Understanding the DART and TCIR Calculations

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications and Client Services Specialist, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

When a project owner asks you to provide the company’s DART or TCIR rate, it may seem a little overwhelming at first. But, the two numbers are really a score that can be used to compare contractors’ safety history. These numbers can be important during the bidding process when comparing multiple bids and could be a determining factor for who is awarded the contract.

DART stands for days away, restricted, or transferred. A DART rate is used to track any OSHA recordable workplace injury or illness that result in days away from work, restricted duty, or transfer of duties.

On the other hand, the TCIR is the total case incident rate (also known as the Total Recordable Incident Rate or sometimes referred to as the OSHA Incident Rate). It measures a company's past safety performance based on their incident rate. A TCIR is found by looking at the number of work-related injuries per 100 full-time workers during a one-year period.

The TCIR will likely be higher than the DART because it includes all incidents, not just the ones that results in lost time.

Project owners are increasingly requesting these numbers along with the project bid. Not only do they want to see how much it’s going to cost them to build the project, but they want to know how safe their contractor is on the jobsite. These numbers show that.

OSHA also uses these calculations to monitor high-risk industries.

Rancho Mesa’s Risk Management Center features a tool that helps contractors generate their DARTs and TCIRs. Contractors can use the Incident Track application to enter and track an incident’s details. Once that incident has been saved, the system will allow them to generate OSHA logs based on that data and generate the DART and TCIR.

“It’s an easy-to-use tool that ensures the numbers are accurate and available whenever they’re needed,” said Alyssa Burley, Media Communications and Client Services Manager with Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

To learn more about the Risk Management Center’s capabilities, sign up for an upcoming webinar at www.ranchomesa.com/workshops-and-webinars.

The Heart of Rancho Mesa

Author, Daniel Frazee, Executive Vice President, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

If you are reading this article, listening to our podcasts, and taking advantage of the meaningful risk management content we share weekly, you and your business likely find some degree of value in what is produced. While much of this content originates from our Media Communications Group, they, with other Rancho Mesa family members join together as the backbone of our operation. Our Certicians®, Account Coordinators, Benefit Analysts, Claim Advocates, Associate and Account Managers, and Sales Executives are the beating heart of our company. That core focuses on three main principles that guide our values, shape our decisions, and directly influence our daily interaction with clients and one another. They include Developing Solutions, Protecting Clients, and Building Trust.

Developing Solutions

A solution is defined as the act, method or process of solving a problem. Our clients face daily challenges and problems as they manage their organizations and continually look for competitive advantages. They rely on us to provide complete solutions but those can look far different across our many departments. Here are a few examples:

• One of our Sales Executives might recommend higher limits of coverage or adjusting deductibles to meet new exposures.

• Our Workers’ Compensation Claim Advocate might deliver a quarterly status to a company’s Safety Committee and make recommendations on return-to-work options. 

• It might also include an Account Manager reviewing contractual requirements for a client bidding a new job.

• And lastly, an Account Manager in our Benefits department might help to resolve a sensitive claim issue with a member. 

• These actions are just a few of the many day-to-day priorities that are centered entirely on serving our customers. We remain fearless in our approach to problem solving!

Protecting Clients

Risk comes in all shapes and sizes. Protecting our clients with insurance is one vehicle we may use to transfer some or all of that risk to a third-party. But, that process can only be effective when our team actively listens to clients and prospective clients through regular interaction at policy audits, pre-renewal meetings, claim reviews, stewardship reports, and renewal meetings. 

A key part of that protection are the resources we offer internally that help mitigate risk and reduce overall exposure to claims across all lines of coverage. Those resources include our:

• Risk Management Center Platform,

• RM365 HRAdvantage™ Portal,

• RM365 Advantage Safety Star™ Training Program,

• Weekly Educational Newsletter and Podcasts, 

• Workshops and Webinars.

Our clients can use these tools for risk management trainings, HR issues and concerns, safety certifications, and consistent risk management education and guidance.

These examples represent a very small sample of what is available from our organization. Building a risk management program that centers on controlling losses by implementing the proper protocols and best practice techniques is ultimately our vision for protecting clients.

Building Trust

We cannot develop solutions and properly protect our clients without building customer relationships based on a deep level of mutual trust. And, we view a distinct difference between establishing trust and maintaining it over the course of our partnership. While we are proud that our customer retention ranks in the top percentile across the nation, we recognize that trust is the key component to our success. And so, our work is never done. We continually expect more from ourselves, our team members, and our carrier partners to maintain, and ultimately, exceed customer expectations. It is simply how we were built and what we stand for. We see No Limit to what we can do.

