Protecting a company’s most valuable asset – its employees – is of utmost importance. Promoting workplace safety to help reduce employee injuries and expensive claims is one way to help keep your workforce healthy and productive, and keep your premiums down.
Loss control is designed to help prevent or reduce the possibility of a loss, or to help reduce its severity if one does occur. Keep reading to find out more about how loss control professionals can help create a workplace safety plan to aid in reducing accident risks and workers’ comp claims.
Getting Started with Loss Control To Control Workplace Hazards
A hazard assessment should be conducted by a loss control consultant and/or a safety committee. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends that two managers plus two additional employees make up your internal safety committee.
The object is to look for anything that could pose a threat to your workforce, like slippery floor surfaces or tripping hazards. Risks will vary depending upon the workplace environment (manufacturing versus office work). By identifying potential hazards and risks, this builds the foundation for a workplace safety plan.
Create an Action Plan
By creating an action plan for approaching these hazards, a business can help set themselves up to successfully achieve their workplace safety goals. The action plan should be unique to your workplace and be in alignment with the risks that were identified in the hazard assessment. The plan is simple: describe the problem/risk and provide a solution. The safety committee should be in charge of managing the action plan and making sure it is being effectively carried out.
Training and Implementation
Training employees to observe loss control guidelines is an important part of any program. This will help ensure that your employees keep safety top-of-mind and are aware of workplace hazards.
For example, AmTrust offers training programs, including a streaming safety video system that provides all active policyholders access to over 600 videos. The topics range from back injury prevention to electrical safety to machine guarding. A complete list of loss control training materials can be found here.
Effective communication is valuable in improving an overall safety system. Incorporating reminders about safety in the workplace will further emphasize to your employees the importance of following the company safety plan.
Record Keeping
Keeping accurate and detailed records is a key aspect of a workplace safety program. It is also necessary for OSHA and other regulatory requirements. It creates accountability and effective business management, while keeping track of results for any safety inspections or insurance audits. In addition, it’s a form of loss control in itself – enabling a business to learn from past experiences and identify potential issues in the future, and ultimately help prevent losses.
Take Control of Your Losses
A good safety plan makes good business sense, and that starts with implementing loss control into the workplace. The goal of an employer should be to provide a safe work environment for all employees. This helps keeps your workplace healthy and productive, and can keep insurance costs down.
Learn more about the loss control capabilities AmTrust has to offer, and check out our blog post, “Take your loss control to the next level.”
This material is for informational purposes only and is not legal or business advice. Neither AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. nor any of its subsidiaries or affiliates represents or warrants that the information contained herein is appropriate or suitable for any specific business or legal purpose. Readers seeking resolution of specific questions should consult their business and/or legal advisors. Coverages may vary by location. Contact your local RSM for more information.