While your employees can catch the flu year-round, fall and winter are the peak times for an outbreak. In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 80,000 Americans died from the flu and more than 900,000 ended up in the hospital. 

​On average, U.S. employees miss more than 17 million workdays from the flu, costing employers $7 billion in sick days and lost productivity. Make sure your organization is prepared to help employees get through flu season.

Advances in technology affect everything and everyone, including workplace safety. The workforce is more tech-savvy than ever before, leading to changes in how we work and the availability of data.

With many safety programs out of date, it’s time to put technology to work to improve safety in the workplace.  An article in Safety and Health Magazine suggest four ways technology can respond to today’s safety needs.

Injuries due to slips and falls are one of the most frequently reported workers’ compensation claims. While these accidents can happen anywhere, any time, they typically spike during the winter months. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 20,000 workplace injuries due to falls from snow, sleet, and ice occurred in 2016. Of those, 28 percent resulted in more than a month off of work.

Employees and visitors alike are at risk, but with a proactive safety plan, slips and falls can be prevented.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are over 42,000 opioid-related deaths in the United States each year. And according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, drug overdoses are one of the leading causes of death for Americans under the age of 50. With the popularity of synthetic opioids surging, experts predict the death toll will only increase. 

Did you know that 60.3 million U.S. workers are affected by workplace bullying? A 2017 survey conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute found:

• 70% of perpetrators of abusive conduct are men
• 61% of bullies are bosses
• 66% of all targeted workers are women
• Male perpetrators target females 65% of the time
• Female perpetrators target females 67% of the time
• 40% of targets are believed to suffer adverse health consequences from bullying
• 29% of targets remain silent about their abusive conduct; only 17% seek formal resolution

Bullying is generally defined as the use of intimidation through power, influence, tone or language to affect a person negatively. It is often intentional; however, sometimes the bully is not aware of his or her hurtful actions or words.
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Across the country property and business owners have been overwhelmed by damage caused by tornados, fire, flood, and other disasters. For many, this is the first time they have experienced such loss, and they become targets of insurance fraud when questionable contractors show-up in damaged communities offering to clean and repair the damage, handle the insurance claim, and other services.

A fire can happen anywhere, but three simple steps: Look, Listen, and Learn, are essential to reducing the likelihood of having a fire and escaping safely in the event of one. The National Fire Protection Association’s 2018 Fire Protection Week Campaign is an important reminder to:

• Look for places fire could start. Take a good look around your home. Identify potential fire hazards and take care of them.
• Listen for the sound of the smoke alarm. You could have only minutes to escape safely once the smoke alarm sounds. Go to your outside meeting place, which should be a safe distance from the home and where everyone should know to meet.
• Learn two ways out of every room and make sure all doors and windows leading outside open easily and are free of clutter.

Fires are the leading cause of home injuries and death. In a fire, mere seconds can mean the difference between a safe escape and a tragedy.  Does your family have a plan if a fire started in your home?
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OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard, or BBP standard, requires workplaces to have policies and controls in place to protect employees from needlestick injuries and exposure to bloodborne pathogens.  The standard defines engineering controls, such as sharps disposal containers, self-sheathing needles, safer medical devices such as sharps with engineered sharps injury protections and needleless systems that isolate or remove the bloodborne pathogens hazard from the workplace. 

LMC’s risk management team presented safe patient handling and supervisor safety management to South Dakota healthcare leaders at the SDAHO Enterprises Summer Healthcare Conference. Pat Duff, LMC senior vice president, kicked off the event, which was followed by a presentation on the legal basics of workers’ compensation. 
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The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently reported that summer and early fall are the deadliest times of year on the country’s roads, indicating that summer months are when Americans drive the most.
 
According to the National Safety Council (NSC), motor vehicle deaths surpassed 40,000 for the second consecutive year in 2017. Further, estimates from the NSC show 4.57 million people were seriously injured in auto crashes. Distracted driving is the major contributor.