To learn more about Rancho Mesa Insurance, subscribe to our weekly newsletter and podcast.

CAL/OSHA Adopts Written COVID-19 Prevention Plan

Author, Emily Marasso, Media Communications Assistant, Rancho Mesa Insurances Services, Inc.

On November 19, 2020, California’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) Standards Board adopted temporary emergency standards to protect workers from COVID-19. These standards are expected to go into effect November 30, 2020, upon approval from the Office of Administrative Law.

Now, what does this mean for California employers? It means employers must have a written COVID-19 Prevention Plan. This written plan must include and address specific key points outlined by Cal/OSHA. These standards require employers to establish a system for communicating information about prevention, positive cases to employees, how cases will be identified and evaluated, a process for investigation and responding to cases, correction of hazards, training, physical distancing requirements, face covering, site-specific controls, reporting/recordkeeping and access, preventing the spread of the virus to other employees and a defined return-to-work criteria after a COVID-19 recovery.

Rancho Mesa Insurance has developed a COVID-19 Prevention Plan template for its clients to assist in the implementation and compliance of the new standards. Updated versions may become available as the standards are approved by the end of the month.

In addition, Rancho Mesa’s Risk Management Center offers additional tools employers can utilize to make sure they are in compliance with the new standards. Track daily COVID-19 symptoms in the Audit Track screen and deploy free online COVID-19 training for all employees from any mobile device. Our library of COVID-19 resources continues to grow and is available for our clients to access from the Risk Management Center and the RM365 HRAdvantage Portal™.   

For information on how to access these resources, please reach out to your Client Services contact.

Download COVID-19 Prevention Plan Template

Download COVID-19 Prevention Plan Template

Topics Your COVID-19 Training Should Cover

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

As states begin to lift COVID-19 restrictions and move into later phases of reopening plans, and companies begin to bring back their employees, it is important to take the necessary health and safety precautions in the workplace. Your staff should be well informed about safety precautions and resources to keep one another safe. When choosing a COVID-19 employee training, make sure it is comprehensive and includes all the necessary topics recommended by local, state and federal agencies.

The Risk Management Center offers a 10-15 minute training designed to ensure compliance with COVID-19 safety guidelines. This general awareness course on COVID-19 covers tips on how to reduce the risk of contracting the virus by using best practices. In addition, the course covers COVID-19 characteristics and related health and safety concerns.

The COVID-19 General Awareness Online Training topics include:

• COVID-19 Characteristics

• CDC-Recommended Basic Precautions

  • Tips for Limiting Exposure

  • Proper Hand Washing

  • Social Distancing

  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

  • Cross Contamination

• Employer Responsibilities

  • Employee Temperature Checks

  • Face Masks

• Importance of proper disinfecting and sanitation

  • Recommended Chemicals

  • What to Clean and Disinfect

• Working-from-Home Ergonomics

• Federal Assistance for COVID-19 Related Leave

  • Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)

  • Paid Sick Leave

  • Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

This online training is offered for free to Rancho Mesa clients. Contact the Client Services department at (619) 438-6869 to learn more about the COVID-19 General Awareness training.

For up-to-date COVID-19 information and HR resources please visit Rancho Mesa’s COVID-19 Information Page.

COVID-19’s Impact on the Non-Profit Insurance Marketplace

Businesses of all sizes across the country have been impacted by COVID-19 in some way or another. As we begin to phase back into the “new normal,” the insurance industry is seeing several changes within the non-profit sector that will significantly impact pricing and coverage, moving forward.

Rate Increases

With many businesses completely shut down and sales way off projections, insurance companies are experiencing lower annual premiums while still needing to pay out for claims. Certain lines of coverage, in particular Employment Practices Liability and Workers’ Compensation are starting to see a significant uptick in claim frequency, which will likely cause rate increases to manage these unexpected costs. 

Carriers not writing any new business

Some carriers have placed a moratorium on quoting any new accounts until they can fully assess the damage on longer term exposure of COVID-19. This translates to less options for non-profit risks at renewal.

Carriers Limiting or Excluding Coverage

Many carriers are starting to  increase deductible levels, lower available Umbrella limits, and eliminate certain coverage territories for certain property as a way to limit their exposure to claims. Working closely with your broker to plan for these potential gaps at your pre-renewal meeting is critical for you and your management team.

