Increase Workplace Safety to Reduce Your Workers’ Comp Costs
As a business owner, you know that costs always seem to be on the rise. Insurance premiums, especially workers’ compensation, are no different. The best way to reduce your workers’ comp cost is to reduce accidents on the job.
To decrease accidents and reduce your Massachusetts workers’ comp insurance premiums, you need to create a safe work environment.
Hire the Best People
One way to avoid accidents on the job is to hire highly qualified individuals. If you need employees who can perform very physical tasks, consider adding a fitness-for-duty physical exam and a review of their medical history to your hiring process. This will help eliminate candidates who have known back or joint problems and those who can’t lift heavy weights and otherwise perform the required job duties. Include a drug test to your hiring process, as well, to reduce the chance of employees coming to work under the influence.
Add a Safety Program
A safety program for management and staff is an excellent way to make the workplace much safer and reduce workers’ comp claims from on-the-job accidents. Employees should be trained on a regular basis on how to perform their job safely, how to avoid accidents, and what to do to keep their work environment as safe as possible.
Your safety program should also include a process for collecting information after any accident, whether there was an injury or not. This will help you identify problems and avoid future accidents. Staff and management will need to be trained on the process and follow it to the letter with every accident.
Create a Safety Committee
Another piece of the safety puzzle that will help reduce accidents and workers’ comp claims is to form a safety committee. Members of the committee should include both management and general employees. This group will come together monthly or quarterly to discuss safety issues in the workplace. Their job is to identify and correct health and safety concerns before an accident happens.
When you involve your employees and really listen to them, you’ll find that they are filled with information you need to make your business safer. Committed and involved employees want to be safe on the job and avoid accidents. Let them share what they see and experience, and they’ll help you immensely.
Making your business a safer place to work not only leads to happier, healthier employees and higher productivity, it also lowers the number of accidents your employees have and ultimately your workers’ compensation costs. Take the steps needed today to hire the right people, teach them to stay safe, and listen to their input on how to maintain a safe working environment.
If you’ve got questions about your workers’ compensation coverage or need a quote for a new policy, contact us today.
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