Introducing Origami Risk

Puget Sound Workers’ Compensation Trust (PSWCT) is excited to announce that we are launching a new risk and claim management system, Origami Risk, on September 5, 2017.

Why Origami Risk and Why Now?
Origami Risk will streamline our claims activity by:

Tracking incidents via online reporting.
Providing increased visibility into Loss Control activity.
Offering improved data and analytics for simplified reporting, including dashboards.
Guaranteeing rigorous security controls.

We want to deliver the services that are critical to our members and eliminate inefficient paper-intensive processes. With improved reporting and automated incident data collection, you will be able to more easily identify trends and respond with preventive measures.

Online Incident Reporting + Online Claim Reporting = Improved Outcomes
One of the many benefits of our new system is that it integrates online claim and incident reporting, member district claim access, and internal PSWCT claim management into one place. See below for how this change will affect your claim processing workflows.

Rollout Highlights
Origami Risk will launch on September 5, 2017. There will be no downtime for our members.

Claims for workers’ compensation benefits will continue to be filed online.
Incidents will start be filed online on September 5th.
Injured workers can opt in to electronic communications.

Training for Member School Districts

Districts will receive user guides, logins, and passwords the week prior to the launch of Origami Risk on September 5.
Districts will not be able to log in to Origami Risk prior to September 5. However, we are developing a way for districts to preview the system. Details to follow.

What this Means for Your Employees
Starting September 5, all Accident/Incident Reports will be filed online. In order to streamline the incident reporting process and cut down on the amount of paperwork injured workers are required to complete, we have combined the incident reporting functionality for the Accident/Incident Report and Self-Insurer Accident Report (SIF-2).

An Accident/Incident Report will be generated and sent to the employer for every incident filed. If workers indicate that they have sought, or intend to seek, medical care, a claim for workers’ compensation benefits, via a Self-Insurer Accident Report SIF-2, will also be generated.

Although our process is changing, the link to our claim reporting form has not. Injured workers can still report all on-the-job incidents, injuries, and illnesses via our website at: http://www.pswct.org/school-district-employee/reporting-an-incident/

Once an injured worker clicks on the “Report an Incident” link, they will be directed into our new incident reporting system.

Please direct all employees who have had an on-the-job accident or incident, regardless of whether they intend to file a claim for workers’ compensation benefits, to our website. Please see our users’ guide: Employee User Guide – Reporting an Incident.

What this Means for Your Claims Liaisons
You will be receiving communications from PSWCT on how to access our new system, along with the necessary login and password information. Our new system has a new look and feel, as well as functionality for districts to send documentation directly to the claim. We will be providing user manuals and tips for how to navigate your dashboards and claim files.

We will also be distributing updated incident and claim reporting postcards for your workers. Please keep an eye out for those in the mail.

FAQ
We are developing a FAQ for our members. Send your questions to Susanne McIntyre. Be well and be sure to contact us with any questions you may have.

A Guide to Unemployment Forms

By now you have noticed that the Washington State Employment Security Department has revised and renamed several common unemployment forms. To help you easily identify each form and determine its purpose, we have created a quick video overview, below. We have also provided samples of each form below, with a brief description of the form’s purpose.

Request for Separation Information. Used to gather employment history.
Wage Verification. Used to verify the wages reported by the claimant.
Benefit Charging Notice. Shows the portion of benefits the employer is responsible for and includes an employment history request.
School Employer Questionnaire. Used to determine whether there is a contract or reasonable assurance.

Remember the two keys to a successful response to an unemployment claim are completeness and timeliness.

6 Steps to a Basic Accident Investigation

When an employee has an accident at work, it is imperative that his or her supervisor take the time to perform an accident investigation, regardless of whether that employee was injured in the incident or not. Accident investigations are an opportunity to uncover safety problems and correct them before they reoccur.

However, these investigations must be performed correctly to be useful. The following steps are a guide to performing an effective accident investigation.

