News and Updates
Category: General
Preparing for Cold and Flu Season
The official start of flu season is considered October, but colds, seasonal flu, COVID and other viruses have already started circulating in and out of the workplace. The CDC and other organizations have conducted surveys showing how illness impacts the workplace. The medical journal Vaccine reports that the flu virus alone causes over 100 million missed workdays per year, which translates to roughly $16.3 billion in earnings. While employers may not be able to prevent contagious illness at work, there are plenty of measures that can be taken to reduce the spread of germs. Remember how anti-bacterial items were everywhere you turned during the peak of the COVID pandemic? There’s no reason to stop doing that. Especially during cold and flu season, we strongly encourage employers to take measures to reduce the spread of germs. Making things like hand sanitizers, anti-bacterial wipes and sprays, and tissues is always a good idea. Place anti-bacterial wipes near high-tough areas like postage machines, break rooms, copiers, etc. Prioritize handwashing. Make sure handwashing is accessible to all employees, and that restrooms and kitchen areas are stocked with soap and either paper towels or a hand dryer. Offer a voluntary, no-cost onsite vaccine clinic for employees, or provide information about how and where they can receive free vaccines for things like seasonal flu and current COVID variants. Check with your local occupational health facilit
A Fond Farewell for an Exceptional Claims Professional
We’re very lucky to have not only low turnover, but to have employees who choose to spend the majority of their career with Spooner’s family of companies. At the end of April, we’ll be bidding farewell to one of those long-term employees, Sue Ridge. After serving as a claims examiner for hundreds of Spooner Inc clients over the years (47 years, to be exact), Sue will be retiring. We miss her already, but we wish her the very best in enjoying the years to come. We celebrated her career with us last week at J. Liu in Worthington, Ohio. Cheers, Sue! Congratulations on your
2024 Holy Day
For several years, Spooner Risk Control has sponsored The College Hoops Holy Day of Obligation, (because if College Basketball was a religion, the first day of the NCAA Men’s Tournament would be a Holy Day of Obligation). Officially it began in 1996, but a lower-key version of it had been celebrated for several years prior with Steve Spooner and some of his former co-workers. Every year, Holy Day raises money for a local family in need. This year, the event raised money for the Telgkamp Family. Sam Telgkamp is 27 years old and has been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). The total of $5,200 raised will help ease the financial burden on Sam and her family as she battles this disease. Sam was just beginning her career as a Child Advocate for Nationwide Children’s Hospital when she was diagnosed. Her father, Dan, is the Junior High Mariemont Girls Soccer Coach and an assistant coach for the Mariemont High School Girls Lacrosse Team in the Cincinnati area. The Spooner family of companies is proud to be part of this annual
Heat-Related Illness Prevention
OSHA has established a National Emphasis Program (NEP) on heat-related illness prevention, which addresses heat-related hazards in the workplace. They believe this NEP (which they’re working to make a permanent standard) is necessary because of the statistics surrounding heat-related illnesses and injuries. There are over 3,500 work-related heat illness cases reported annually, with 43 of them being fatalities (BLS average 2017-2021). The program went into effect on April 8, 2022, and is a nationwide enforcement initiative allowing OSHA to proactively inspect workplaces for heat-related hazards across general industry, maritime, construction, and agriculture operations. It applies not only to employers who operate outdoors (e.g., construction, farming, landscaping), but to indoor operations as well (e.g., manufacturing, warehousing, transportation, etc.). In fact, the list of targeted industries includes over 70 NAICS codes. The NEP emphasizes the importance of employers providing access to water, rest, and shade (or escape from heat sources), as well as adequate training and acclimatization schedules for new and returning employees. The program also establishes “heat priority days” when the heat index is expected to be 80°F or higher, prompting OSHA inspections within certain industries. The first step toward compliance is a multi-faceted assessment of your operations and environment to determine risk levels. This includes f
Are Ohio Employers Required to Provide Time Off to Vote?
The short answer is yes, but here are some additional details that may answer any lingering questions. Ohio Revised Code (O.R.C.) Section 3599.06 provides employees a “reasonable amount of time” away from work to perform their civic duty of voting on election day. This is a bit subjective, so take into consideration whether or not there have been long lines during previous elections in your area. Most employees don’t need a whole day, or even a half day. Plan on giving some extra cushion for employees who may not live near your worksite, as their polling location will likely be closer to their residence. Additionally, O.R.C. states that employers may not: • terminate or threaten to terminate an employee for taking reasonable time off to vote • refuse to allow an employee to serve as a poll worker on election day • insist that an employee accompany them to a polling location • use any indirect force or threats to prevent staff from voting or compel them to refrain from voting Employers are not required to pay hourly employees for this time away, but also may not deduct voting time from hours worked for salaried
OSHA Renews Focus on Crystalline Silica for Some Industries
OSHA is supporting their National Emphasis Program (NEP) on respirable crystalline silica with an initiative focused on manufacturers and wholesalers of brick, stone and related construction materials (NAICS codes 327991 and 423320). This prioritizes inspection efforts for employers in these industries, with each area office in Regions 1- 8 required to perform a minimum of five programmed inspections over the next 12 months. Region 5 encompasses all of Ohio, and Ohio itself has four regional offices (Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo) spanning the state. Respirable crystalline silica is 1/100th the size of a grain of sand, and exposure to it has been linked to silicosis, obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, and other lung diseases. OSHA Administrator Doug Parker stated that workers in the aforementioned industries are reporting severe difficulty breathing, which limits their ability to work, at times resulting in total disability, or even fatality. The initiative also gives authority to local and regional OSHA offices to develop local or regional emphasis programs if they’re justified by relevant data. If you have questions or concerns about your company’s compliance with the Respirable Crystalline Silica standard, contact your Spooner safety rep, or Spooner’s safety department at
Is Your Open Enrollment Process Coordinated or Chaotic?