Audited Policies

In many industries, General Liability policies are audited, annually. In the non-profit space, final audits are rarely performed.  In order to better account for the loss of revenues due to the shelter-in-place restrictions, many carriers will be conducting end of year audits. This could severely impact those organizations that have not been properly accounting for their exposure, as they will most likely have their revenues, employee counts, and client counts verified at the end of the policy term. Again, developing a plan now with your broker is an important part of your renewal cycle and can help maximize what potentially could be return premiums at final audit.

Looking ahead, non-profits will need to make sure they are partnered with a broker who is proactive and knowledgeable about the marketplace, so that they can stay ahead of these changes and avoid financial hardship as much as possible.

Rancho Mesa offers tools like the Risk Management Center, RM365 HRAdvantage™ portal, RM365 Advantage Safety Star Program™, weekly newsletters and Safety & Risk Management Podcast to assist our clients with successfully managing their risk and improving their marketability to carriers.

Contact Rancho Mesa Insurance Services at (619) 937-0164. to discuss your non-profit’s insurance needs.

Don’t Trim Down Your Safety Procedures

Author, Rory Anderson, Account Executive, Landscape Group, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Trees require regular maintenance to ensure their health and safety. Dead or diseased trees must be cut down in order to prevent injuries to people or damage to nearby structures. Maintaining trees through trimming is a dangerous task, even for experienced professionals. Unfortunately, accidents do occur. The three most common types of serious accidents experienced by tree trimmers are falls, electrocution, and being struck by falling objects.

Falls

Falls are a common accident for tree trimmers. They can occur by slipping off of a ladder, falling from a roof, or falling out of a tree. The typical fall victim is unsecured or not properly secured. Using proper personal protective equipment is essential in preventing falls.

Electrocution

The risk of electrocution is very high when working around power lines. Some trees are planted near overhead power lines and there is a risk of electrocution to anyone trimming branches. The worker may accidentally touch the wires, or a falling branch could knock down the wires resulting in a tree trimmer touching the lines. The most common type of victim violates minimum approach distances and makes contact with the power lines through a conductive tool/object such as pruning shears. Training employees on minimum approach distances and proper trimming techniques when working around power lines can help prevent electrocution.

Falling Objects

According to the Centers for Disease Control, being struck by a falling object is the most reported tree trimming accident. A falling object is typically an entire tree or its branches/limbs, but it could also be loose equipment like a chain saw. Most victims are struck by a tree or tree limb after it falls in an unexpected direction; however, careless accidents do occur in specified drop zones. Communication between employees in the tree and on the ground is imperative to ensure the safety of all.

Tree trimming professionals face dangerous hazards on a daily basis and it is extremely important to take precautionary safety measures to make sure that they are doing everything they can to reduce risk. Safety training materials for tree trimmers are available through the Risk Management Center.

For information about Rancho Mesa's TreeOne™ program, contact Rory Anderson at (619) 937-0164.

RM365 Safety Star Program May Lower Risk of Receiving OSHA’s Most Frequently Cited Violation

Author, Kevin Howard, CRIS, Account Executive, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services’ RM365 Advantage Safety Star Program™ checks several boxes for contractors who are looking to improve their safety culture and lower risk. The program provides safety training designed to reduce an organization’s probability of work-related injuries; thus, minimizing the likelihood of an OSHA citation when used in conjunction with the Risk Management Center tools.

Encouraging a safety culture through proper training makes sense for employers. Fed OSHA’s, maximum fine for a non-serious violation is $12,600. A willful repeat violation, however, can cost an employer anywhere from $70,000 - $126,000.

According to the United States Department of Labor, the top 10 most frequently cited standards are:

1. Fall protection, construction

2. Hazard communication standard, general industry

3. Scaffolding, general requirements, construction

4. Respiratory protection

5. Control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout), general

6. Ladders, construction

7. Powered industrial trucks, general industry

8. Fall Protection–Training Requirements

9. Machinery and Machine Guarding, general requirements

10. Eye and Face Protection

Avoiding OSHA’s #1 Violation

With Fall Protection being at the top of OSHA’s citation list, and one of the most frequent causes of workplace fatalities in construction, it is of the upmost importance to focus on it when developing a safety program.

