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Lower Experience Modification Rate for Increased Profits
This is part 2 of our series on EMR and how it is effecting the profitability of your company. For Part 1, click here.

Is your company looking for a way to increase profitability? Before you cut personnel, before you look for ways to cut expenses, before you try anything else, have you looked at your Worker’s Compensation insurance rate? This is called the experience modification rate, and is calculated based upon your risk rating. To learn more about how your EMR rate is calculated, check out part 1 of this series.

An above average experience modification rate (EMR), can be costing your company valuable profit, and if you’re not aware of it, this can be a hidden profit suck.

So, what can you do?

It isn’t as easy as lowering your car insurance by just switching companies, because the EMR follows your company from insurance company to insurance company. It is a multiple stage approach, which I will lay out for you.

Steps to Lower Experience Modification Rate

The first step is to do a claims review. Many companies request a claims review, then sit there and nod their heads as the company presents the information, which is honestly useless. Just being told about the information doesn’t help you. You need to understand the information and how it can impact your company.
- Was this person or are they currently an employee?
  - It occasionally happens where an employee is assigned to the wrong company, so ensure all listed people are properly assigned.
- When was last claim payout? Is it an opportune time to settle the case?
  - Why would you settle a claim? Settlement of a claim can lower the impact it has to a claim. If a case was assigned a reserve of $100,000, and has paid out $3,000, there is a reserve of $97,000 which is reflecting on the claim as a high claim case. A settlement of $10,000 would close the case at a value of $13,000, bringing back $87,000 and lowering the impact to the EMR.
- Review of class codes.
  - Every employee has a class code under which they are assigned, and ensuring they are properly accounted for in payroll records for hours worked is important for a proper EMR calculation. Why is this so important? If you run an auto repair business, a mechanic has a naturally higher risk classification than an accounts receivable clerk, if someone in your business covers both positions, classifying them under the higher risk code could lower the XMOD calculation simply by having less injuries for a higher risk classification code.
If you have made any corrections or adjustments during this process, have the EMR recalculated, and this could save your company thousands.

With the claims review completed, it is time to conduct a trend analysis.

When just starting in this process, the information will be basic. It will come from your worker’s compensation auditor, during the claims review. What you’re looking for, are accidents increasing or decreasing? Any identifiable patterns to claims/injuries; such as 40% are lifting improperly or such?

As your program matures, you can include items like Near Miss reports, location first aide only incidents, safety committee findings, or anything else your company builds up.

Once you have conducted a thorough tend analysis, the next step is to design a Return to Work (RTW) Program

A Return to Work Program is invaluable to lowering an Experience Modification Rating. It decreases associated costs to provide employees with light duty work, because wages are paid directly to the employee vs paying them from insurance. This decreases the costs paid out by insurance, which is a factor in calculating the EMR.

When implementing a RTW program, it is important that the employee serves a valuable job function, so as to add value to your company, but you also have to take into consideration that the job is within the person’s skill set, and the job is not seen as punitive. What? Yes, some tasks can be seen as punitive, like if the worker is reassigned to a task that provides no value to the company. Companies have done things like having workers sort nuts & bolts, then at the end of the day they mix everything together again. A task like this could be seen as punitive towards the employee, and could have your company under scrutiny for punitive or vindictive actions towards an injured employee.

Keep this in mind while managing a Return to Work Program, and design a program that aids the employer and employee.

Next step in this process is establishing a strong safety program.

When establishing a safety program this is a multi-faceted approach, allow me to lay this out for you:
- Audit for risks in the workplace–
  - Hazards can’t be addressed in the workplace without understanding the risks present. This would include conducting a job hazard analysis so risks can be addressed via the hierarchy of control principle.
- Write safety policies, and related training–
  - Once you have identified the workplace hazards, this is an opportune time to write policies and develop appropriate training to address the risks identified. On top of that, this is an opportune time to ensure you have the common written policies required by OSHA:
    
    Hazard Communication Plan
    
    Lockout/Tagout Program
    
    Respiratory Protection Program
    
    Personal Protection Equipment Plan
    
    Bloodborne Pathogens & Post Exposure Plan
    
    Emergency Action Plan
    
    Confined Space Program
    
    Electrical Safety Plan
    
    Fire Prevention Plan
    
    Hearing Conservation Plan
    
    Crane/Hoist/Sling Inspection Program
    
    Fall Prevention Program
    
    First Aide Policy
    
    Hot Work Program
    
    Spill Response Plan
    
    Machine Guarding Policy
- Work on building a safety culture-
  - A safety culture is built from the top down, executives need to embrace workplace safety first, this will show importance to all people in the company. In order for safety to be built into the culture of a company, every operational policy and training will incorporate safety, To learn more about safety culture in the workplace, check out this post.
  - Another part of a strong safety culture is a quality safety team. This means the members are committed to safety, and can provide influence in their work areas. To learn some more about safety committees, check out this post.
- Evaluate–
  - Reviewing and evaluating the company safety program, at least annually, is important. This ensures the programs are still relevant to any changes in operational procedures, or changes in regulations. The evaluation also provides the opportunity to check the effectiveness of the policy, has it lowered risk, has it decreased injuries?
Following these steps, your company will be able to lower your company’s Experience Modification Rate, which translates into increased profits, and a safer workplace for all employees.

Keep in mind, besides fixing errors, making a change to an EMR is not an instantaneous process, and it will take at least a year to see the impact, while it can take 2 years to see marked improvement, due to getting information to the field employees and building a full and proper safety culture.
December 9, 2018
Experience Modification Rate Explained

In today’s competitive world of business, it is necessary for companies to take every precaution relating to insurance claims and the efficiency of their safety programs.

Workers compensation insurance is mandatory in every state. The premium depends upon the state, the industry, and other factors like your Experience Modification Rating, XMOD, Experience Mod, or EMR. The Experience Modification Rating is a formula that compares the claims and costs of worker’s compensation in your company to other businesses that are similar in terms of size and capital.

Workers’ compensation and how businesses deal with it is becoming increasingly important, as this can impact the profitability of the company. Understanding and tracking this rating will help you discern how well your loss prevention practices work and can help you lower your rates.

