Samantha Poole, NHHCT, Sales & Marketing Director

Due to rising costs of food, energy, and other operational necessities, many members have been asking how they can lower their everyday expenses. Workers' compensation is one of those necessary costs that is legally required to protect your employees from incurring expenses due to work-related accidents. As long as an employer has employees who require coverage, workers' compensation will be needed, but there are ways to lower the costs associated with coverage.
Is emergency or urgent care needed? Although it is often an employee or employer's first instinct to send an injured employee to the emergency room, that may not always be the care that is required depending on the situation. Alternative options such as urgent or convenience care facilities may be more appropriate for certain situations such as twisted ankles, minor cuts or burns, or other non-emergency situations. Consider keeping a list with all the local care options available for your staff to help redirect non-emergency situations to the appropriate type of facility for care. This can assist with lowering the overall cost of a claim while still ensuring your employee receives the care they need.
Review seasonal hazards (and how to avoid them) with staff members. In New Hampshire, we get the opportunity to see all four seasons in our front yards, but each season also comes with its own hazards. A beautiful July day is great for eating outside, but also means that those staff members should know the signs of heat-related illnesses. Reminding staff about seasonal hazards regularly and implementing policies to mitigate possible illnesses or injuries due to these hazards can assist with keeping employees healthy and claims low.
Establish a return-to-work program. A return-to-work program allows your employees to return to a light-duty job while they recover from an illness or injury at work. Return-to-work programs are designed to help injured or sick employees get back to work safely and quickly. Lowering the time an employee has lost due to an injury lowers the cost of a claim.
Don’t forget your safety committee meetings! Safety Committee (or Joint-Loss Committee) is a DOL requirement and must meet quarterly, have equal parts management and non-management level staff, document meeting minutes, and make those minutes available to all staff to review. This committee is to review your safety policies, potential hazards, and employee concerns regarding safety. Reviewing employee concerns can assist in eliminating potentially hazardous situations before they become issues and help staff feel safer in the workplace.
Looking for other opportunities to lower costs? Consider getting a quote from the New Hampshire Hospitality Compensation Trust (NHHCT). The NHHCT is a not-for-profit, dividend returning, workers’ compensation trust that this year returned $700K to members.
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