Step 1: Gather information. Get a brief overview of the situation from witnesses and employees directly involved in the incident. Your goal is to collect enough information to understand the basics of what happened.

Step 2: Search for and establish facts. Examine the accident scene, looking for things that will help you understand what happened. This includes looking for dents, cracks, scrapes, or splits in equipment; tire tracks or footprints; spills or leaks; scattered or broken parts; and so on. Be sure to take photographs!

Step 3: Establish essential contributing factors. Contributing factors include environmental factors, design factors, systems and procedures, and human behavior. Design factors include workplace layout, design of tools and equipment, and maintenance. Systems and procedures factors include lack of systems and procedures, inappropriate systems and procedures, inadequate training procedures, and housekeeping. Human behavior is common in accidents and includes carelessness, rushing, and fatigue, among others.

Step 4: Find root causes. There are almost always multiple causes that contribute to an accident. Try not to settle on a single cause theory. Try to identify all of the underlying causes as well as the primary cause. For example, in the case of a fall, look beyond the obvious causes, such as a trip hazard. You should also consider possible causes such as inadequate lighting, whether the injured worker was carrying a large object that blocked his or her forward vision, or if the trip hazard was left by another employee who did not pick up after a task was completed.

For more information, see our article on Root Cause Investigations.

Step: 5 Determine corrective actions. Once you know what happened and why it happened, you are ready to determine how to fix the problem so that you avoid repeat accidents. Think about not only what is the most expedient action but also about which actions are most likely to permanently solve the problem(s) that led to the accident.

Step 6: Implement corrective actions. Put your corrective actions into place and follow up to make sure that they were sufficient to mitigate the hazard and/or address the issues.

What happens to this information after I submit the report?
Accident reports are reviewed by your district’s safety committee. It is a regulatory requirement that an accident report include an accident investigation to ensure that the hazard was addressed. If the supervisor’s investigation section is left blank or a detailed investigation was not completed, then the report must be sent back to the supervisor for completion.

Are You Disabling Your Employees?

When the Trust’s new Return-to-Work Manager, Suzanne Metz, discussed return-to-work programs with trustees at our Annual Trustee Meeting in March, she began by asking them one question: “Are you disabling your employees?”

Though unaware of it, school districts may be unintentionally disabling their workers by not having effective return-to-work programs in place that enable workers to return to their jobs as soon as they are physically able. To address this issue, Suzanne will be working with districts to support their efforts in creating interactive return-to-work programs.

Currently, four of our member school districts are piloting the PSWCT Return-to-Work Program. If you are not one of those districts, or if you missed the Annual Trustee Meeting and would like to learn more, check out a recording of the presentation Suzanne gave at the Annual Trustee Meeting, “Are You Disabling Your Employees?” below. This presentation features an introduction to managing Work Injury Disability Syndrome, which is a significant factor in rising workers’ compensation claim costs!

Before watching the recorded presentation, you will want to download and print the three-page training handout, “Employer’s Role in Disability Syndrome – Solutions Checklist.” It includes a table of common Work Injury Disability Syndrome causes and solutions, a Leadership Plan Worksheet, and a calendar to help you plan a date for your Return-to-Work Program Annual Program Review. We will be hosting a live webinar on Annual Program Reviews on Friday, April 21^st at 10AM, and will send a link and materials out later this week.

This is a great starting point for your district. If you have questions about next steps, check the calendar for additional training dates or contact Suzanne Metz.

“Are You Disabling Your Employees: Part One”

“Are You Disabling Your Employees: Part Two”

Executive Director’s Corner: You Manage What You Measure

Clairmonte Cappelle
Executive Director

It’s been said that you manage what you measure. At the Puget Sound Workers’ Compensation Trust, we are in a consistent cycle of “measuring,” whether it be tracking the frequency of on-the-job injuries, the cost of your injured workers missing days at work, or how a district’s loss experience affects their workers’ compensation rates.

We know our districts are managing by measuring too – whether it be grades, graduation rates, or budgets, you are taking stock of where you are so that you can compare it to where you want to be. To borrow another saying, you can see where you’re going by knowing where you’ve been.

