Do you have employee’s who smoke? Did you know that annual health care costs for smokers are 31 percent higher on average than non smokers? With today’s raising health care costs, every company should be asking this question and every company should be developing a cost saving plan to reduce the costs associated with smoking.

A  recent study from the American Cancer Society revealed that  when a smoker is hospitalized their average stay is longer than a non smoker resulting in a higher medical bill to the employer and the patient. Smokers also made six more visits to health care facilities per year when compared to non smokers.

How can you change this  for your company? Here are some tools you can use to  provide a comprehensive smoking cessation program to your employees and in turn save you millions  in  associated health care costs:

• Let your employees can help themselves by providing them with smoking cessation brochures in public places
• Provide information on the affects of smoking through employee newsletters and intranets
• Offer telephone based counseling for those employees interested in quitting.
• Provide on line information on smoking cessation to your employees
• Consider implementing an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that provides counseling and support
• Train existing staff members to teach cessation programs
• Develop incentive plans for those employees who quit smoking
• Offer low or no cost co-pays for smoking related medications
• Sponsor an on site support group, for those trying to quit
• Conduct brief seminars on the effects of smoking
• Sponsor special events around other healthy changes: such as weight loss and exercise programs
• Offer Health Risk Appraisals
• Create a non smoking environment by posting the new policy and enforcing the new policy

Awareness of the costs associated with smokers is growing and causing many state and local governments to mandate workplace smoke free policies. It is in the best interest of employer’s bottom line to formulate a voluntary, proactive and prevention oriented approach to this growing, costly health concern.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA) early CPR and defibrillation plus early advanced care within 3-5 minutes after collapse can result in a greater than 50% long-term survival rate.  The value of early CPR by co-workers is important as it will “buy time” for the patient by circulating oxygenated blood until an AED can be put into place and activated.

“Defibrillation is a procedure to stop the type of irregular heart beat called ventricular fibrillation, usually by using electric shock.”

Did you know that according to the AHA:

• The first out of hospital defibrillation device weighed in at 110 pounds!  Most units in use today now weigh less than 8 pounds.

• Security guards in Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports and security guards in Las Vegas casinos have achieved a 50-74% survival rate for adults with sudden, witnessed cardiac arrest.  These programs are thought to be successful because rescuers are trained to respond efficiently and all survivors receive immediate bystander CPR plus defibrillation within 3-5 minutes.

Case Study:

In January 2010 we helped a client in Clackamas, OR purchased three new Phillips HeartStart AED’s through Medic First Aid International to compliment the two AED’s they currently had in service to become compliant with Oregon’s Senate Bill 556.

The new Oregon law as it applies to this client states that any facility with greater than 50,000 sq. ft. and where business activities are conducted and where 25 individuals will congregate on a normal business day, then they must have at least one automated external defibrillator on site. Not only do they comply with the new law but they go above and beyond by having five (5) AED’s on site, coupled with a new training program that will include 1^st Aid/CPR & AED training on-site by the Proof Positive Health & Safety Coordinator.

We have two immediate openings in the Seattle area (Auburn and Bellvue) for Onsite Safety and Wellness Center Manager. These Professionals will manage our Return to Work Program for the client, deliver Onsite First Aid, provide Client-Specific Safety and Health Training, and promote and deliver other initiatives that help our clients reduce the severity and frequency of work-related injuries and illnesses. Learn more and apply now…

Do employees really try to stay out of work longer than necessary when they get injured on the job? To accurately answer this question, there are two key factors that need to be looked at – the employee’s personality and the conditions surrounding your return to work program.

In order to weed out the few who would take advantage of a more lenient return to work program, employers are forced to come up with programs that appropriately balance the day to day routine that employees crave with a job that is productive and meaningful, while still making the program a deterrent to prevent employees preferring the return to work program over their regular job.

Employees, in general, want to return to work as soon as possible for many reasons. Having friends in the workforce, the need for a steady daily routine, and the fear of becoming de-conditioned while not working, to name a few. However, every so often, you will come across an injured employee who does not worry about any of these things and would rather look at being injured as paid time off than an irritating interruption of their daily routine. Even though these employees make up a small percentage of the overall workforce, they are responsible for the strict conditions of many return to work programs.

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There are some employers who believe that communicating the details of how workers’ compensation works with their employees will increase the likelihood that their employees will file a work comp claim. For this reason, many of these employers decide not to talk to their employees about workers’ compensation.