How Experience Modification Rating Affects Profits

Experience Modification Rating is a way of rewarding or penalizing companies for their safety management. The lower your rating the lower your workers comp rates will be, while the higher your rating the higher your workers comp rates will be.

Employers that on average have a yearly premium that meets or exceeds $3,000 will often be supplied with an Experience Modification Rating. Each year, your Experience Modification is calculated by the NCCI (National Council on Compensation). In most instances, your rating is calculated using the three past years of date supplied by your insurance company. So for example, your 2019 EMR would be calculated based upon all claims from 2018, 2017, and 2016.

If your yearly premium is $100,000 and your Experience Mod is 1.20, then your premium will increase by $20,000 for that year, making your annual premium $120,000. Conversely, if your rating is.80, then your premium will decrease by $20,000 for that year, making your annual premium $80,000. As you can see, your workers compensation insurance rate is greatly impacted by this rating. So, if you’re trying to compete for business, or remain profitable in a competitive market, an XMOD of 1.20 could put you $40,000 behind, meaning if you have a margin of 35%, you would need an additional $114,285 in sales to just offset this loss.

How is the Experience Modification Rating calculated?

Having no claims is best. However, most companies do have some type of claim. Medical-only claims that don’t involve loss of time are reduced by 70% before being figured into the equation.

I will to attempt to explain the experience modification factor in layman’s terms. I’m not going to delve into the formula and its components but rather only those pieces that you have direct control over. I’ll touch on classifications, payrolls and losses.

Class Codes

Just like anything, without the proper foundation all things will crumble. This is definitely the case with your class code. If you have the wrong class code then you’ll have the wrong mod. As agents, we use the Scopes manual to give us class code descriptions and rules. You should ask to see the narrative for your specific code(s). Only then can you determine if you are properly classified. Some classifications allow for a division of payroll. In several states most of the codes allow for division of payroll. What I mean by this, if you fit into two (or more) codes, you can divide the payroll between them as long as you maintain separate payroll records. It would behoove you to do so, otherwise all of your payroll will go into the higher rated classification. Why pay more if you don’t have to?

Payroll

Payroll is another component that you control. Your payroll is your payroll. What you need to make sure of is that the auditor has assigned the proper payroll to each class code. Sounds rather simple doesn’t it? Don’t let if fool you. Did the auditor include overtime premium pay? He shouldn’t have. Is there division of payroll? Don’t rely on them to tell you about these things because they won’t.

Losses

For those of you who’ve had a bad experience with experience rating, you’re sure to know it’s the losses that were the primary culprit in your debit mod. Nothing affects your mod more so than the loss component. Do you even know what your losses are? Do you have any open claims? Do you have any losses that will be dropping off your next mod calculation? Are you picking up a bad year? Did your insurer recover any money through subrogation? Were any of your losses over-reserved? If there’s one thing to remember from this article, it is to stay on top of your losses.

The first $5,000 of each loss of time claim is counted at full value, and anything over that is discounted. This means that your Experience Mod is less affected by a large single claim than it is by multiple small claims.

So, what can you do to improve your Experience Modification Rate (EMR)?

Check out our suggestions here for how to lower your EMR.

As you can see, the XMOD of your company is not some crystal ball calculation, and is really just an overall insurance look of risk for your company. Understanding this, and looking at it as a simple mathematical calculation, will provide you with an understanding of how to lower your costs and increase your company’s profitability.

December 9, 2018
How to Improve Your Safety Culture
According to the Broken Windows Theory of Crime, if a broken window is left unrepaired, people walking past it will assume no-one is in charge. Within a short space of time, more windows will be broken creating a subtle indication that anything goes.

Crime is contagious and works like an epidemic.

So, if a broken window attracts more crime, does this mean that a workplace that is poorly cared for has more injuries?

And the answer is simple: yes.

According to a study by Dave DeJoy and Todd Smith from the University of Georgia’s College of Public Health, they found a well-kept site means safety is a priority.

Crime is contagious. So is not caring about where you work and the safety of your workmates. Organizations that allow untidiness and broken equipment are subconsciously saying that safety and equipment aren’t important. By fixing up the little things in your environment (e.g.: broken/unsafe machinery, PPE that needs replacing), you fix up the safety culture.

High performance companies keep their workplace cultures in check by balancing core areas. These are Unity, Compassionate Leadership and Communication. Together, these factors hit the sweet spot for trust (which is when people feel safe). Trust is integral for a high functioning culture.

As Simon Sinek says in “Start with a Why”, “only when individuals can trust the culture of an organization, will they take personal risks to advance the company. Great organizations become great because the people inside feel protected”.

This desire “to feel safe” is two-fold, it means feeling safe to excel and take risks in your career, but also knowing that you are protected from getting injured at work or from being bullied or harassed by colleagues.

3 Simple Steps to improve safety culture

To get to “Trust”, companies need to align themselves with the following three inter-related factors that are driven from the top, but are orchestrated at every level:

1.Unity– High performing workplaces are unified and have every-one working together as a team. There is no “Us versus Them” mentality.

Humans have a very strong and instinctive desire to be part of something bigger than themselves. It’s the same at a workplace. Staff want to be part of a group and a successful one that’s going somewhere. It’s important for companies to cultivate a strong sense of group identity. This means that all communication uses the terms “we” and us” and that clear goals are set.

Check Out: Be Aware of the Negative Aspects of Positive Reinforcement

2.Compassionate Leadership– We all need to feel loved and appreciated. It’s important that companies convey this to their staff. Not just through words, but through the right actions.

Staff and even visitors, to your workplace, will look for visible signs that staff are highly valued to the organization.

This means looking for evidence of:
- A tidy, clean kitchen and toilet area,
- Clean workspaces,
- Operational equipment,
- Clean PPE, and
- Happy staff working together.
By ensuring a tidy work environment and operational equipment, leaders ensure that subtle messages are given that only productive and safe behaviors are tolerated.

Other more intrinsic signs are that staff ‘s personal needs are considered important and that they are listened to, if they have any concerns.