One major area of focus this year is supporting our districts in developing effective return-to-work programs. Looking at our internal claims data, we see a real opportunity to eliminate any unnecessary gaps between the time an injured worker is released to work and the time return to work occurs. As our Return-to-Work Manager, Suzanne Metz, discussed at our Annual Trustee Meeting last month, districts may be unintentionally disabling their workers by not having return-to-work programs in place that enable workers to return to their jobs as soon as they are physically able.

We see this as an area where we can offer our expertise to help our districts develop these programs in coordination with Suzanne. As an introduction to the work she’ll be doing, please check out her webinar, “Are You Disabling Your Employees?” Suzanne will continue to be in touch with our districts on both an individual claim basis and a global basis in developing customized return-to-work programs.

Lori Stephens of University of Washington’s Valley Medical Center also attended our Annual Meeting and discussed their WorkSTEPS pre-employment/post-offer job screenings and how they play a role in reducing claims costs. Lori demonstrated customized screenings developed for districts based on job analyses and how these screenings help ensure that districts are hiring people for positions who are physically able to perform the position’s essential functions. WorkSTEPS’ data shows that 10% of the workforce is typically working beyond their physical abilities and 80% of work-related injuries come from that 10%.

We see these numbers as a clear demonstration of how measurement can guide management. Post-job-offer assessments are a valuable tool for our districts to use in reducing their overall risk, and we endeavor to support you in implementing these assessments at your district. If you’d like more information, please reach out to your district’s assigned PSWCT loss control consultant, Steve Lyons or Matt Tardif.

These types of risk reduction programs are beneficial to districts in reducing overall risk, as well as positively affecting experience modification ratings, which PSWCT uses in determining each district’s workers’ compensation rates. For the 2018 calendar year, Trustees and the Executive Advisory Board approved a 1% base rate increase. This change will affect districts differently based on respective claim frequency and severity experience over the prior three-year period. Overall impact of the 1% base rate change on individual school districts, when experience rating is applied, ranges from a reduction of 8.8% to an increase of 15.6%. We will be sending out your rate packets by the end of the month with your estimated rates for 2018 as well as benchmarking data on your district’s recent claim loss trends.

We continue to promote our six risk reduction best practices, which have been proven to reduce injuries in the workplace. You will be hearing from our loss control staff in the coming months as they measure your participation and progress in implementing and maintaining safety committees, hearing conservation, science laboratory safety, indoor air quality, post-job-offer exams and return-to-work programs. It is our hope that by continuing to measure these practices, we can support our districts in reducing their total cost of workers’ compensation risk, thus making possible the re-allocation of savings to student educational efforts and/or loss prevention and return-to-work programs.

Be safe.

L&I Rule Violations – The Top 10 List You Don’t Want to Make

The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) recently published their top ten rule violations, which are the most common safety and health rules cited during L&I inspections. You may find the results surprising or a bit worrisome. Please know that your PSWCT Loss Control team is available to help districts use this information to strengthen workplace safety programs and prevent costly injuries and illnesses.

Executive Director’s Corner: Reflecting on 2016

Clairmonte Cappelle,
Executive Director

The end of the calendar year is an excellent time for reflection – to look back on achievements and evaluate what was done well and what can be done better. At the Puget Sound Workers’ Compensation Trust and Unemployment Pool, we have been working on several year-long projects to best serve our member districts. As with any endeavor, there are bumps in the road, but we are excited at the services we have been able to roll out this year, and to share with you what we hope to achieve in 2017.

One change at the Trust I am excited to share with you is our new Return-to-Work Manager. We are fortunate to have recruited Suzanne Metz for this role. Suzanne comes to us with more than 15 years of experience in return-to-work programs and will be leading the effort to design and implement a collaborative return-to-work process that achieves the best outcomes for all stakeholders. She’ll be working with each district to strengthen and develop effective return-to-work programs. You can read more about Suzanne and her efforts here. Our commitment to return injured workers to work has never been stronger.

