April 29, 2009
Swine Flu part 2 - links to helpful resources for employers
To follow up on my colleague Jon's Monday post on Swine Flu Meets Workers Comp, we've compiled a list of swine flu news and planning resources for employers. How Employers Should Respond to the Swine Flu Outbreak - the Workplace Safety Compliance Practice Group of the employment law firm Jackson Lewis suggests 8 steps for employers to take in responding...February 28, 2008
Cool tools
From time to time, we like to share a mixed bag of useful tools ranging from health and safety resources to productivity enhancers. Here are our latest finds: Compliance - State labor legislation enacted in 2007 - the Monthly Labor Review's 29-page PDF offers a summary of major labor changes on a state-by-state basis, including minimum wage, immigration initiatives, child...January 24, 2008
Health Wonk Review and some handy new tools
A new edition of Health Wonk Review is being hosted by Vince Kuraitis at e-CareManagement blog, including posts about in-store clinics, physicians, problems and solutions in health systems, and cats, dogs and kangaroos. Suffice it to say that this is the first time kangaroos have surfaced in HWR, and I will leave it to you to discover why. This edition...September 26, 2007
Brave new world: genetic testing and workers compensation
The good news is there are new technologies that hold the promise of ending fraudulent or inappropriate disability and workers’ compensation claims. The bad news is that you'll need to get in the business of harvesting and tracking your employee's DNA to get there, venturing into relatively uncharted legal waters. Workforce Management and BBC both discuss the new technologies in...May 14, 2007
Free Web seminars: Standard/Universal Precautions and Communicating with Spanish Speaking Employees
We've learned about a few free seminars that we thought we would pass along to you. We don't have any connection with either of these groups, but they are both sponsored by reputable organizations and sound interesting. Standard/Universal Precautions: Compliance, Beliefs, and Barriers - Wednesday, May 16 The North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Center is sponsoring...March 19, 2007
New tools & resources for our sidebar
We've just completed some housekeeping on our sidebar resources, making a few additions and deletions to ensure things are up to date. If you haven't noted this part of our blog yet, take a quick scroll through the column to the right - we've compiled hundreds of links in various categories to workers compensation and related resources. Here are some...January 30, 2007
Linkapalooza - new tools and resources
Here are a dozen new links ranging from safety resources to tech tools. We'll be adding most of these to our sidebar, where we have collected an ever-expanding array of organizations, publications, resources, and tools - check them out! Florida Agsafe - a great resource page of agricultural safety and disaster information from the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department of...November 6, 2006
Workers comp costs and benefits - Current state rankings
Here’s a question for you: If you were to ask any employer in America how his or her workers’ compensation costs compare to similar employers in other states, what do you think the answer would be? Well, I’ve been doing that with employers I meet for a long time, and I have yet to meet one who thinks his or...June 5, 2006
News Roundup - WV, OH, WTC, hurricanes, and the billion dollar derriere
West Virginia - Employers will be facing some confusion - and likely some change in rates - as BrickStreet Mutual Insurance, the entity that has replaced the prior state fund, switches over to the NCCI system of employee classification and rating. Under the prior state system, there were only 94 employee classifications, and under the new system there will be...April 21, 2006
Readers reply: Premium comparison and safe patient handling
State Premium Ranking - Thanks to Mike Manley for pointing us to the 2004 Oregon Workers’ Compensation Premium Rate Ranking Summary, which offers a comparison of premium by state. Mike is the Research Coordinator at the Information Management Division of Oregon's Department of Consumer and Business Services. He also points us to some other workers comp studies that look very...March 2, 2006
Short takes: HR resources & tools
Is a good employer also a good investment? That's a question that Brent Hunsberger from The Oregonian's At Work blog explores in some depth in a recent posting. Jerome Dodoson of Parnassus Investments noted that companies listed in Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work for regularly outperform the market. That's a philosophy we ascribe to: doing the right thing is...November 3, 2005
News roundup: Guns, depression, CA doctors, translation services, and more
Kudos - Congratulations to friend and colleague Joe Paduda on the one-year anniversary of his excellent blog, Managed Care Matters. If this blog isn�t on your regular reading list yet, it should be! Guns at Work - Thanks to Michael Fitzgibbon for pointing us to a post at Workplace Prof Blog about guns at work: "Oklahoma and Kentucky have enacted...October 17, 2005
Insurance and safety glossaries
Have you checked out the Cool Tools in our sidebar lately? We periodically add insurance and business calcuators, glossaries, and other reference material and tools that we find in our travels. Here are a few recent finds we'll be adding: Glossary of Reinsurance Terms Manitoba Centre for Health Policy's Concept Dictionary Complete Glossary of Health Insurance Terminology Health & Safety...October 6, 2005
Reducing firefighter injuries - free online symposium
