Ruth Kiefer, MSc, ARM
Vice President of Loss Control
As winter ramps up and we are already ahead of annual snowfall levels, it is time to remind your employees about walking safely in the parking lots. This is one of our most common winter claims that can be prevented if you learn to walk safely on ice and snow when entering or leaving the building. Here are some helpful safety tips:
(more…)By Donna Motley
Vice President of Claims
I have been processing Claims my entire adult working career. And not just processing Workers’ Compensation claims. Many years ago I also processed property damage and motor vehicle claims. While working at my former employer, I had a middle management supervisor tell me “there is no such thing as an accident”. Think about that statement for a minute. I do not believe the statement means an incident that occurred was “intentional”, I think it means it could have been “prevented or avoided”.
(more…)By Ruth Kiefer, MSc, ARM
Vice President of Loss Control
When you have a new hire, or you need to renew your employee’s industrial truck licenses have you ever wished you had a little assistance? Or a place for them to turn to have the class training? Well, I’m here to tell you we have that assistance for you!
Using our on-line portal, you may gain access to our video library on demand! That’s right, a huge video library made up of over 730 current safety video’s that are available 24/7 to use to help train your employees on various safety topics. Do you have an employee that continually has strain injuries, why not sit him in front of a monitor and watch a back safety video? Maybe you have a maintenance person, you have seen on the production floor and question his safety techniques while using a ladder, well, let him take 10 minutes out of the day, and sit him in front of the monitor to watch a short video on proper ladder use. There is a robust library to choose from and all the videos are current, short, and to the point.
(more…)By Chris Demeter
Senior Loss Consultant
Young workers experience high rates of job-related injuries. According to the Department of Labor, in fiscal year 2020, teens aged 15 to 19 were treated in the emergency room for a workplace injury about every five minutes. These injuries often result from the numerous hazards present in the places where they typically work, such as sharp knives and slippery floors in restaurants. Young workers are particularly at risk for workplace injuries due to their inexperience, as well as their physical, cognitive, and emotional developmental traits. Additionally, a lack of safety training contributes to the high rates of injury. They often hesitate to ask questions and may fail to recognize workplace hazards.
To help address this issue, MIOSHA enacted the Youth Employment Standards Act 90 of 1978. The Act defines a minor as anyone under 18 years of age, including but not limited to employees, volunteers, independent contractors, and performing artists.
(more…)By Ruth Kiefer, MSc, ARM
Vice President of Loss Control
To help you stay up to date on the most cited serious violations from MIOSHA, I attended CET’s annual release of the top 20 that they provide at their annual Michigan Safety Conference. You should be aware that both the number of citations and fines have increased 18 percent since 2023. In 2024, MIOSHA collected approximately $2.62 million in serious violations alone.
On the General Industry Safety violation side, approximately 546 citations were issued in 2024. They collected $1.9 Million in fines, which averages out to $3,400 for the average safety citation. Now for the Health side of things, as there are always two parts. The health side issued 547 citations and collected $659,700 in fines. The average citation per location was $1,200. If you are unsure if you have a Health or Safety violation, please contact your Loss Control Consultant for more guidance of these most cited violations listed below. We are happy to help you stay in compliance.
(more…)Donna Motley
Vice President of Claims
I read a recent statistic listing the “most dangerous” jobs; they were :
Dissecting these professions support the “danger” of the job. However, “danger” does not necessarily equal injury severity or frequency.
(more…)By Chris Demeter
Senior Loss Control Consultant
It should come as no surprise to learn that welding operations present significant risks to employees, property, equipment, and other physical business assets among industrial and manufacturing processes. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), over half a million workers are exposed to the hazards common to the welding profession each year, often resulting in injuries, lost wages, and reduced productivity. Faced with the potential for a serious or even fatal workplace injury, how would you prevent welding-related injuries? In this guide, we’ll explore some of the best risk management practices in the industry, helping your business protect employees and assets from the risks associated with welding operations.
(more…)By Ruth Kiefer, MSc, ARM
Vice President of Loss Control
My team and I are often asked “how can I improve my safety program?”. This is a question that comes up even to a seasoned safety professional as companies try to reduce operating costs as much as possible. A survey of regional safety professionals was recently conducted to determine what they would like to improve so they can provide a better safety culture in their workplace. Listed below are the top ten answers professionals gave to this question. I’ve added a loss control view after each identified issue.
