ergo maia

Transitioning back into the workplace after a serious on-the-job injury or illness can be a difficult, frustrating, and often stressful process. From false starts, where an injured worker returns too early only to become overwhelmed and leave again, to situations where an injured worker is judged fit for duty but disagrees with the assessment, a number of scenarios can keep injured workers from returning to their posts. The question is, how should employers handle these failed return to work cases?

When the topic of workplace injuries comes up, the discussion typically centers on serious injuries – the ones that really cost employees in terms of pain, missed work time and potential long-term disability, not to mention and employers workers’ comp claims, lost productivity and other costs. While those big, serious injuries certainly are attention grabbers, minor on-the-job injuries – those everyday repetitive strains, minor sprains, and minor falls – matter too. If you’re looking to reduce your workers’ compensation premiums and claim expenses (and who isn’t?), no injury is too small to notice. Companies that take a proactive approach encourage reporting of “discomfort” before it becomes a full blown work-related, lost time injury. Like the guy in the old Fram oil filter commercial said, “You can pay me now or pay me later.”

While pre employment testing has been on companies’ radar for a while, it has become a more recognized (and popular) method of building a great workforce today. From assessing everything from personality to integrity, cognitive aptitude to emotional intelligence, to communication skills, basic mathematics and physical abilities, these tests can tell an employer a lot about a potential candidate, going far beyond the traditional interview in helping employers put the right candidate in the right job.

Keeping employees safe in the heat is a major concern in industries that require outdoor work. Excessive heat can be very hazardous for workers, and for those who are working outdoors and are directly exposed to the sun, conditions can be even worse. So how serious are the risks and what can employers do to help ensure that their employees stay safe and healthy under these tough conditions? Here we will delve into the details of heat-related illnesses, injuries and fatalities among outdoor workers, as well as tips on preventing workplace injuries of this type in your workforce.

We all want to believe that our workplaces are safe and productive places. Unfortunately, information collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that serious, non-fatal work-related illness and injuries happened to 109.4 of every 10,000 full-time workers in 2013. That’s a significant number—one with both a human and a financial toll. According to the 2014 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index, disabling workplace injuries and illnesses racked up costs of nearly $60 billion in 2012. Fortunately, there is a lot employers can do to rise above the numbers. Knowing the most common workplace injuries is a great place to start if you want to prevent them.

Managing expenses is vital to staying profitable in today’s ultra-competitive business climate, and workers’ compensation costs have been rising steeply over the past two decades, placing an ever-increasing strain on bottom lines.¹

Physical abilities testing offers employers, especially those in physically demanding industries, an important tool for evaluating the qualifications of potential new employees. However, many employers wonder just how physical ability test programs square with ADA regulations. Can companies use these tests without running afoul of those regulations? The answer is yes, so long as the testing program meets certain standards; when properly designed and used, these programs can even aid in ADA compliance.

Given the human and financial costs of work-related injuries, preventing injuries and workplace safety is a big deal for any employer. However, for employers in industries that place particularly heavy physical demands on workers, those concerns are vital. Workers in more physically stressful jobs – heathcare, warehousing, utilities, oil and gas production, law enforcement or construction, for instance – are, by nature of their jobs, at higher risk for injuries than the average employee. This, of course, places their employers at greater risk of facing the financial and legal consequences for those injuries.