliminated. Avoided costs contribute to savings for employers and employees.

Measuring workplace wellness program ROI

The focus on VOI doesn’t mean ROI isn’t still important when it comes to wellness programs.

According to a 2022 research report from Zippia, a firm that pushes for improving career outcomes, the healthcare benefits of wellness programs for employers are numerous. The data, culled from several sources, included several interesting findings:

  • 72 percent of companies saw reduced healthcare costs after implementing a wellness program
  • The average return on investment for employee wellness programs is 6:1
  • Wellness programs can reduce absenteeism by up to 16 percent
  • 87 percent of workers consider health and wellness offerings when choosing an employer

Additionally, the research showed that employees who participate in wellness programs have fewer sick days; such employees report being more productive; and some workers even had diseases detected by these programs, allowing them to start treatment earlier.

For more information from past studies, see our previous post, 10 statistics that make the case for workplace wellness programs.

When making the business case for your own corporate wellness program, measuring both ROI and VOI will illustrate a broader picture of the impact the program makes.

More on measuring wellness program VOI

For further reading, the following articles contain more information on measuring wellness program VOI:

 

This post was originally published in July 2016 and updated in March 2024.

 

SFM enhances MyPayroll premium audit system

Posted on by Sara Goese

SFM is making upgrades to its online MyPayroll system with new features and a streamlined process to make it even easier for policyholders to complete annual premium audits.

The enhancements went live on May 5, 2024.

The new features include:

  • The ability to securely upload multiple documents at once using a drag-and-drop interface
  • Email notifications in addition to physical letters about premium audit deadlines
  • The ability to add documentation to the audit after it’s been submitted

If you have started your audit in the old system at the time of the rollout, the information you’ve entered will be pre-filled into the new system.

New MyPayroll users

With the enhancements to MyPayroll, a wider range of policyholders will be able to complete their audit online, including some policyholders who previously completed audits in person or via email only.

If you have questions throughout the audit process, your auditor is available to help. You can find your auditor’s contact information on letters or emails you’ve received or within MyPayroll.

 

View more news about SFM

How floors can help prevent slips and falls

Posted on by Patty Busse

By Dana Mickelson, CSP, ARM

While some slips and falls result in only minor injuries, they can be much more serious, causing fractures, sprains, strains, abrasions and even death. They have the potential to be disabling, with claim costs in the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

According to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), work-related fatalities due to falls slips, and trips have increased in recent years:

  • 805 fatalities in 2020
  • 850 fatalities in 2021
  • 865 fatalities in 2022

These are all reasons to take slip-and-fall prevention seriously at your workplace, starting with the floors.

Choose slip-resistant flooring

When you’re choosing flooring, don’t choose just based on cost and aesthetics. Consider the floor’s slip resistance and the space and environment in which it will be used, too. There are several floor materials available on the market — quarry, ceramic, porcelain, vinyl composition tile, terrazzo, rubber tiles, concrete, marble, granite, etc.

Most types of flooring have good slip resistance when dry, but when wet, they have fair to poor slip resistance unless they are treated or textured. Most flooring materials become extremely slippery once water plus a contaminant, like grease, is present.

Use slip-resistant treatments for existing flooring

If you’re not in a position to replace your flooring with a more slip-resistant material, you can treat your floors to decrease the risk of slips and falls. The caveat with all of these options is that they typically lose their effectiveness over time and must be reapplied.

Options to treat flooring include:

  • Abrasive floor coatings: These coatings include gritty substances such as aluminum oxide or walnut shells to improve traction of otherwise smooth flooring
  • Chemical etching: This is an acid wash that’s typically applied to natural stone floors, concrete and porcelain that makes the floor surface rougher
  • Carpeting: Covering your floor with carpet is another option to prevent slips and falls

Clean floors properly

When cleaning your floors, even small details like the temperature of water used for mopping can significantly affect their slip resistance (or lack thereof).

That’s why it’s important to have a floor-cleaning protocol that includes:

  • Identifying the appropriate cleaning tools (deck brushes, squeegees, etc.) and solvent (for example, some solvents remove rust and scale, others consume oil)
  • Determining how often the floors must be cleaned
  • Thoroughly training all employees who clean floors

When training, be sure to include the proper water temperature and whether the floors must be rinsed after cleaning with the solvent. For example, an alkaline solvent used in a greasy kitchen could actually make the floor more slippery if not rinsed off after cleaning, so proper training is really important.

Maintain good housekeeping

Excellent housekeeping results in clean and clutter-free floors, preventing slips, trips and falls.

Here are three simple tips to improve housekeeping:

  • Clean up spills promptly and use wet floor signs
  • Keep cords out of the way of walkways or work areas as much as possible. You can tie cords together, use cord covers, or hang cords from the ceiling
  • Designate walking aisles in warehouses, manufacturing environments, etc.

Also, develop a housekeeping program. For example, dedicate the last five minutes of each shift as clean-up time.

Don’t wax and strip — scrub!

SFM has seen extremely serious injuries result from employees falling while waxing and stripping the floors.

To prevent these types of injuries, consider investing in a floor scrubber. Floor scrubbers are great because most only require water, and they negate the need to wax and strip the floors. Not only will a scrubber help keep your employees safe, it might pay for itself over time.

If employees must strip and wax the floors, ensure they wear stripping overshoes to increase traction and reduce their risk of slipping.

Maximize the benefit of floor mats

Floor mats at entrances allow people to walk off the rain, snow and other contaminants they’ve gathered on their shoes to help keep the rest of the floor dry.

Here are a few tips for using floor mats to maximize effectiveness and prevent them from becoming a source of trips and falls:

Provide mats that are long enough for people to adequately wipe contaminants off their shoes. Mats should be the longest in snowy weather (about 10-12 walking steps) and can be the shortest (6-8 steps) in dry weather.

  • Select mats with beveled edges and non-slip backing
  • Do not overlap mats
  • Don’t leave gaps between mats
  • Avoid rolled up edges
  • Inspect mats for wear and replace them when needed

Slips and falls can cause anything from simple embarrassment to serious head injuries, and they can happen to anyone. Doing what you can to make your floors more slip resistant is one way you can prevent slips and falls. Requiring your employees to wear slip-resistant shoes can also help.

For more resources to prevent slips and falls, visit our safety page.

 

Originally published June 2017; updated March 2024.

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