This week is Fallen Firefighter Memorial Weekend, a time to salute the brave people who sacrificed their lives to make the world a safer place for you and me. Firefighters are out there on the front lines every day, risking injury and death. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 100 firefighters die at work each year. At...August 16, 2005
Short takes: OSHA inspections, HR jargon, Trump blog, Ohio scandal
OSHA inspections. Meg Fletcher of Business Insurance reports that OSHA is targeting about 4,000 high-hazard worksites for inspections in the coming year. Inspections will first target sites that "reported 12 or more injuries or illnesses resulting in days away from work, restricted work activity or job transfer for every 100 full-time workers in 2003. Nursing homes and random sites will...August 6, 2005
Tools & tips: e-mods, fleet control, HR, and more
Today, a smorgasbord - the weekend is a good time to clean my bookmark file of a variety of tips and tools that I've been collecting: Experience Modification Factors - Understanding the Workers Compensation Modification Factor is a good 3-page overview of the factors that drive an e-mod. Also of note, Top Ten Ways to Reduce a Mod - the...July 13, 2005
Workers comp meets Internet radio and TV
If there’s one thing that the web is good for, it’s uniting people with niche interests. When we first embarked on a workers comp weblog, we hoped there would be some interest in the topic but we weren’t quite sure what to expect. As we near the two-year mark, we’ve been gratified by the response and pleased that some other...June 23, 2005
New weblogs added to the resource sidebar
When we first started Workers Comp Insider, related weblogs were far and few between. We are pleased to see new entrants are joining the so-called blogisphere almost daily now - be sure to visit our expanding blogroll to check out blogs that we find of interest. Here are a few that we've added today: We're pleased to see that our...May 9, 2005
Qualified interpreters can save lives
We've blogged before about language in the workplace, the impact that language has on safety, and the increased risk of death that non-English speaking immigrants face at work. We've also talked about the need for cultural competence in health care in the face of changing worker demographics. In a post entitled People are dying because of their language, Jordan Barab...April 11, 2005
New tools and weblogs for our resource sidebar
Today, we have an array of new widgets and reference materials to add to the "Cool Tools" section of our sidebar, along with a few new weblog discoveries to add to our ever-growing list. Want to know what the cost of a poor hiring choice is? Compute the cost of a bad hire or calculate the cost of turnover -...February 7, 2005
Managers' tool kit: new healthcare, socioeconomic, and interactive resources
It's been awhile since we've added new resources to the toolbar on the right. We hope to create a one-stop shop of valuable workers compensation, HR, medical, and health & safety resources for industry practitioners, as well as for workers. Here are some recent finds: Since 1997, Pam Pohly's management guide for healthcare executives has been seeking and posting a...January 17, 2005
Free safety educational materials
Some state workers compensation authorities have very robust educational materials and information on their websites, and from time to time, we will point to tools or resources that we find. Several states have state funds - that is, the state provides insurance to employers, either exclusively or on a competitive basis. One might expect a certain level of depth to...October 20, 2004
Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance
How do you hire the right worker for the right job but avoid violating the ADA in the process? Michael at George's Employment Blawg has done stellar work in unearthing some great Web resources on the topic so we are going to pass on the fruits of his labors and offer thanks for the pointers. First and foremost, every job...October 18, 2004
Additions to our resource and weblog sidebar
It's been awhile since we added any weblogs or tools to the sidebar, but we've been collecting some excellent new links. If you haven't checked out the sidebar over on the right, make sure you do...we try to dig up some of the best workers comp-related web resources. Take the time to browse around every now and again - you'll...July 22, 2004
Weblog roundup: subrogation, TB in DC & VA, CFO survey, PBMs, robots, & more
Construction site injury - can someone other than a comp carrier be liable? - subrogation case law from Michigan Comp Law. A few recent offerings from Jordan Barab at Confined Space: TB Control in DC and VA and Immigrant Worker Fatalities - the Facts Duke University CFO Survey - Duke University�s Fuqua School of Business polls the CFOs of both...May 19, 2004
Estimate your company's turnover costs, absence costs
OK, I admit it. I have a penchant for benchmarking tools and calculators. Here are two cost estimating tools from AON: The Turnover Cost Estimator (TM) calculates your direct and indirect costs of turnover to determine the magnitude of the problem and provide a baseline for addressing turnover problems. The Absence Cost Estimator (TM) calculate both your direct and indirect...May 6, 2004
Business and technology tools
What? You mean there's a world beyond insurance?! Here are a few good general business and technology tools and resources we've discovered recently. QuickMBA is an online knowledge resource for business administration operated by the Internet Center for Management and Business Administration, Inc. "Topics are presented as frameworks and summaries in the various subjects of business administration, as taught in...March 17, 2004
State resources - Ohio, Utah, Pennsylvania
Ohio - KivaCom is a useful site that aggregates workers' comp news extracts on such topics as health and safety issues, ADA, HIPAA, labor news, and legal news. The site also provide Ohio legal case summaries. While geared to workers' comp practioners in Ohio, the news abstracts cover national topics and are culled from a wide-ranging list of sources -...March 11, 2004
