For most employers, Workers Compensation costs make up two to ten percent of payroll costs. To control these costs, a company must implement loss prevention and control measures that typically lead to fewer on-the-job injuries and illnesses and, thus, result in reduced insurance claims, and employer must:

Reduce the number of employee injuries.
Properly manage injuries that do occur.
Effectively finance the cost of these injuries.

As part of an effective accident prevention strategy, a company must recognize that its hiring practices, specifically selection and placement are an important part of the effort to control accident related costs, including workers compensation.

To best ensure this, an applicant’s attitude toward safety should be gauged during the interview process and used as a hiring criterion. The following five practices can be used to optimize employee selection and placement with respect to safety:

Interview Process: Preparation Employers must exercise caution throughout all phases of the hiring processes to ensure that they do not violate federal and state discrimination laws.

Job Descriptions: A written job description is an essential tool in the employee selection and placement process. Not only can it help to prevent accidents by ensuring that an applicant is qualified for the job, it also helps to prevent misunderstandings about job expectations.

Interview Process: Behavior Based Interview Questions. An interview is designed to gather information on a candidate and clarify information from other sources. To asses an applicant’s attitude toward safety, an employer may wish to develop behavioral description interview questions.

Pre-employment Testing: This requirement is the best predictor of success on the job. The use of nondiscriminatory pre-employment tests can be of great benefit in identifying superior candidates. To facilitate accident prevention, an employer may consider employee screening tests and drug testing.

New Hire Orientation: According to OSHA, research has identified length of time on the job as a variable related to a disproportionate share of injuries and illnesses at the worksite on the part of employees. In other words, new employees have higher accident incident rates. Remember, 30 percent of WC claims are filed within the first 90 days of employment. Literature shows that 70 percent of employees who rated orientation highly were likely to stay on the job at least three years.

By reducing the number of employee injuries, an employer can control accident costs and ultimately WC costs. Effective hiring practices such as those detailed here should be viewed as a key component as more carriers begin to scrutinize hiring practices as part of their rating and coverage process. Adopting and implementing such practices will further serve employers.

Rick Scott is the Safety Director for A Plus Benefits, Inc.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 at 3:23 pm and is filed under Hiring, Risk Management, Safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.