There’s a good chance your company is using an electronic benefits module provided by your payroll processor to handle enrollments, deductions, and payments. These add-ons make enrollments a breeze and should automate a great deal of the employee communication, meaning HR isn’t tasked with reaching out to employees who haven’t completed enrollment, or who have a discrepancy in their enrollment choices. All of these applications are designed with most of the same features and capabilities. Not unlike the payroll processor itself – the differences are usually noticeable in the level of service, support, and communication the employer receives. Employee benefits are often a major pain point for HR and management teams. They’ve already been mulled over for months by the time employees receive enrollment materials. The enrollment window is very time-sensitive, and communication between the employer, their broker, carriers, and payroll provider are essential during this timeframe. Typical enrollment windows are between two and four weeks, so any delays responding to employee issues or questions during enrollment can make things more chaotic than usual. If communication (either electronic or human) has been a problem in your past open enrollments, consider examining the source of the problem – and how much you’re being charged by your payroll processor for a service that may not be a strong point for them. If having your ow
2024 Group Rating & Group Retro Enrollment
If your business isn’t enrolled in a savings program for the coming 2024-2025 BWC policy year, you’ll want to get the ball rolling ASAP! Two of the most highly-favored programs are Group Experience Rating (usually called Group Rating, or just “Group), and Group Retrospective Rating (often referred to as Group Retro or Retro). They’re both great programs that can boast savings over 50% for some policyholders, and the difference between them is fairly simple. Group Rating is like a coupon – you receive the discount upfront, and pay lower premiums throughout the year. The maximum discount is 53% off of BWC’s base rates, which only applies to policies with zero or very few losses in their experience period. Group Retrospective is more like a mail-in rebate. You pay the sticker price to BWC for premiums, and are rebated following the end of that policy year based on how your pool performed. Refunds can total close to 50% under the most optimal conditions. Something to keep in mind: TPAs can advertise any Group Retro refund up to and including 63%, even if their pools have never achieved that. A maximum refund is uncommon, and nearly unheard of over the last couple of years due to eroding refunds due to changes within BWC. Recent changes have us hopeful that the program will begin yielding better refunds, but even still - a 63% refund in Group Retro is only achieved if there were no losses within that
Updates to OSHA Recordkeeping & Reporting
Beginning January 1, 2024, OSHA will require employers in certain high-hazard industries with over 100 employees to submit data from Forms 300 and 301 in addition to their 300A by March 2 each year. For those not familiar, Form 300 is a log of work-related illnesses and injuries, and Form 301 is a corresponding form with incident reports that should match up with Form 300. OSHA will also be updating NAICS codes used in Appendix A, which lists the industries required to submit Form 300A. They’ll also be adding an Appendix B, which will state the industries required to now submit Forms 300 and 301. OSHA administrator Doug Parker stated in a press release that this is a big step in helping the administration understand the safety and health problems that workers face. He noted that OSHA will use the data for “interventions involving strategic outreach and enforcement to reduce injuries and illnesses in these high-hazard industries.” If you have questions or concerns about OSHA reporting, or your organization’s safety policies and procedures, please contact Spooner’s safety team at
2 Hour Safety Training Deadline
If your company participated in Group Rating or Group Retro during the 2022 policy year (July 1, 2022-June 30, 2023) and had a claim during the green year(s), you’re required to complete two hours of safety training by June 30, 2023. Please be sure to complete and submit the training certificates to your team at Spooner (or your TPA, if you’re not a Spooner client). If you’re unsure if you need to complete this training, reach out to your client services manager. The training doesn’t have to be completed in person – so there’s still time to meet the requirement by participating in one of BWC’s online courses. Here are some details on fulfilling the two-hour training requirement, per the Ohio BWC website. Two-hour Training Options A variety of training sources are available for you to fulfill this requirement. They include the following offered through BWC’s Division of Safety & Hygiene: Education and Training Services Center courses Ohio Safety Congress & Exposition (OSC) safety education sessions Safety council seminars, workshops, or conferences featuring a safety topic that are at least two hours long (Safety council monthly meetings do not qualify.) Guidelines for courses offered through non-BWC training forums The group sponsor, third-party administrator, or an independent source can sponsor a course, provided it meets the two-hour criteria. The topic must be workp