Check Out: Successfully Persuade People That Workplace Injuries Are Preventable

3.Communication– Finally, we have the final step that communicates the other two areas but in a transparent, predictable manner. This is where communication connects staff emotionally to the information by using stories and metaphors.

Communication must be regular and transparent. Woe betide any CEO who dares to announce that safety is important, but in a later announcement declares that due to poor sales, the safety budget is going to be cut. Messages must always be transparent and credible.

They must also include:

Unity messages that working at the company is a team effort, that group goals are achievable and that looking out for teammates is required, while being responsible for your own safety.

Compassionate messages that the company wants the best for staff, that staff contributions are welcomed, and that safety is a priority.

Communication is also open at all levels and staff can offer feedback that is actioned rather than ignored.

By ensuring that these three factors are in balance, organizations ensure that their workplace is highly functional and cohesive, with trust being the centerpiece of how the organizations operates.
November 10, 2018
Security Policies and Security Documentation
This document is prepared and presented as a basic overview of contemporary best practices regarding written documentation — primarily security policy – needed within an effective security program. It is generic in that it is developed without a specific application or facility in mind. As such, all or parts of this information may not be appropriate for every building or facility. The intent is to provide fundamental information for non-technical and non-security readers.

Security documentation is the written material used to govern all aspects of a security program. Such documentation would include, at minimum, the following;
- Policies
  • Standards
  • Guidelines
  • Emergency Plans
  • Training Material
  • Informational Material
INTRODUCTION

It can be said that there are – in essence – only 3 reasons for performance failure in an organization’s security program;

(1) The is NO policy and procedure addressing the issue;
(2) There is a policy and procedure addressing the issue, but it was not followed;
(3) The policy and procedure addressing the issue was followed, but the contents were inadequate to properly address the circumstances of the particular situation.

In the triad of architectural, technological and operational security, the policies and procedures are the foundation of the later and are easily the most overlooked and most important aspect of a comprehensive and effective security program.

An organization’s policies and procedures are dynamic in that they must be continuously updated and constantly refined. Perhaps no other single aspect of an entity more clearly reflects its culture and philosophy than the body of written policies and procedures by which it governs.

STARTING AT THE TOP

Easily, the most common obstacle in any attempt to develop security policies and procedures is the failure to have the full support of top management. At the very least, the direct approval of the top position is necessary. Ideally, the policies and procedures should be reviewed and approved by the governing body – such as the Board of Directors – or a committee thereof. This support from the top of the organization must also be clearly reflected in the document itself.

Additionally, management must support the effort through “example”. This means that the policies and procedures must apply to everyone, regardless of their position within the organization. If exceptions are to be allowed, the exceptions should be stipulated in the policy and procedure document.

DISSEMINATION

If a “perfect” policy and procedure document could ever exist, even it would be of no value if the person’s subject to its contents and responsible for its implementation and enforcement are not aware of the details. Traditionally, binders of printed documents were reproduced and widely distributed so as to be accessible to the workforce. Today, fewer printed copies are prepared and there is a greater reliance on electronic media. A best practice is for the security department to have its own website on the organization’s intranet. Among the many benefits of this is the ability to make the security policies and procedures readily available for reviewing and downloading, ideally in the Adobe.PDF format.

The essential contents of the policies and procedures should also be presented during employee orientations and included in an employee handbook.

DESCRIPTIONS

Typical security documentation can be described as follows:

POLICY: The organizations stated security objectives and the requirements in general terms. Policy also establishes departmental responsibilities and cooperative interaction where issues may overlap. Most importantly, it conveys authority. Policies address specific issues, however, the statements are usually very broad and without detail.

STANDARDS: Standards establish minimum performance parameters. These are statements that are usually “actionable”, “measurable” and/or “observable”. Standards are more detailed that Policies, and can often be the same as or similar to technical specifications.

GUIDELINES: Policies and standards require writing in a very precise and special way that avoids misunderstanding. Because it is not a narrative style that most people are accustomed to reading, some helpful explanatory notes can aid in comprehension. Guidelines serve this purpose but are not “requirements” in themselves.

PROCEDURES: Procedures are directed at persons responsible for taking action under the various circumstances and conditions, or in response to certain events. These are very specific and step-by-step to the extent practical and reasonable. Where Policies and Standards may apply on an enterprise-wide basis, there will always be a large portion of the Procedures that must be specific to each individual location or facility.

EMERGENCY PLANS: Generally, a given facility will have need for several emergency plans, each addressing specific events. Emergency plans are constructed – in part – so that they may be referenced in real time during an event. The most common emergency plans are in response to such things as a fire or bomb threat. Additional plans may be needed for other events such as an attack or when the threat of attack is elevated. Procedures within Emergency Plans tell people “where” they will go and “what” they will do when the get there.

Check Out: Emergency Response Plan Basics

STRUCTURE

A key aspect to a good manual is that it is relatively easy for any user to find the information they are seeking. Because a policy and procedure document is continuously revised, a conventional, single document with sequential page numbering would be less than optimal. Additionally, it is desirable to numerate the contents other than through the employment of page numbers, since these tend to change during revision. It is also very desirable to facilitate later reference to individual “provisions” within the document, similar to the manner in which government laws are numerated. An example structure might be something similar to the following:

1 = Chapter
1.01 = Subchapter
1.01.01 = Section
1.01.01.01 = Subsection

It is advisable to create a standard format or template for the pages in order to facilitate the replacement of pages with revisions, and for readability. The template should incorporate a place for the title of the chapter and a place the date of the most recent revision. The document should contain a Table of Contents and a word index is a great enhancement.

Typically, an organization would have a general or master body of policies and procedures that are universally applicable across the entire global enterprise. Entities with multiple facilities will likely need to reserve certain subjects for further individualization for various locations such as different cities, states or countries in order to accommodate variations in applicable laws.

Additional policies and procedures will usually be needed based upon the specific nature of the organization, such as the business or industry in which it falls. Government regulatory compliance can be a major element of the document in some operations.

Where the policy manual is separate from the procedure manual – as is generally recommended – the relative procedures should reference the corresponding policy.

