Prepare for your workers compensation renewal

I was working with a new contractor and a few questions came up during our discovery meeting, and I thought it would be good to share them;

What are some basic things they should do for OSHA Reporting?

Under OSHA regulations, employers are required to report certain workplace incidents, including work-related fatalities and injuries, and to keep records of workplace injuries and illnesses.

Here are some key things you need to know about OSHA reporting and recordkeeping requirements:

1. Employers are required to report workplace incidents that result in an employee’s death, in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye. These incidents must be reported to OSHA within 8 hours of the incident.
2. Employers are also required to maintain records of workplace injuries and illnesses. This includes maintaining a log of injuries and illnesses, as well as a separate incident report for each recordable injury or illness.
3. OSHA has specific guidelines for what needs to be included in injury and illness logs and incident reports. For example, the log must include the employee’s name, the date of the injury or illness, and a brief description of the incident.
4. Employers are required to keep these records for at least 5 years. They may also be required to make these records available for inspection by OSHA upon request.
5. It’s important for employers to be aware of and comply with OSHA reporting and recordkeeping requirements, as failure to do so can result in fines and penalties.

What is the basic info we need to get you for a workers comp audit and renewal?

1. Payroll records: This should include a list of all employees and their job titles, as well as their gross wages for the audit period.
2. Classification codes: You should have a list of the classification codes for each employee, which are used to determine the appropriate premium rate for each employee.
3. Premium audit forms: These forms are typically provided by the insurance carrier and outline the information that needs to be provided during the audit.
4. Insurance policy: You should have a copy of your workers’ compensation insurance policy on hand, as the auditor may need to review it.
5. Tax records: The auditor may ask to see your tax records to verify the payroll information you have provided.

What else is important to the insurance carrier?

1. Hiring process: What does each potential employee go through during the hiring process, and what is documented?
2. Workforce training: When, How, who, and what is documented?
3. Return to Work Program: This is a documented process that each manager as well as the medical clinic is aware of.
4. OSHA Reporting Program: This is a documented process and needs to be readily available, and understood by all managers and safety team members.
5. Fleet Maintenance Program: Very important for commercial auto insurance, if you are unable to document your regular maintenance you will be paying higher rates.

If you are not doing a full discovery while working on a new policy, or during your renewal with your customer, you are doing them a disservice and you are costing them a lot of money in their business.
We work with each and every customer to help them lower their total cost of risk and put these and other processes in place to help them.