Risk management tools
A few selections from our library of handy online risk management tools: Risk manager links to all 50 states includes a clickable list of state insurance authorities, workers compensation boards and divisions, risk management departments, and emergency management agencies. WorkersComp.com provides a clickable map leading to an extensive array of state-specific resources, including links to forms, statutes, rules, and more....March 3, 2004
Compare your workers compensation losses with others in your industry
Marsh offers an interactive tool to let you compare your workers comp losses with others in your industry. It entails entering a few bits of information, and it then generates bar charts that depict industry numbers and your variance from the norm. Of course, it's a rough benchmark, but it still offers an industry-specific yardstick, and most of us are...February 15, 2004
Ergo tips - workstation ergonomic design
Does your work keep you tied to the computer? Or too much time spent blogging? Cornell University Ergonomics Web offers several resources to help prevent back, wrist, or eyestrain. They offer a pictorial guide to setting up workstation components to prevent injuries and to ensure comfort while you work or play at the computer. They also have a "where it...February 6, 2004
The CEO's guide to insurance jargon
Every industry has its own jargon, but am I wrong in thinking workers comp has more than its fair share? Not only are we loaded down with great heaping doses of inscrutable insurance verbiage, we also inherit legal, health care, risk management, and employee benefits lingo too. I have the sneaking suspicion that there is more than one CEO or...January 25, 2004
State workers' compensation laws & benefit tables
If you have multi-state exposure, keeping up on the various laws can be a challenge. Here are two handy tools: The Department of Labor's State Workers' Compensation Laws & List of Benefit Tables offers 20 separate tables available in either html (web) or pdf (adobe) formats. The workers compensation insurance law tool at insure.com offers four search tools: a search...January 18, 2004
Check out our new business weblog discoveries
We've added a few new corporate weblogs to our resources sidebar: adjuster.com, featuring claims adjusting news. The Small Business Blog, a weblog for and about small business. BusinessPundit, a weblog focusing on corporate strategy, economics, neuroscience, and more Business 2.0, a weblog maintained by the editors of Business 2.0....January 13, 2004
Good business reads from the blog world
One of the best things about weblogs is the news filtering function they fill - they find good things for you. Here are a few items we might have misssed but for our fellow bloggers. 40 government sites you can't live without via The Small Business Blog "Whether it's a loan, a contract or regulatory information you seek, these sites...January 4, 2004
New year's news roundup from fellow 'blogs
PA Judge Robert Vonada of PAWC points to an article in the New York Times about two different treatment options for back pain and the methods hardware manufacturers use to market their products to doctors and hospitals. Would you be surprised to learn that the more expensive treatment is prevalent, despite lack of evidence that it is more effective? We...December 28, 2003
Business blog added to linklist
We're adding Small Business Trends to our "blogroll" over to the right. It's a weblog that tracks trends impacting small and midsize businesses. While not specific to insurance, it appears to have varied and interesting content. One recent item of note is a posting on Forrester Research's top 10 predictions for healthcare in 2004....December 17, 2003
Everything you ever wanted to know about captives...
As the property and casualty insurance industry continues to consolidate, more and more large employers are considering alternative risk financing arrangements for their workers' compensation programs. One of the increasingly popular alternatives is forming a captive. For many, there's a lot of mystery around exactly what a captive is or isn't. Captive.com provides an excellent round up of articles, white...December 15, 2003
Lifting guidelines and RTW
The Ohio Bureau of Workers Comp and Ohio State University have teamed up on a research project that studies back injuries and reinjuries that can occur when people return to work. As an offshoot of the research, they developed an interactive lifting resource with guidelines intended to help employers and physicians in developing realistic transitional work programs. Considering that back...December 9, 2003
HR Tools
Workindex is a comprehensive Human Resources portal, sister site of the magazine Human Resource Executive. If you'd like to keep up on HR news, one of the site's interesting features is a daily news headline aggregator. There's also a selection of Editor's Site Picks, an updated guide to useful web tools....November 20, 2003
OSHA e-Tools - online training resource
OSHA's e-Tools are a good online training resource for employers. The modules are interactive and illustrated, and currently cover a range of more than 30 industry-specific safety topics. including two in Spanish. Some of the newest additions include baggage handling, computer workstations, machine guarding and Legionaire's disease....October 10, 2003
MA Assigned Risk Premium Calculator
The Workers Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau of Massachusetts has introduced an Assigned Risk Premium Calculation application. It's a tool to help producers and employers calculate workers' comp assigned risk premium to submit with their insurance application....September 29, 2003