SCOPE

There are a myriad of subjects that might be addressed in a comprehensive set of security policies and procedures. Many of the common subjects will overlap with areas commonly addressed by the Human Resources department, and sometimes with other units as well. It is strongly recommended that legal counsel review and approve all policies prior to dissemination.

Typically, policy is written in a narrative and semi-general format and the only “rule” is that the message be clear and unambiguous. Each policy would generally state the organization’s position on the subject, and most importantly, it should delegate the necessary authority and responsibility for developing the corresponding procedures for execution and enforcement.

Procedures are typically written in a “step-by-step” format. As a guide, security procedures for security officers should be developed with a new guard on his or her first day on the job in mind.

ENFORCEMENT

If policies are important, than adherence to policy must be equally important. The policy MUST set forth appropriate consequences for violations of any policy, in the form of disciplinary action. Failure to consistently enforce policies might tend to negatively impact the legal enforceability of all policies. Where an organization lacks the collective will to act to enforce a policy, that policy should be changed or abolished. No policy should ever continue to exist for which enforcement action is not instituted consistently.

CONTENTS

No policy and procedure manual can be completely written in advance that will be applicable to any organization without customization and modification. The following is a list of basic subject areas – not in any specific order – that should be considered for inclusion in a security policy and procedure manual;

1.0 Statement from Executive Management
2.0 Security Department Mission, Purpose and Objectives
3.0 Security Department – General
3.1. Organizational Structure
3.2. Policy Enforcement
3.3. Investigations
3.4. Reporting
3.5. Background Investigations
3.6. Use of Force
3.7. VIPs
3.8. Communications
4.0 Security Department – Management
4.1. Authority
4.2. Qualifications
4.3. Liaison with Government Agencies
4.4. Periodic Departmental Reports
4.5. Security Awareness Training of Non-Security Personnel
4.6. Responsibilities
4.7. Staff Performance Appraisals
5.0 Security Department – Staffing
5.1. Qualifications
5.2. Uniforms
5.3. Equipment
5.4. Training
5.5. Post Orders
6.0 Security Department – Duties and Responsibilities
6.1. Policy Enforcement
6.2. Investigations
6.3. Response to Criminal Acts
6.4. Suspicious Persons
6.5. Emergency Conditions
7.0 Information Protection
7.1. Document Storage for Business Continuity
7.2. Document Destruction
7.3. “Clean Desk” Program
7.4. Trash Removal
8.0 Lost and Found
9.0 Courtesy Escorts
10.0 Cash Handling
11.0 Parking and Traffic Control
11.1. Vehicle Registration
11.2. Signage
11.3. Vehicle Removal
12.0 Security Responsibilities of All Employees
12.1. Reporting Incidents & Suspicious Situations
12.2. Cooperation in Investigations
12.3. Privacy and Consent to Search
12.4. Contacts by Governmental Agencies
12.5. Contacts by the Media
12.6. Cooperation during Emergencies
12.7. Protection of Assets
12.8. Prohibited Items
12.9. False Reporting Prohibited
12.10.Employee Conduct
13.0 Lock and Key Control
14.0 Material Passes
15.0 I.D. Credentials
15.1. Employees
15.2. Visitors
15.3. Vendors / Contractors
16.0 Workplace Violence
17.0 Ethics
18.0 Medical Emergencies
19.0 Fire and Life Safety
19.1. Systems Inspection & Testing
19.2. Unsafe Conditions
20.0 Audits of the Security Department
21.0 Access Control
22.0 CCTV
22.1. Overt Surveillance
22.2. Covert Surveillance
23.0 Security Screening
23.1. Pedestrians
23.2. Vehicles
23.3. Parcels and Packages
24.0 Emergency Conditions
24.1. Preparation of Emergency Plans
24.2. Incident Command
24.3. Drills and Exercises
October 25, 2018
Ten Safety Tips at Work
Workplace injuries are relatively commonplace nowadays, this article will hopefully point out to you of 10 easy methods to prevent serious injuries from occurring.
1. Keep work areas uncluttered to circumvent falls
In accordance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, falls are quite typical workplace injuries. In addition to the statistic, the Bureau reported that one 4th of falls were from the height of 10 ft or fewer. What this means is workers are stumbling, sliding, or falling consequently of disorganized areas or slippery flooring.

Injuries from slips, trips or falls could possibly be avoided by striving to maintain work areas tidy and uncluttered. This might be enforced by regularly scheduled cleanings, because it is simple for work areas to rapidly accumulate clutter.
1. Promote a culture centered on safety
This responsibility initiates from the managers of the place of work. Through classes, orientations, along with other interactions with employees’ managers and administrators hold the chance to stress the significance of workplace safety.

Because they build this relationship with employees, hopefully the whole work environment will start to take safety to heart and can begin concentrating on maintaining a secure work space. Managers can conduct scheduled assessments to locate potential hazards and train employees preventing these from becoming real problems.

Check Out: How to Improve Your Safety Culture
1. Ensure ease of access to emergency exits and equipment shutoffs
By continuing to keep work areas organized and free from clutter, the employees will consequently be maintaining obvious and immediate access to emergency exits and equipment shutoffs in the situation of a serious safety emergency. Keeping obvious pathways to those two areas well ensure quick exits and reactions in case of a security threat.

Check Out: Emergency Exits – OSHA Standards
1. Reduce work environment stress
When employees become consumed with stress or are excessively-tired, they become vulnerable to accidents or acting in an unsafe manner. High amounts of worker stress could be prevented by creating a wide-open style of communication between employees and administrators to ensure that employees have the freedom to speak when they’re feeling strained or stressed. Permitting employees to adopt regular breaks during the day will give you a way for employees to de-stress and recharge, hopefully stopping any safety dangers.
1. Lift heavy objects properly
When heavy products are lifted improperly, the may cause serious back injuries to employees. By training employees on the way to lift such products with proper form, you’ll have the ability to minimize back injuries.

Heavy objects ought to be lifted lightly and effectively using upper thighs and legs, as opposed to the back. The product ought to be held near to the body as it is being transported, to be able to supply the most stability.