Another big change we are working on is the implementation of a new claims system. We are excited about the potential transformative impact this technology will have on our operations including enabling enhanced communication between the Trust and district claim contacts, and providing districts with on-demand access to, and more control over, the claim data they are most interested in. As part of this implementation, we are also evaluating the intuitiveness and transparency of our communications and processes. If you have any feedback on which of our processes are working or not working for you, please reach out to your district contact. We appreciate your perspective. A big thank you to Laveda Nichols of Federal Way School District and Kathy Kemp of Bethel School District for their valued input as we mapped out the claims intake process for the new claims system.

Each of these initiatives opens up opportunities for us and positions us for future success. That is why we continue to promote and implement our best-practice risk reduction programs – strategies proven to impact claim frequency and severity. This year we expanded on our risk reduction programs to include hazardous chemical management and laboratory safety under the expertise of our Industrial Hygiene Consultant, Elizabeth Jakab.

In addition, we continue to offer annual audiograms for those job classifications with a high risk of hearing loss, including music teachers. Please read our article, “Music to My Ears?” for more information on why these tests are beneficial to your music department staff. Another area of risk that we talk a lot about is safe lifting techniques, and the consequences of these types of injuries in the form of time missed from work and expensive medical treatments. We are offering a giveaway that may help your staff lift more safely. Check out our article on back injuries.

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their efforts this year in making your respective school districts a safe place to work and educate our children. We’ve come through a year that was filled with both challenges and victories. How reassuring it has been to know that we can work as a team.

On behalf of the Trust and Pool, I offer our best wishes to you and your families for the upcoming holiday season. We look forward to continued collaboration to make 2017 the safest ever!

Introducing Our New Return-to-Work Program!

Welcome to Suzanne Metz, PSWCT’s new Return-to-Work Manager!

We know that returning injured employees to work in a timely manner improves outcomes both for the employee and the school district. That’s why the Puget Sound Workers’ Compensation Trust created a Return-to-Work position to address the gap between workers being released back to work and the districts being able to accommodate any light or modified duty restrictions.

Suzanne Metz has joined our team as the Return-to-Work Manager to lead this endeavor. She comes to PSWCT with over 15 years of experience in the return-to-work process.

Suzanne will be dedicated to managing the Return-to-Work Program for the Trust and supporting school districts as they return their injured employees to work. She will also work with the claims consultants, providing individual case management services to help our district representatives save money for their districts through lower claim costs and workers’ compensation insurance premiums.

Why Return-to-Work?
While accident prevention is the best way to reduce overall injury costs, an effective Return-to-Work Program is the best way to manage claim costs and improve employee recovery after a work place injury has occurred. Statistics show that injured workers who are off work longer than 6 months have only a 50% chance of ever returning to their job.

In addition, there are real consequences to not working. Long term “worklessness” carries more risk to health than many “killer diseases” and more risk than most dangerous jobs.

There are many health effects of worklessness:

2-3 times the risk of poor health
2-3 times the risk of mental illness
Significant increase in risk of depression
Significant increase in overall mortality rate

Benefits of Return-to-Work
In addition to decreasing costs in time loss, medical expenses, and insurance premiums, return-to-work programs provide many benefits:

May reduce risk of re-injury
Lowers costs in hiring and training of replacements
Shows commitment to employees
Maintains employer-employee relationship
Minimizes loss of productivity
Maintains skills of injured workers
Retains sense of job security for injured workers
Helps injured workers’ well-being: they feel needed, retain their usual wages, maintain the level of fitness to do the job, see a reduction in stress levels and an improvement in self-image, and are ultimately more likely to return to work.

Our Goals
One of our key goals for 2017 is to bring stakeholders together for the best workforce outcomes. To achieve that goal, we are focusing on our Return-to-Work Interactive Process. This process ensures that all stakeholders are engaged and that all available return-to work options are thoroughly explored at the district level. Suzanne Metz will be calling all of our district representatives to introduce herself and to set times for on-site meetings to introduce the new Return-to-Work Program. We look forward to partnering with you in this important work.