Rancho Mesa’s Risk Management Center offers a number of safety trainings that cover all 10 of the most frequently cited standards listed above. Fall Protection is one of five modules, within the RM365 Advantage Safety Star Program that could potentially help avoid a severe injury and OSHA fines.

When Century Painting’s Eddie Lopez was asked to give his thoughts on becoming RM365 Safety Star certified, his response was sincere.

“Obtaining my RM365 Safety Star Certificate was not only fulfilling and educational as a safety manager, but it also helped me navigate through safety criteria that OSHA is expecting us to follow regardless,” said Eddie Lopez, Safety Manager for Century Painting Corp.

RM365 Advantage Safety Star Program™ is a comprehensive tool for contractors that are hoping to package several advantages into one single task. To learn more about how to enroll, please visit the Safety Star Program™ page or contact Rancho Mesa Insurance Services at (619) 937-0164.

To learn more about the Fall Protection in Construction requirements, visit Cal OSHA’s Safety & Health Fact Sheet. You will notice links dedicated to each industry down the left side of the page. This information can further help companies avoid a potential OSHA fine, and more importantly, protect employees.

4 Essential Tools For Managing Your Company's Risk

Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Risk Management is the identification, analysis, assessment, control, and avoidance, minimization, or elimination of unacceptable risks. Companies manage their risk through what is known as an Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP). As a business owner, supervisor or manager, there are tools available to assist in risk management endeavors.

“Injury and illness prevention programs are systems that can substantially reduce the number and severity of workplace injuries and illnesses while reducing costs to employers,” according to OSHA.

Below are four tools your company can use to proactively manage the IIPP.

Training

Access to a robust bilingual database of both online and offline trainings is essential to ensuring employees are up to date on required and supplemental training. Weekly training shorts (e.g., tailgate topics, safety shorts) that are industry specific and relevant keeps employees focused on safety and reinforces a safety culture within the company.

“Training in the safe way for workers to do their jobs well is an investment that will pay back over and over again in fewer injuries and illnesses, better morale, lower insurance premiums and more,” according to OSHA’s training requirements document.

Tracking of Employee Training

Maintaining employee training documentation is vital for ensuring employees are trained on required topics and in regular intervals. Having an electronic tracking system can streamline the process and allow management to generate reports and search records from any device with internet access.

According to OSHA’s documentation, “it is a good idea to keep a record of all safety and health training. Documentation can also supply an answer to one of the first questions an incident investigator will ask: ‘Did the employee receive adequate training to do the job?’”

To learn more about OSHA training requirements, review Training Requirements in OSHA Standards.

Incident Tracking and OSHA Reporting

Documenting near-misses, injuries, and accidents can keep your company OSHA compliant while helping to prevent incidents in the future. Making sure supervisors complete a thorough investigation and collect witness statements at the time of the incident can also ensure hazards are addressed immediately. Electronic documentation of a near-miss or incident creates a standardization of data that is collected, allows for trend reporting, and electronic submission of OSHA 300A Summary data.

Written Job Hazard Analysis

A job hazard analysis (JHA) identifies the dangers of specific tasks in order to reduce the risk of injury to workers. JHAs are important for managing risk because they help to identify hazards which can be reduced or eliminated before an employee is hurt. Once a JHA is established, management should observe and document their findings and any remedies that are made.

Risk Management starts with a written IIPP, but it is up to management to implement and utilize the available tools to make it effective. Contact Rancho Mesa’s Client Services Department at (619) 438-6869 to learn more about the Risk Management Center platform.

3 Steps to Developing Your 2018 Safety Training Calendar

Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

View fullsize

Example of a construction training short calendar.

The end of the year is the perfect time to evaluate your company’s overall safety program. One important element in a successful safety program is the weekly safety meetings (aka training shorts, tailgate talks, or toolbox talks). 

Rancho Mesa’s Risk Management Library provides the content employers need to educate their employees on how to be safe in the workplace.

The library includes hundreds of English and Spanish training shorts designed to educate employees on various safety topics in a quick and concise manner.  Each training short typically includes 1-2 pages of easy to follow content and a sign-in sheet.

Rancho Mesa recommends choosing 52 topics that are relevant to your industry. This will serve as your training short calendar for 2018.
    

Step 1:  Review the Training Shorts Library

To access the training shorts within the library, login to the Risk Management Center, click “Resources,” then click “Risk Management Library. Click on “Training Shorts,” then click “Safety.”

Review the list to determine which topics are appropriate for your industry.