Check Out: Safe Lifting Training
1. Provide enough training for employees on all equipment and tools
When employed in any industrial setting where large machinery exists, it is necessary that workers are trained and understand how all the machinery works. This proper understanding may prevent employees from using machinery improperly and for that reason will minimize injuries. Too, all heavy machinery ought to be regularly checked to make certain that it’s running properly.
1. Report all potential risks immediately
It goes together with developing a culture of safety place of work safety factors are everybody’s responsibility. Managers and administrators should encourage all employees to inform them of an unsafe condition they see within the work environment to be able to avoid injuries.
1. Possess an understanding of chemical hazards
Utilization of harsh and effective chemicals are typical in many places of work. Due to this, it is crucial that employees possess an understanding and knowledge of the character of the chemicals they’re using. Employees ought to know the effects and potential risks that include dealing with chemicals.

Together with understanding of those chemicals, employees can safeguard themselves to prevent hand injuries by utilizing glove protection. Chemical resistant gloves can be found, such as this flock lined version, or these triple dipped PVC gloves.
1. Use correct personal protective equipment for your specific job
Many, if not all industries require some type of PPE for workers. It is crucial that employees learn how to use their PPE and that the gear feels safe and well-fitting.

Gloves are among the most typical and easily accessible types of PPE. They are available in a multitude of protection levels, plus they provide benefits including comfort, puncture and chemical resistance, and maintained dexterity and versatility. The kind of glove you select is dependent on the workplace atmosphere and the level of protection needed. Disposable nitrile or latex industrial gloves provide superb protection for many circumstances, while keeping excellent dexterity. For more robust conditions, a sturdier work glove is often appropriate.
1. Correctly store chemicals
Since chemicals are typical in many places of work, you should understand how to store them properly. They must be stored in sealable containers on a closable cabinet or perhaps a sturdy shelf possessing a front-edge lip. The closeable cabinet or front-edge lip may prevent any containers of chemicals from falling and spilling from the storage space.
October 24, 2018

Measuring Workplace Health and Safety Performance

The monitoring and measuring of health and safety performance is a key component of a company’s health and safety management process, as it allows management to see the effectiveness of any new policies and procedures that have been implemented recently. Without proper measurements to see the results of any changes, it is impossible to know whether those changes are having the required effect. If they are, they should be kept. If they are not, then further changes are needed, or a completely new approach adopted.

There are two ways of monitoring health and safety performance; active/proactive and reactive monitoring.

Active/proactive monitoring: This involves inspections and checks in order to ensure that policies and procedures are being implemented correctly (if they are being implemented at all that is!), to prevent accidents and incidents from occurring. With regards to health and safety, prevention is much more preferable to cure, and avoiding accidents will benefit workers as well as management.

Reactive monitoring: As the name suggests, this method of monitoring involves looking at what has gone wrong (i.e. an accident or incident taking place) and then deciding what can be done to prevent it from happening again. Whilst the new procedures and controls may benefit those in the future, it is little comfort to the worker that was injured (or worse) in this instance.

Check Out: Tips for Improving the Reporting of Accidents

In order to be useful, measurements must be reliable and accurate, otherwise the whole system is undermined, and much-needed changes to prevent future accidents or illness may not be introduced. Examples include reporting all accidents, even minor ones where the person was treated from items in the first aid box and did not need any time off work. Whilst it is tempting for a person not to bother reporting such a minor accident, it may be the case that the same equipment of process is causing this minor injury quite often, and a simple health and safety measure could be introduced to prevent it occurring, and possibly preventing a more serious injury in the future.

Many companies struggle with developing health and safety performance measures, often focusing on a single statistic such as accident numbers. To be truly effective, a range of measurements is needed covering a variety of health and safety issues, which means if one statistic is not accurate (e.g. minor accidents are not being reported), other measurements will help to contribute to the overall picture.

Setting Safety Goals and Measurements

Development of specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-sensitive (SMART) goals is important to the success of any safety and health program. Unfortunately, many people make the mistake of focusing solely on the desired outcomes in the development of their goals. They fail to develop activity-based goals that will help them to get to those outcomes. To increase the chances of success, develop both activity-based and outcome-based goals.

To learn more about setting SMART Goals, check out this post

Examples of outcome-based and activity-based goals are below.

Outcome based goals	Activity based goals
% Reduction in OSHA recordable injuries	Investigations completed on time
%Reduction in workers’ compensation claims	Investigation identifies causes
% Reduction in workers’ compensation costs	Investigation identifies action plan
Reduction in vehicle accidents per mile driven	Action plan implemented
	Safety meetings held as scheduled
Improvement in corporate audit results	Agenda promoted in advance
Reduction in observed hazards	Safety records updated and posted
Reduction in average cost per claim	Inspections conducted as scheduled
Frequency of all injuries/illnesses	Inspection findings brought to closure
Severity of all injuries/illnesses	Management safety communications
Lost-time accidents	Management safety participation
	Near miss/near hit reports
	Discipline/violations reports
Absenteeism rates
Productivity per employee rates
Production error rates
Incidence of workplace violence
Incidence of accidental releases	Rate of employee Suggestions/complaints
	Resolution of suggestions/complaints
Self-audits for regulatory compliance	Safety committee initiatives
Contractor recordable injuries/illnesses
Total manufacturing process incidents	Job safety analyses
Total transportation incidents	Employee participation rates
	Employee housekeeping
Percent safety goals achieved	Employee safety awareness
Training conducted as scheduled	Employee at-risk behavior
Safety training test scores	Supervisor/manager participation
Statistical tracking for programs	Supervisor/manager communication
Statistical process control	Supervisor/manager enforcement
System safety analyses	Supervisor/manager safety emphasis
Contractor safety activities	Supervisor/manager safety awareness
Positive reinforcement activities	Injury/illness cases reported on time
OSHA audit – no citations	Statistical reports issued on time
OSHA audit – citations, no fines	Ratio of safety and health staff to workforce
Willful violations	Safety and health spending per employee
Serious or repeat violations	Titles in safety and health library
Other-than-serious violations	Technical assistance bulletins issued
Total dollar amount of penalties	Policies and procedures updated on time
Average time to abate reported hazard	Wellness program participation rates
Average time to respond to complaint	Fire protection audit

October 15, 2018

Crisis Management – Are You Prepared?
Research by Oxford Metrica shows that it is not the fact of suffering a crisis that damages a business – in reality no business can eliminate the possibility of a problem- rather, what really counts is how the organization is seen to manage the crisis: take control quickly, respond professionally, and communicate well and the organization is likely to prosper. Dither, hide or appear to be uncaring, and tough – even terminal – challenges may lie ahead.