Music to My Ears? Audiograms for Music Teachers

When you think about which of your employees are at risk for occupational hearing loss, music and band teachers may not be the first job classification to spring to mind.

However, music and band teachers are routinely exposed to high levels of noise in their work, making them vulnerable to hearing loss. Because most music teachers with hearing loss experience it gradually, many may not notice the problem before it progresses to something more serious.

Hearing loss is even more problematic for these workers, as their hearing is an essential part of being able to perform their chosen profession. A simple audiogram test is all it takes to see if they are, in fact, experiencing hearing loss.

Free On-Site Audiograms
We encourage your music department staff to participate in PSWCT’s free annual on-site audiograms. PSWCT launched this as an added benefit for all member districts in 2015. We are happy to report since that time, most of our districts have participated in this program, with over 1,000 audiograms completed. However, we would like to see this testing extended to district music and band staff members.

Districts that have already participated in this program have taken the important first step of establishing a baseline test result for those employees considered to be at high risk. Going forward, these employees will be tested annually to conduct a comparative analysis of whether there has been any hearing loss. If your district participated in this program last year, you will be contacted by our vendor, Listen Audiology, to schedule a new appointment near the prior year’s testing anniversary date.

Time for a Baseline
If your music department staff did not participate last year, you can start the program at any time by making an appointment with Listen Audiology at your convenience, to establish baseline results.

These services are offered free of charge as part of your membership with the Trust. If you have any questions, please contact our loss control staff, Steve Lyons or Matt Tardif, for assistance. Listen Audiology contact information is listed below.

Who to Test?
When assessing which employees will require audiograms, please know that testing is limited to the employee classifications listed below, which are known to be exposed to a time weighted average (TWA) greater than 85 decibels in an 8-hour workday:

Secondary Music Instructors – Band, Orchestra, Instrumental, and Choir
Primary Music Instructors if they teach/instruct one or more periods at the secondary level.

Please keep in mind:

Allow a 2-hour testing window per on-site appointment to test up to 19 employees. (Large school districts may need to schedule additional time.)
If you need extra time or an extra site visit to include all of your employees in the testing program, please let Steve Lyons or Matt Tardif know. They can authorize the additional testing time for you.

Take Action Now!
Establishing a baseline for hearing loss is extremely important. Not only can it help protect your staff’s hearing, it may protect your district from a costly hearing-loss claim.

Hearing Protection for Music Teachers

Music classroom sound volumes can grow to very high levels during daily lessons, ensemble rehearsals, sporting events, and especially when in the presence of brass or percussion instruments. Although it may seem strange to some, the use of earplugs during these activities is growing in acceptance.

Many people are familiar with the traditional earplug inserts that can be purchased over the counter at a variety of places. These work well for reducing the intensity of the sounds that get to the eardrum, and are relatively inexpensive. However, the obvious downside for anyone who has used them is that they also distort the frequencies of the sound that reaches the eardrum, making them less than ideal for most music-listening situations.

Additionally, using traditional earplugs means that instructors cannot hear normal conversations during the in-between times when students are not playing their instruments. Having to put earplugs in to protect hearing and then take them out to hear normal conversation can actually dissuade teachers from using earplugs at all.

To address this problem, some companies now sell special earplug inserts that block the damaging high intensity sounds to safe levels, but without overdoing it, allowing all but the softest sounds to be heard easily. This type of earplug does not distort the tone of the sound being played. Although more expensive than traditional inserts, they are still very affordable and the benefits speak for themselves.

Musician style earplugs such as Etymotic’s ER-20 sell for around $13 a pair, and on the higher end of the spectrum there is the Etymotic’s Music Pro ($299) with adaptive noise-reduction designed for musicians who want to hear naturally, need protection when hearing is at risk, and want to avoid the inconvenience of removing earplugs to hear.

PSWCT