Step 2: Save the Training Topics

It is recommended that you save your selected Training Shorts to your “My Content” folder.  This will make it easily to find them later.

From the list of training shorts, check the box to the left of the title(s) you would like to save to the “My Content” folder.  Then, click “Add to My Content” in the upper right corner.  Choose the subfolder to save the training shorts. Now, you can refer back to the list of topics, later. 

Step 3: Schedule the Trainings

Now, that you have picked your 52 training topics from the library, we recommend putting them on a calendar.  Pick a day during the week when you’ll have your safety meeting and include the topic for each week. Training may also be scheduled within the Risk Management Center.

For recommendations for your training calendar, contact Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. at (619) 937-0164.

DHS Alerts OSHA of Possible Electronic Reporting Security Breach

Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

On August 1, 2017, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) launched its online electronic data filing application.  It was designed to collect and publish injury data on companies throughout the United States in order to comply with a new requirement.

Within just a few weeks of its launch, according to an OSHA spokesperson, the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team alerted OSHA of a possible data breach within the newly launched Injury Tracking Application (ITA).  

The warning indicated user information for the tracking application system could have been compromised and the affected company was notified about the apparent breach.

According to a Department of Labor official on August 14, 2017, “Access to the ITA has been temporarily suspended as OSHA works with the system developer to examine the issue to determine the extent of the problem.”

As of today, August 23, 2017, OSHA’s ITA webpage displays an “Alert: Due to technical difficulties with the website, some pages are temporarily unavailable,” preventing anyone from uploading their data. 

In an article published by Business Insurance, legal experts were cited as advising companies to wait to file their reports. “I’m not advising anybody to file it before Dec. 1 because it might change,” said Mark Kittaka, a Columbus, Ohio-based partner with Barnes & Thornburg L.L.P. “I don’t know why you’d want to file it early. You may not have to file it all.”

However, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services advises its clients to continue to keep track of their incidents in the Risk Management Center, regardless of what happens with the OSHA electronic reporting requirement.  Companies will still need to maintain current OSHA logs, even if the electronic system is unavailable or the electronic reporting requirement changes.  If the December 1, 2017 deadline remains in effect, clients will be prepared to submit the data via the Risk Management Center, if the data has been maintained.

Contact Rancho Mesa Insurance Services at (619) 937-0164 if you have questions about how to track your incidents in the Risk Management Center and generate the required OSHA logs.

OSHA Not Prepared to Accept Electronic Submissions

Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

For over a year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have championed the upcoming electronic submission of injury and illness records (i.e., OSHA 300 logs) through its website.  The new requirement was designed to make OSHA records publicly available on the internet in hopes that it would encourage employers to maintain safer working environments.  The electronic submissions of the 2016 reports were supposed to be due by July 1, 2017.

However, in a mid-May announcement, the government agency’s website declares “OSHA is not accepting electronic submissions of injury and illness logs at this time, and intends to propose extending the July 1, 2017 date by which certain employers are required to submit the information from their completed 2016 Form 300A electronically.”

According to an article on Front Page News, “several business groups, including the Associated Builders & Contractors, Association of General Contractors, and National Association of Home Builders, had challenged the 2016 Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulation in court and lobbied the administration to jettison it on grounds that it could unfairly damage the reputation of some of their members.”

In preparation of the anticipated electronic submission requirement, developers of Rancho Mesa’s Risk Management Center, an online platform designed for risk management, workplace safety and compliance have been ready and waiting for the details of OSHA’s API (application programing interface) in order to build a seamless integration between the two websites. Rancho Mesa will keep its clients up to date on the development of this integration, if and when it becomes operational on the OSHA website.

As for now, Rancho Mesa is urging its clients to continue to track incidents in the Risk Management Center so they may take advantage of its trending tools and reports.

For details regarding who must keep and report OSHA records, visit www.osha.gov/injuryreporting.

Sources: 
“Injury Tracking Application: Electronic Submission of Injury and Illness Records to OSHA.”  United States Department of Labor. Retrieved from: https://www.osha.gov/injuryreporting/.
“OSHA suspends rule requiring firms report injury, illness data electronically.” Front Page News.  Retrieved from: http://www.advisen.com/tools/fpnproc/news_detail3.php?list_id=26&email=kvasquez@ranchomesa.com&tpl=news_detail3.tpl&dp=P&ad_scale=1&rid=283636777&adp=P&hkg=5cY58Bd37J