(more…)By Donna Motley,
Vice President of Claims
Determining what to write about this month was a no brainer – the subject: The weather! We just experienced a week of high temperatures with high humidity. While I have written about this topic in the past, after this past week, I feel it bears repeating.
It came upon us suddenly. We were not prepared. There was no chance to become acclimated. Becoming dehydrated or suffering from the heat is not covered by Workers’ Compensation. Keep an eye on your co-workers for signs – muscle cramping, a “heat” rash, headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, confusion, irritability, fatigue, weakness, numbness or tingling in limbs, fingers and toes, excessive thirst, dry mouth, infrequent urination. All signs there could be a problem.
(more…)By Ruth Kiefer, MSc, ARM
Vice President of Loss Control
As many of you have already experienced, MIOSHA had a full complete year of compliance audits and are on a roll. To help our policyholders stay on track, we always try to provide CET’s annual release of the top 20 that they provide at their annual Michigan Safety Conference. On the General Industry Safety violation side, approximately 500 citations were issued in 2023. They collected $1.33 Million in fines, which averages out to $2,606 for the average safety citation. Now for the Health side of things, as there are always two parts. The Health side issued 565 citations and collected $823,200 in fines. The average citation per location was $1,456. If you are unsure if you have a Health or Safety violation, please contact your Loss Control Consultant for more guidance of these most cited violations below. We are happy to help you stay in compliance.
(more…)By Travis Halsted, MS, CSP, ARM, COSS
Loss Control Consultant
As the weather is warming up, I am finding more and more of my visits with policyholders that result in us spending some time outside to check the perimeter of the building, parking lots, truck bays and other areas that often can go without routine inspections due to weather conditions. During one particular inspection I noticed a large area of dead poison ivy climbing the facility wall, and an impressive dormant bee nest in the tree next to their outside eating area. I asked them if they include the “outside” area in their facility hazard identification process. I was met with a response that got me thinking. That response was that they will add that aspect as soon as they start doing that inside the building first. My contact at this company felt that they weren’t qualified to identify hazards, and that by not knowing all of the standards and rules, it prevented them from being the person to do that. Sadly, as I started to ask some of my contacts at other policyholders if they felt that they were qualified to do hazard identification they said no, and that’s why they rely so heavily on their Loss Control Consultant. I want to assure all of you that you are qualified, and with some training on what to look for, you can become an expert at hazard identification as well.
(more…)By Ruth Kiefer, MSc, ARM
Vice President of Cost Control
As this article hits your inbox, we will be in that magical time when flowers bloom and evenings are getting longer. It is also the time to remind you to have your Heat Stress Program developed and ready to implement for the sometime sweltering days of summer.
There are 12 key elements of a Heat Illness Prevention program that. MIOSHA requires. 1) Having a plan – this includes monitoring, acclimating, and having work/rest schedules. 2) You should designate someone to oversee the Heat Safety Program. 3) Training for employees is key to the program and workers need to know the risks, symptoms, and response procedures, as well as prevention methods regarding heat stress.
(more…)By Chris Demeter, Senior Loss Control Consultant
Lockout/tagout is not a topic to take lightly when it comes to the safety of your employees. Improperly following procedures or having no procedure at all is a serious MIOSHA offense, and fines are applied accordingly. Lockout/tagout is a critical safety component in safeguarding workers around the equipment they operate, service and maintain. For yet another year, MIOSHA’s Lockout/Tagout Standard made the list of the top 10 most frequently cited Standards. The most-cited sections within this standard focus on procedure development and use, inspections, employee training, and notification of the application and removal of lockout or tagout devices.
(more…)By Travis Halsted, ARM, COSS
Loss Control Specialist
As the leaves start to change colors, the temperatures dip at night, and the trick or treaters are developing their gameplan to get the most candy possible, we can’t help but notice that one particular item isn’t changing in our workplaces. That particular item is the need for employees. Temp agencies aren’t producing the number of employees that they were before, applications from potential hires have slowed to a trickle, all while production is starting to increase in several industries. Because of this, companies have turned to their office staff to enter the manufacturing floor, and fill some of the vacant positions. This can prove to be an immediate solution, but without addressing proper training this could also prove to create more challenges.
