Posted By Brandy King
February 22, 2024 Category: Ergonomics Assessment, Ohio Ergonomic Consultant, Injury Prevention, OSHA

Ensuring the wellbeing of your employees is not only a moral imperative, but also a strategic advantage.  One critical aspect of workplace safety often overlooked is ergonomics—the science of designing workspaces, tools, and processes to fit the capabilities and limitations of human workers.   Why should you invest in ergonomics assessments? Reduced Workplace Injuries: Ergonomics assessments identify potential hazards related to repetitive tasks, awkward postures, and heavy lifting.  By addressing these issues proactively, you can significantly reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries, strains, and sprains among your workforce. Enhanced Productivity: When employees work in comfortable and efficient environments, productivity soars.  Ergonomics assessments optimize workstations, minimizing unnecessary movements and streamlining processes.  A well-designed workspace allows employees to focus on their tasks without discomfort or fatigue. Cost Savings: Workplace injuries lead to lost productivity, medical expenses, and workers’ compensation claims. Investing in ergonomics proactively can prevent these costs in the future.  Moreover, a safer workplace attracts and retains skilled workers, reducing turnover expenses. Compliance and Legal Requirements: Regulatory bodies are increasing their scrutiny of ergonomics.  OSHA doesn’t yet have a specific standard for ergonomics, but you’ve probably heard about the numer

Posted By Brandy King
February 22, 2024 Category: Ohio BWC, BWC Update, OHID Login, BWC Rate Reduction 2024

Ohio BWC Rate Reduction for PY 2024-25 Approved Following a rate reduction for public Ohio employers that went into effect January 1, 2024 – Ohio BWC has approved another rate reduction for private employers. Governor DeWine and the administrators at Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation asked their board to approve a 7% rate decrease, which they approved on February 23rd, 2024. Those rates will become effective on July 1, 2024, at the start of the new policy year. BWC will collect roughly $67 million less in premiums from Ohio employers over the course of the policy year.   As we’ve mentioned before, it’s important to note that a 7% rate reduction is not literal – it “represents a statewide average” reduction. What that means for employers is that some rates may go down…but it’s also possible for some to go up. Spooner clients will be notified of any rate changes at their annual renewal. If you’re not a Spooner client and your TPA isn’t reviewing your anticipated rate changes with you, we’re happy to help you understand the potential impact on your premiums. Just complete our online AC-3 form and someone will reach out to you right away.  Ohio Employers Will Soon Transition to OH|ID Logins for BWC Website Around the end of February, Ohio employers may see the option to log in to their BWC accounts with their OH|ID username and password.  For the next couple of months, you’ll st

Posted By Brandy King
February 22, 2024 Category: EPA, Ohio EPA Contact Hours, EPA Contact Hours Provider,

If your company holds a Water Supply or Distribution license, some of your employees may be required to complete a certain amount of Contact Hours, which are essentially continuing education for their specific field and position. Spooner Safety Services is now an authorized provider of Ohio EPA Contact Hours for employers/employees who must meet the requirements for related jobs under its standard. Contact Jon Carpenter with any questions at

Posted By Brandy King
January 17, 2024 Category: DOL, Independent Contractors, Ohio Bwc, Workers' Comp

Who’s Really an Independent Contractor? DOL Finalizes New Rule Clarifying Classification Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) finalized its rules regarding classification of independent contractors. The organization hadn’t previously defined this by regulations, only by guidelines (which are as clear as OSHA “best practices”).  The updated rule creates a six-factor “economic realities” test to determine whether or not a worker is truly an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Among others, the test includes factors such as degree of permanence, amount of control the employer holds, and the worker’s skills.   Since Ohio employers aren’t required to cover 1099 employees under their BWC policy, we have a lot of discussions with clients about whether or not a worker actually meets the qualifications of being an independent contractor. Understanding these qualifications is not only important for insurance purposes, but also for recordkeeping, and the application of minimum wage and overtime rules.  Our friends at Roetzel & Andress have done a great job of explaining this new classification rule in a way that’s easy to digest and understand, so we’re deferring to their recent update for the details.  For more info on how independent contractors can impact your Ohio BWC policy, check out this blog.  This goes into effect March 11

Posted By Brandy King
January 17, 2024 Category: OSHA, Electronic Recordkeeping, Form 301, Form 300, OSHA 300A, Safety, Incident Reporting, Compliance

It’s time to post and electronically submit your OSHA logs - and this year, submission requirements will impact far more U.S. employers. We discussed this in detail when the rule was finalized in July 2023. Effective January 1, 2024, OSHA will require employers with over 100 employees in certain high hazard industries to complete electronic records submissions of Forms 300 and 301, in addition to Form 300A. These are records that covered employers should already be keeping, but previously have not been required to submit. The impacted industries include (but aren’t limited to) retail, wholesale, performing arts, manufacturing, farming, and grocers. Our safety team agrees that the fastest, easiest way to find out your company’s submission requirements is to use this ITA Coverage Application. Enter your company’s NAICS code and employee count, and it will confirm which logs should be submitted. As a general guide: 20-249 employees and on this list must submit 300A 100 or more employees and on this list must submit the 300A, 301 and 300 log.  Employee count is “per establishment,” not entire corporation size. So, what is OSHA’s definition of an “establishment?” An establishment is a single physical location where business is conducted, or where services or industrial operations are performed. For activities where employees do not work at a single physical location - such as construction, transportation, communication

Posted By Brandy King
January 17, 2024 Category: Payroll, Overcharging, Additional Fees, Surety HR, SI PEO, Payroll Processing Fees, ADP Fees, Paychex Fees