As a result, thorough crisis preparedness is essential so that the organization can be off the starting blocks like an Olympic sprinter. And – just like athletics – what used to be speedy enough to win a gold medal is now far from world class. They used to say that the first 24 hours of a crisis were crucial. The speed and spread of crises today – largely driven by the immediacy and reach of on-line media – makes a mockery of this golden rule. Being prepared before the crisis breaks and being able to respond almost instantaneously allows organizations to retain control over their destiny.
This means that all the old lessons of crisis preparedness still apply (but more so):
- Understand your areas of vulnerability
- Develop and implement crisis management plans and processes
- Rehearse the plan and enhance it
- Train your people, especially those required to act as a spokesperson in a crisis
- Monitor the landscape
- Engage in pro-active issues management
But the power of online media presents a new and potentially scary dynamic. Digital media has enormous power to both create and destroy reputations. And many organizations are still grappling with how to harness online media in the face of this potentially business-critical challenge.

Failing to do this leaves the organization frighteningly vulnerable in today’s world. If a crisis is gestating online, then the organization must have the capability to also manage it online. Sticking to traditional media has the potential for at least three negative results. Firstly, you may fail to reach those people most affected and concerned by the crisis – the people talking about it online. Secondly, you lose the opportunity to engage with the online community which has the power to spread positive messages about what the organization is doing to deal with the situation. And finally, you may further escalate the situation by communicating bad news to people who were previously unaware that there was a problem.

The key to success is the combination of traditional reputation management insights and expertise, and the application of the latest on-line reputation management tools to get the message through.

As the start point for online reputation management, companies should:
- Develop crisis management “dark sites” to respond quickly, clearly and effectively to emerging issues and incidents
- Ensure that it has identified and set up the infrastructure to communicate via social media such as Twitter and Facebook
- Implement online media monitoring to track what is being said about them in cyberspace
- Employ search engine optimization to ensure the company’s perspective is heard loud and clear rather than being swamped by the views of others
- Develop the capability to quickly create content – latest information, briefing papers, podcasts, blogs – for online media
The internet has the power to spark and spread a crisis: but used effectively, digital tools have enormous potential to help organizations prevent and manage them too.

The Importance of Communication During Disaster Management A crisis is defined by a series of events occurring rapidly and unplanned in an area that you manage. The importance of excellent communication cannot be stated enough, because all your decisions as the emergency manager are based on the information gained from all the responders and witnesses to the disaster.

In fact, a good emergency management plan will have a dedicated communication position and their sole responsibility is to coordinate all the other communication to provide the manager with a single stream of communication.

I have witnessed a manager trying to control a crisis, while using a company mobile phone, his personal mobile phone, a radio handset and people nearby speaking to him. Where do you think his ability to actually manage this crisis was?

Check Out: Strategies Behind Crisis Management

First failure point in disasters is the communication systems

It is strange to see just how many managers rely on mobile phones as the company communication system during a disaster. Take a second to think about how long a mobile system stays functional for during a disaster until it is overloaded with users and crashes.

This is where the importance of selecting the right communication equipment is highlighted. If the equipment fails, it doesn’t matter how skilled your emergency management team is, they cannot talk to each other passing on vital data.

Consider reviewing your emergency equipment for;
- Do your company mobile phones have all employees’ numbers in the contact list
- Do you have spare batteries, fully charged and ready to go for all phones relied on during the emergency?
- Will your landline phone system still be in use if the power/computer goes down?
- How do you manage multiple conversations on your mobile without hanging up on each other?
- Does always everyone on the response team have their communication equipment with them
The second failure point is lack of efficiency using the communication equipment

When conducting practices, it is easy to speak slowly and clearly with all waiting patiently for you to finish. This is no way to practice for emergencies.

Try this instead. Give everyone a radio/phone and tell them all to walk briskly around a decent sized park or oval nearby for a minute or two.

You move to the middle and then call them. Ask them to describe what they see quickly as they walk past the different objects. Listen to what happens next. If this doesn’t instill in you the importance of good communications during a disaster nothing will.

What you will experience is;
- Rapid breathing as adrenalin kicks in and people rush their spoken words
- Some cutting over others as they are not listening to the comm’s but thinking about what they will say next.
- A lot of dead radio space as people are trying to understand how to describe what they see to you and forgetting that they have the phone/radio on
As a direct result of this little experiment you will also get a taste of what it will be like to try and listen to 10-20 different messages coming at you in the center.

Check Out: Steps for Designing a Workplace Crisis Management Plan

How to improve your communications

Assign callsigns and radio codes for building names and locations for example so that you reduce the time each person stays on the network.

Assign a Communications Leader to handle all inbound and outbound calls by becoming the center spoke and allow you to make decisions and not take messages.

Good emergency management means everyone has a role to do and someone needs to be responsible for ensuring your communication systems will stand up to the challenge. Don’t just focus on fire extinguishers and first aid kits as these will do no good to you, if you cannot get the messages to your emergency team.

Even just four people in your communication system means there are eleven channels of communication that messages will flow along. Imagine how many communication channels need managing for 20 response staff.
October 10, 2018
10 Reasons Why Safety Training is Often Ineffective
There are a number of reasons why so many safety courses fail to provide results in the workplace.