While they may think that this is saving them money, it may actually be costing them more than they think. Generally, employees who have questions about workers’ compensation are going to seek out the answers to those questions and if you are unwilling to give them the answers they are searching for, they will be forced to get their information elsewhere. Most of the time, if the employer does not answer an employee’s questions about workers’ compensation, the employee then decides to seek out the advice of a lawyer. So, now the employee is not only getting their information from an outside source rather than from you, but you have also just successfully alienated yourself as the “bad guy” in the situation.

I cannot stress enough the importance of good communication in any employer/employee relationship. Answering an employee’s questions fully and honestly will not only give you more control over the situation, but it will also serve to build up their level of trust in your company which, we all know, results in higher productivity and a lower turn-around rate.

The following is a list of 7 possible ways that an employee can make just as much (or more) money while they are injured than they would make if they were not injured.

1) Double Dipping – Employees may receive funds from both workers’ compensation and disability insurance if their injury is one that puts them out of work for a long period of time.

2) Unemployment – In some states, employees who are receiving workers’ compensation may also qualify for unemployment under certain circumstances. Companies should offer all injured employees a transitional job which they can perform while they are injured. If the employee turns down the transitional job, they will most likely not be granted unemployment status.

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If you purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you would have $49.00 today. If you purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you would have $0.00 today. Tough economic times call for aggressive measures. Invest in your company’s safety program and your injured workers return to work program.

Designing a good safety program can help with the rising costs of workers’ compensation insurance premiums. No business is immune to having injuries, they will happen! That is part of the cost of doing business. Having a safety plan is like ground zero; you need to look at your company as a whole and build from your safety plan. Evaluate the environment, the tools, the hazards, and overall safety of your employees. Prevention is the best way to save!

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Inappropriate claims are one the biggest driving costs of workers compensation increases. Up to 25 percent of all filings may have some form of fraud. There are many possible causes, including misunderstandings, miscommunication, cost shifting from a non-occupational health care plan, employee resentment, non-efficient service providers, and outright fraud. The National Insurance Crime Bureau estimates that workers’ compensation fraud costs alone are in the billions. So in return, this cost is billed back to the employers in the form of billion dollar premiums.

Workers’ compensation laws are working against the employers. The laws are creating insensible incentives. The longer an injured employee is out of work, the more likely they will ride it out for a cash settlement. Even the small injuries that should only have the worker out for two or three days can be stretched into two or three weeks, or even more! Every workers’ compensation guideline has a waiting period. Typically, it runs about three to seven days before an injured employee becomes entitled to indemnification for lost wages. It can often be done on a retroactive basis to day one of the claim. For many low paid workers the “tax free” wage alternative is an acceptable lifestyle.

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Do you have any pregnant employees? If so, are you responsible for work related injuries to their unborn child? It is a delicate situation when it comes to injuries involving those in utero. In the late 1980s, there was a case involving a San Francisco Macy’s department store employee who complained to the company nurse of abdominal pain. The pain was misdiagnosed as gas and was later found to be a ruptured uterus. Even after pleas from the expectant mother, the ambulance was not called for 50 minutes and the delay was determined to be a main contributing factor to the severe brain damage and early demise (age 2) of the child.

The mother sued on behalf of her son but lost, because although Macy’s found that it was indeed negligent, the child was not an employee and therefore his surviving family could collect nothing.

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Most companies have injury prevention programs in place that will cover topics such as lifting, proper equipment or attire, but not often do these programs cover eating and exercise, which are important aspects of injury prevention.

We all know about eating healthy to keep out hearts strong and/or to lose weight and feel good. Most of us however, don’t take the time to think of eating as a form of injury prevention. Rock hard abs aren’t just for show. They can also help you to remain injury free.  Having a strong “core” will alleviate stress on the back, reducing back injuries. Engaging your “core” muscles in all of your activities (not just lifting) will help keep you strong and as injury free as possible. Think about flexing your abdominal muscles when you do things as mundane as getting out of your chair. You know you want to try it when you get off of the computer.

Staying at a healthy weight will also keep unwanted stress off of your joints. There is no lack of gravity, so you don’t need to worry about weighing yourself down. Have you ever seen a pick-up truck loaded down with a heavy load and thought “those poor shocks”? Well, it is the same thing for your joints. Any excess weight  that you might be carrying is going to work against you, and eventually break you down. More…