(more…)By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims
Summer is over, the kids are back in school. For the most part, vacations are over. Everyone should be settling down into their usual routine. Should that equate to fewer work related injuries? Probably not – because – the HOLIDAYS are upon us. Whether we partake or not, decorating for Halloween is becoming almost, if not, as big as decorating for Christmas! I’m sure you have seen the lawn decorations that stand as high or higher than your house. Following Halloween is Thanksgiving – not very much by way of decorating, but good food and football come into play, as well as raking leaves. Then Christmas or Hanukkah – which usually comes with a serving of snow shoveling. We are probably using a different set of muscles than what we used during the summer months which can lead to work injuries.
Daylight Savings Time is still in effect. We will be going to work in the dark and coming home from work in the dark. Daylight Savings along with the change in weather has an impact on our sleep patterns. Dark, cloudy days, colder weather and lack of sleep can lead to depression. Which, in turn, can lead to work injuries.
As an employer, you might be hiring seasonal help or maybe you are currently short staffed following the after effects of the UAW strike. Hiring new employees, bringing people back to work following a lay-off, or having to require your employees to make up for absent workforce, adds additional strain. Maybe you are only couch surfing on the weekend – again, you will have to use different muscles than previously utilized in the summer.
All of the above can contribute to, or cause, work related injuries. Does the change in seasons also have an impact on your business – are you busier or slower? Look for possible trends in work related injuries. Not to be forgotten, Michigan hunting season begins in September and continues through December! Pay particular attention to those Monday and/or Friday injuries!
By Ruth Kiefer, Vice President of Loss Control
MIOSHA is back out in the field with a seemly whole new crew of enforcement officers and they are knocking on lots of policyholder doors. After a few years off due to Covid, it is now necessary that you put safety back into the forefront of your businesses. It is very important that you take this time to dust off your safety programs and review your programs and when the last time your employee’s were trained. You need to ensure that your safety training is up-todate or determine if you are missing some programs due to new equipment installed or change of staffing.
You can find all the necessary safety programs on our portal. These safety programs are fill-in-the-blank templates that help you satisfy the written program requirements for MIOSHA. Also on the portal is everything you need for your safety training requirements as well, with well over 700 videos you’ll definitely find what your looking for. If you need to narrow the scope of your training needs, reach out to your MTM loss control person so they can direct you to the right video or written program.
(more…)By Chris Demeter, Senior Loss Control Consultant
MIOSHA requires companies to train on any hazards their workers may encounter. Knowing, understanding, and interpreting MIOSHA rules and regulations can sometimes be confusing. This is why our Loss Control team is here to assist you through the process. Help is only a phone call or an email away and will be answered by one of our Loss Control Consultants. This support is an integral part of MTMIC’s service because we know that safety and health questions are inevitable.
f you are not the person that handles the safety walkthroughs with your Loss Control Consultant, let me introduce you to our Loss Control Team.
(more…)By Travis Halsted, ARM, COSS, Loss Control Consultant
As we look outside every morning, we see that the weather is improving, and we are starting to shake that cabin fever. The sun hits our faces on the way to work, and optimism fills us for the upcoming day. Regardless of the industry that you work within, most of us are all met with the same issue once we arrive in our parking spots. That issue is simply people, or the lack thereof. The ability to not only find people willing to work, but to secure them for a period of time that extends past the first day is quite a feat as of late. Very few places have been able to combat this issue, but some of the manufacturing facilities have found a possible resolution. This resolution is simply re-placing the position in which an employee would be with a collaborative robot, or often referred to as “cobots”. As labor costs continue to rise, as does the need for flexibility in automation, mixed with the aforementioned shortage of qualified workers, employers are finding these cobots to not only be an option, but more so as their only option. The sales of these robots had grown to $400 million in 2017 but is expected to climb as high as $7.5 billion by the year 2027.
By Ruth Kiefer, Vice President of Loss Control
When you have a new hire, or you need to renew your employee’s industrial truck licenses have you ever wished you had a little assistance? Or a place for them to turn to have the class training? Well, I’m here to tell you, we have that assistance for you!
(more…)By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims
As employer I am sure you are acutely aware of the demand for higher wages merely to employ “a warm body” – not always acquiring talents that were promised. I was at my dentist this past week and was told they are having an issue finding a receptionist; a person was hired but quit after one week. My dentist is a female; her husband periodically “helps out” in the office because they are short staffed. Jobs are available!
It seems the price of everything has universally increased. While the price of gasoline may fluctuate, I haven’t seen the same phenomenon happen at the grocery store! The local Meijer has installed a large number of “selfcheck- out” scanners, almost totally eliminating human cashiers.
(more…)