Ten of the most common reasons for the lack of results in safety training
- The most important one is that the environment to which the participants return is not blessed with effective leadership. This ineffective leadership does not encourage or foster a safe environment. Often, there is a culture of blame when there is an accident or incident.
Check Out: How Effective Leaders Use Positive Reinforcement For the Greatest Effect
- Next, the training is purely knowledge-based and not behavioral based. This means that whilst the participants may leave the course with extra knowledge, they don’t necessarily know how to apply it. Academic teaching methods are used, theories are expounded and there are few practical elements in the training. Safety is an emotional subject and the training programs must be designed with care.
- Safety Training can be boring in the wrong training hands. This is a great turn off for so many people attending the courses because they become disengaged and will not accept any new concepts or change their behavior back in the workplace.
- Frequently, the person taking the training course does not understand how people learn. This means that most of the money, effort and time is wasted and the participants become cynical and unwilling to embrace new ideas.
- Because so many training courses attempt too much, the group members rapidly go into an overload coma. When this occurs, no learning takes place and consequently no behavioral change back in the workplace.
- The participants are subjected to endless videos and “death by PowerPoint™” This means that at least two thirds of the group members are not reached by the information.
- The training is not fun. Worldwide research shows that training which is fun with plenty of humor is much more effective in terms of the retention and attention of participants. Furthermore, there is a greater acceptance of new ideas and concepts.
- The managers are not trained with the rest of the staff. This means that there is always the opportunity for a greater disconnect between the two groups in terms of common goals and objectives.
- There are no training objectives which are shared with the participants. They are not included in the process of setting goals and objectives nor are the involved in deciding how these are to be reached. There are no expectations set for performance after the training.
- There is no follow-up coaching on the job so that training is taken out of context and is irrelevant. There is no measurement of changed behavior.
If the participants in the training are not asked for a commitment to a safer working environment, it is unlikely that they will spontaneously give it.
October 4, 2018
Essential Elements of an Emergency Operations Center
Many people assume a security operations center only functions as an information crossroads during a crisis. A quality security operations center serves as a central hub for all safety and security operations. The operations center is the focal point for receiving, analyzing, disseminating and acting upon the information that flows through the center.

For participants to perform their tasks in a coordinated fashion, the design of the operations center must consider how work is performed, the number and types of staff in the room at the same time, the design and function of specialized furniture and the audiovisual systems type and placement.

In order to establish an adequately equipped and modern security operations center (SOC), managers have to include IT (plus audiovisual system subset) communications, space planning and furnishings. Everything mentioned must be in sync during normal operations, to ensure optimal operation during a crisis so that staff can collaborate and direct the activities both in the operations center and in the field.

Here are a few important elements of modern security operations centers:
- Facility design and layout: There are several ways to approach emergency operations center design and layout. The room layout could be a mix of different styles such as the traditional command center where rows of workstations are placed facing video screens, in an open layout style where workstations are placed around the room for open views, or the cluster style where workstations are placed together by function.
- Specialized furniture: The best furnishings for emergency operations centers are customized for each individual application and constructed of materials that will sustain 24/7 operations. This furniture should be ergonomic in design and flexible to meet the needs of the staff who will be working long periods of time under crisis conditions. For example, workstations with a monitor that can swivel, which allows the screen to be shared easily.
- Communications and dispatch consoles: These consoles are often in operation constantly throughout a crisis directing and coordinating activities in the field and keeping the operations staff informed of rapidly changing conditions. Because this equipment is important for proper management of an emergency, with operators spending long hours at the consoles, comfort and trusted functionality are paramount for effective performance.
As security operations centers design and functionality evolve, lessons will be learned and room layout, staffing and the tools they use will evolve with it.

With that in mind, you need to account for the steps to setting up the entire security operation center(SOC).

Check Out: What to Include in a COOP Plan

Steps to outfitting a new security operations center:

Formulate essential resources and assemble them: Members of the decision-making team may often be dispersed geographically and should be connected by:
- Large screen video walls
- Video conferencing capabilities
- Telephones, speaker phones or headsets.
- IT network with internet connectivity
Utilize emergency management planning and execution tools: Essential information systems should be shared by geographically separated operating locations. Software designed for SOC management should be in place and operations standardized.

Check Out: Strategies Behind Crisis Management

Establish separate conferencing and breakout areas: Agree upon the emergency operations center design and space allocation. Where possible, separate conferencing activities from the main operations center. Conferencing areas should have phone lines, internet connection, specialized furniture, whiteboards and integrated audiovisual systems.

Acquire large screen video wall: The latest video wall technology is essential as a primary tool for seeing and hearing what’s going on at affected areas. Utilize the latest security management software to gain the most from a video wall system. Modern video wall systems allow you to acquire multiple images, size and place them on the screens, and establish layouts with preassigned hot keys so that combinations of images can be displayed quickly. The video wall can be used for video conferencing, collaboration, directing operations, training and record keeping. Choose space-saving LCD video wall systems for relatively low purchase price, dependability and maintenance. Where appropriate, include integrated sound for low cost and ease of operation.

A security operations center that is not properly setup in design and equipment will not function properly.
September 30, 2018
Steps For Designing a Workplace Crisis Management Plan
There are six steps for defining a crisis management plan that can be easily remembered using the word “CRISIS.” Each letter of the word stands for a critical step that is necessary to be prepared to deal with a crisis. If you want to be fully prepared for an emergency, then go through each of the blow steps.

