Accident Investigations

On-the-job accidents cost businesses billions of dollars annually. The direct cost of accidents is easily identifiable and includes medical bills, increased workers' compensation premiums, lost time payments and damage to property and equipment. However, the soft costs of accidents are less apparent. These include decreased employee morale, increased hiring costs and a diminished public image and customer relations.

Many employers feel that accidents are inevitable—they're just a part of doing business. On the contrary, when properly managed, accidents can be reduced, and even eliminated, which results in enormous savings to your organization!

The starting point to reduce and eliminate accidents begins with an effective accident investigation program. Accidents occur when something deviates from the norm. Proper and thorough accident investigation procedures will help you identify the change that led to the accident. Once the root causes of accidents are identified, procedures can be established and implemented to help ensure that the same or similar accidents are not repeated.

Our accident investigation specialists can assist your company in developing the policies, procedures and training necessary for an effective accident investigation program. They can also show you how to apply these methods and measure the results to ensure your program is making an impact. Our train-the-trainer program will enable your employees to conduct proper and thorough investigations and inspections in-house, saving your company time and money.

Ergonomic Assessments

According to the International Ergonomics Association, the definition of "ergonomics" is the application of scientific information concerning humans to the design of objects, systems and environment for human use.

Ergonomists contribute to the design and evaluation of tasks, jobs, products, environments and systems in order to make them compatible with the needs, abilities and limitations of people (IEA, 2000). Ergonomics affects everything that involves people. Work systems, sports and leisure, health and safety all should embody ergonomics principles if well-designed.

RiskControl 360° can evaluate ergonomic issues that are causing workplace injuries and illnesses. Our evaluation capabilities include an assessment of causes of injuries, tools and equipment use, documentation of risk factors and any specific, but practical, job modifications that can be made to remove obstacles for return-to-work.

Our capabilities also include the expertise to assess and document the physical requirements of jobs, along with exposure to workplace hazards. We then create job descriptions that are helpful in describing the job requirements to treating physicians, obtaining work releases and identifying methods and equipment to be used in mitigating hazard exposures.

Functional job descriptions also can be used as a foundation for the design of post-offer, pre-employment physical abilities tests to determine whether qualified candidates can successfully perform the required physical tasks of the specific job that they are applying for. Post-offer, pre-employment physical abilities testing screens out those candidates who may be prone to being injured while performing the job, thereby making your company more productive and profitable.

Human Resources Management

RiskControl 360° understands the importance of recruiting, hiring and retaining the best employees. Our consultants will evaluate your human resources policies and practices and compare the results to industry best practices. The gap analysis, including recommendations for improvement, then is prioritized, and an action plan is developed based on agreed-upon goals and objectives.

Our evaluation includes an analysis of the services provided by your human resources team, a review of your benefit plans, recruiting and hiring processes, disciplinary policies and other human resources-related components of your business, including workforce training and education.

We will customize our approach based on your needs. RiskControl 360° is equipped to provide a part-time human resources professional to help get your program off the ground or back on track—or, we can simply provide the program analysis and support for existing staff.

Regulatory Compliance

Safety and environmental regulations are in place to protect our families and communities from the risks associated with conducting business. Understanding and complying with OSHA, EPA and DOT regulations can be burdensome, time-consuming and costly. However, the result of non-compliance can be even more costly. These days, it is increasingly more difficult to maintain regulatory compliance and still turn a profit. Because of this, many businesses are turning to professional, outside assistance in order to reduce the burden on their staff.

RiskControl 360° consultants are experts in all fields of regulatory compliance. With years of experience in general industry and construction, we can work with your company to develop ways to maintain compliance, reduce business risk and control costs.

Review of Program Eligibility

Workers' compensation discount and rebate programs or self-insured group plans can reduce employers' workers' compensation costs substantially. In many states, the regulations allow for employers to band together by industry group to create the most cost-effective plans that leverage resources to ensure the lowest cost and highest quality services are provided. While these plans offer substantial savings opportunities to participating employers, the qualifications are stringent and only the best-performing employers are often eligible to participate.

RiskControl 360° will help you identify those plans for which your company may be eligible and help you evaluate how your participation can save you time and money. If you don't meet the eligibility requirements, we will help you understand why and then determine an expected return-on-investment associated with obtaining and adhering to the plan's requirements.

Risk & Safety Management Consulting

"Risk" is the probability of harmful consequences or expected losses that may arise from some present process or from some future event. Risk Management is a decision-making process involving consideration of relevant risk factors, probabilities and potential options in order to arrive at the optimal response. Risk management is a combination of risk evaluation, exposure control and risk monitoring.

Business risk comes in many forms, such as financial, regulatory, security, etc. All companies assume some amount of risk every day as a part of doing business. However, many business owners do not fully understand the extent of the risks they are taking—or the potential consequences of those risks.

At RiskControl 360°, we identify your company's risk exposure through a broad-based auditing protocol that encompasses safety, human resources, hazardous materials transportation, insurance coverage, environment, property, security and contingency planning, among other topics. Once identified, those risks are reported to the management team, in order of priority, based on current costs, potential for future losses, safety or other measures as requested by the company. This full-business audit helps owners, management or other interested parties weigh risk exposure carefully and decide how to mitigate the exposure, thereby lowering the cost to the company.

Workers' Compensation Cost Control

Endless workers' compensation paperwork, changing rules and regulations, extended disabilities and ongoing claims administration problems threaten your profitability and damage employee morale. Competitive pressure demands continuous improvement in profitability. It's not good enough anymore to react to these changes. You must anticipate them, but managing the cost associated with workplace safety and workers'-compensation-related injuries sometimes might seem impossible.

RiskControl 360° can help you identify opportunities to improve your workers' compensation program and save your company money. Our goal is to help you reduce your workers' compensation costs by reducing injuries, implementing effective claims management programs and establishing meaningful loss-control techniques.

Our qualified experts will help guide your company to sound preventative solutions and efficient claims resolutions.

Our services include:

• Program Gap Analyses
• Step-by-Step Cost Reduction Plans
• Complete Safety & Risk Management Services
• Workers' Compensation Managed Care Services
• Ongoing Claim Reviews and Coordination with your Third-Party Administrator
• Professional Training & Continued Education
• Litigation Assessment & Management
• Comprehensive Data Reports & Analyses