With 2023 group health enrollments behind us, and W-2 season wrapping up – most employers have a strong opinion about the role their payroll provider played in both of those, good or bad.  Let’s consider open enrollment first. If your payroll provider utilizes an electronic benefits module, and made an implementation plan with your broker – things should have gone smoothly. Benefits enrollment is always subject to hitting snags throughout the process. Here are some things to consider:  •    Was there communication between all parties if a timeline changed? •    Was everyone pulling in the same direction, without making you (the employer) an unnecessary go-between?  •    Was every party involved invested in making sure things were done right the first time? •    Have you considered an API connection or Data Bridge with your Carrier?  (Fees may apply)  It’s important not to over- or under-rely on technology. Let the electronic benefits modules do their job, but make sure you and your payroll provider have your eyes peeled for potential issues.  W-2 season brings similar headaches. If the employer has done their best to ensure that all employee info is up-to-date and accurate, the prevention and resolution of those headaches’ rests heavily on your payroll provider. If employees have questions about W-2s, or there’s a potentia

Posted By Brandy King
December 18, 2023 Category: Ohio Bwc, Bwc Update, Group Retro, Transitional Work, Ohio Bwc EM Cap, Drug Free Safety Program

Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation will be rolling out several changes that will impact Ohio employers in 2024. We mentioned back in August that the way base rates are structured may be changing, which BWC has confirmed. It’s uncertain how this will impact the end premiums, but no big swings are anticipated. We’ll be keeping our clients informed about any major changes.  The following rating elements will also be changing, with the potential to impact future premiums:  •    Deductible Factors •    Individual Retro – minimum premium factors •    Group Retro - loss development factors •    Premium Size Credit – ranges and factors This is also a “wait and see” situation, as we don’t yet know exactly what changes BWC plans on making to these elements.  Certificates of coverage will look different next year as well. They’ll now also list the employer’s MCO, any additional insureds, officers, who is eligible for elective coverage (such as owners), and NCCI codes and descriptions, in addition to the company’s address.  As of now, if employers need to make a minor change or correct an error in a company’s policy name, they had to complete a specific form and fax or mail that form back to BWC. The only way this process could be made slower would be by carrier pigeon. Luckily, they’ve stepped int

Posted By Brandy King
November 27, 2023 Category: EEOC, EEO 1 Reporting, Harassment, Compliance, DEI

EEO1 guidance/reporting After pushing their projected reporting window back (originally slated to open in July 2023), EEOC opened the reporting window for the 2022 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection reports on October 31. These demographic reports are mandatory for all private sector employers with over 100 employees, as well as certain federal contractors. EEOC has also released a booklet to help employers through the process.  Some employers struggled with reporting options last year, as there was no way to accurately report non-binary staff members. This oversight has been addressed in the booklet. Per the agency, “Employers that voluntarily choose to report non-binary employees in the ‘comments’ section of the report(s) should not assign such employees to the male or female categories or any other categories (i.e., job category and race or ethnicity) within the report(s).” Employers have through December 5, 2023 to submit this data, and EEOC will publish any updates on the process to the dedicated reporting website.  In other EEOC news, the group issued proposed guidance in late September on “Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace.” The epic 145-page proposal details what features EEOC feels effective harassment policies should include, as well as the minimum of what effective training should encompass. While that much information may seem like overkill- it’s important to consider that harassment is still

Posted By Brandy King
November 27, 2023 Category: NLRB, NLRA, OSHA, Compliance, Regulatory Agencies, Safety

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced on October 31, 2023 that they’ll be strengthening their partnership with OSHA on referrals, sharing information, training, and outreach. The Memorandum of Understanding allows OSHA and NLRB to work together more efficiently to enforce labor laws and protect the rights of workers.  Assistant Secretary for OSHA Doug Parker stated, "Everyone should be able to exercise their legal rights in the workplace without fear of losing their job or other forms of punishment.” He noted that the partnership will expand the capacity of both agencies to protect workers raising concerns about workplace violations or retaliatory activity. This arrangement is likely to increase overall understanding of workers’ rights under federal anti-retaliation and whistleblower protection laws. The two organizations have built a fact sheet to help workers understand their rights and what recourse they have and what recourse they have if those rights are infringed upon. You can find that fact sheet here.   It shouldn’t be news to employers that you can’t (and shouldn’t) retaliate against employees for exercising their rights when it comes to workplace safety. If you don’t already have this poster alongside all of your other required communications to employees, you can order one for free here. We’re sharing the news of this partnership because it stands to amplify the already aggressive stan

Posted By Brandy King
November 27, 2023 Category: 401k, Retirement, Retirement Contributions, Roth, 529, Secure 2.0, Fiduciary Definition

At the end of October, US Department of Labor (DOL) announced a rule expanding what’s considered “fiduciary investment advice” under the Employee Retirement Income Security ACT, better known as ERISA. This will include guidance from those involved in employer-sponsored retirement plans.  The most notable difference will be a change to the five-part test, which will now state that investment advice will be considered fiduciary if the person providing it “does so on a regular basis as part of their business.”  The advice must also be “provided under circumstances indicating that the recommendation is based on the particular needs” of the retirement investor, and could potentially be used as a guide in their investment decisions. DOL’s press release states that the update would come into play when financial services providers are charging what they consider “junk fees” for advice, which can cut into the funds saved.   An attempt was made by DOL in 2015 to update the definition of “fiduciary,” but fell apart after a circuit court vacated the rule before it could be enforced.  The IRS also recently announced plenty of changes in store for 2024, all part of the SECURE 2.0 Act. The headliner of these changes that will impact the majority of people saving for retirement - the maximum employee contribution for 401(k) retirement plans will increase next year. With a $500 increase from 2023, e