CRISIS Management Plan Development
- Complete a threat analysis: Before you begin any planning or preparation, the smart thing to do is to do a threat analysis to consider likely crisis situations. This is usually done in a brain storming session by contemplating a list of likely disasters. These could include natural disasters like storms or earthquakes or it could include man-made disasters like terrorist bombs or war. Other crisis situations might result from loss of key data, computer systems, or cyber intrusion. Although crisis planning usually is focused on these extreme situations, it would also be possible to include possible threats from competitors, loss of key accounts, or unwanted publicity due to misconduct by key employees. During the threat analysis phase, it is usually best to consider the widest possible range of crisis situations for your organization, and decide later which are the ones that you want to plan for in the next step – scenario planning.
- Review possible contingencies – scenario planning: Now that you have listed the possible threats and crisis situations that your organization might face, it is appropriate to define which ones are the most likely and perhaps most threatening. Some situations might be obvious. For example, if your building is located near a major river that is known to flood the area periodically, then this is a scenario for which you will want to prepare. Other threats may not be as likely, but if they did occur, would be devastating. For example the treat of a cyber-terrorist attack targeted at your firm might seem remote; however, if it or a similar event occurred that caused the loss of all your important electronic files and computer systems it might be an unrecoverable event unless you had a plan. So, the key to this step is to select the most important contingencies and define the possible scenario in more detail. In other words, if this particular contingency occurred, what would the scenario look like? Defining what the situation would look like will help to define the recovery plans for that scenario.
- Identify critical preparations: After you have done some planning for the most likely or important scenarios, examine the critical preparations that must be put in place. These could be critical infrastructure like prepositions supplies, emergency kits, or back-up electrical generators. It could also be other “hot sites” for computers or data centers that would take over in the event of loss of your primary data centers. It might also include more mundane preparations like emergency calling trees, home addresses and cell phone numbers for critical personnel.
- Select and appoint a crisis management team: After you have planned for scenarios, and identified critical preparations, then you must select and appoint a crisis management team. If you have multiple scenarios, then you might have different people designated for the team depending upon the situation. Most importantly, designate a clear chain of command for the team to take charge during a crisis. They must not only have the responsibility, but also the authority to act and make decisions. If both the lines of responsibility and authority are not clear, then there will be confusion and arguments among the team when the crisis erupts which will cause them to loose focus and valuable time better spent in dealing with the actual crisis itself. If there are critical decision points where the team must get permission from the CEO or other key official, then they must understand their scope of authority to act and how to quickly reach the final authority during the crisis. Defining the key players and how decisions will get made is important to the success of the crisis management plan. Once the team is in place, they need to be trained and have an opportunity to work together as they review the plans.
- Inform & educate everyone: Once the plans and team is defined, then it is important to inform and educate everyone else. Explain important procedures like evacuation drills, emergency exits, and what is expected under the various likely scenarios. In large office complexes, you might designate assembly areas outside the building, and have people on every floor designated to do a final sweep to account for everyone during a building evacuation. Other scenarios might require educating receptionists to understand what to do if they get a bomb threat and what information to listen for when receiving the call. Thus, make sure that everyone in the organization at least understands the basics of what they might be expected to do when a crisis erupts.
- Support practice, debriefing and ongoing planning: Planning is never perfect, but it can be refined through practice. It takes a commitment by senior management to support practice drills and spend the time to review what happened during the practice sessions to refine the plan. One would hope that the plans would never need to be exercised in a real crisis; however, there is no substitute for a well rehearsed plan when a crisis occurs. Most crisis plans should be practiced at least once per year, and the plan should be updated. Key personnel will change, information and phone numbers will need to be confirmed, and key parts of the plan might need to be refreshed. It will be of little use to pull out an out-of-date plan during a crisis only to find out that the information is wrong or that the plan will not work because of changed circumstances.
The key to success in a crisis is having a realistic plan ready to execute. Good prior planning will identify not only the necessary steps, but also the required advance preparation of supplies, people, and training. Use the steps of “CRISIS” format and be ready to deal with the emergencies that your organization might face. You will be glad to have invested the time in advance of the situation.

Check Out: Crisis Management – Are You Prepared?

Five Tips on Developing a Crisis Management Plan for Your Business

One of the mistakes most commonly made is to assume that all crisis plans are the same. Having worked with a wide variety of Crisis Management Teams from many different industries and sectors, they can differ significantly according to the structure and function of the Crisis Management Team. This article is intended to help you to ensure that the plan you produce is appropriate to the team and purpose for which it is designed.

There are five principal steps which should be undertaken as part of the process of producing the plan, as discussed below.

The first step should always be to determine what type of team you are writing the plan for. Is it a strategic team or tactical? It may even be a mix of the two and the plan needs to reflect this. A plan may require a completely different format and content depending on the function of the team for which it is designed. Is the team responsible for Crisis Communications? Is it offering strategic direction or practical instructions? The team’s role is the principal determining factor in the content of the plan.

Secondly, it is essential to understand how the team operates. What is the structure? What are the team dynamics? Is it a virtual team? A good plan will reflect reality – writing a plan which tries to force a team to work in a way with which they are uncomfortable is inevitably counterproductive – the plan will be ignored and therefore will become irrelevant. Should the plan assume that all issues are addressed collectively? Does the team structure mandate structured review points? Find out how they work and construct the plan around it.

Check Out: Strategies Behind Crisis Management

Thirdly, what does the team want from the plan? Some plans offer lots of detailed information, others high-level checklists and flow charts. There is no “right” answer, except that the plan must give team members the level of direction and information that they feel is useful and appropriate. Typically, for example, presenting Senior Management with a plan full of pages of close-typed text is pointless. Equally, at a tactical level more information may be required. This can only be determined by working with the team.

The fourth step is to make sure that the layout of the plan is logical. The best plans map to the response process. Content should be ordered in a logical progression which guides the team through the steps of the Crisis Management process in the order in which they are likely to arise. There is nothing more frustrating than leafing through a plan to try to find what you need in Appendix C when you are operating under pressure. If my next step is to conduct an impact assessment, I would expect to see the impact assessment form on the next page, not buried in an Appendix. Remember – above all else, the Plan is a working tool.

Check Out: Essential Elements of an Emergency Operations Center

Fifth and potentially most important is to get the team to rehearse using the plan before you finalize it. Remember, these are the people who must use it in anger. Regardless of how good you think it is or how much input you have had from the team in developing it, there will be bits that just don’t work in practice or which can be improved. Also, people are much more likely to use the plan and follow the process if they feel that they have had a hand in developing it.

Often, Crisis Management Plans are developed independently of Crisis Management Teams, who are then expected to use them – clearly, this isn’t likely to promote engagement with the process. Every crisis plan is unique to the team it supports and the organization for which it is designed. There are no short cuts to preparing them and attention needs to be paid to the detail to ensure that it does what is required. The best way to validate your crisis plan is to run a scenario-based exercise as a table top and see how the team(s) find it – and develop it from the feedback.
September 28, 2018