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With the BWC touting “safety” in every program it offers, it’s easy to be confused about which program provides which benefit is to employers.
Safety Council Rebate Program: Employers get a rebate of their premiums when they join the local Safety Council, attend monthly meetings and provide injury statistics to the Council every six months. Rebates are good.
Drug Free Safety Program: This program replaces the Drug Free Workplace Program. Employers get a 3%, 4% or 7% discount stacked on top of their experience modifier (EM). There is paperwork that costs time & money to prepare and implement, although “DFSP employers may apply for reimbursement for specified start-up costs for the first two years of DFSP program operation.” Go to http://www.ohiobwc.com/employer/programs/dfspinfo/dfspdescription.asp for more information. The real downside is that employers will be prohibited from paying salary continuation for claims with dates of injury 1/1/2011 and later. See previous blog post RED FLAG Drug Free Safety Program for examples of how much the premiums are reduced by the discounts.
Group experience rating: This is still the best way to reduce premiums, but each employer has to meet various criteria and deadlines. The BWC now requires 2 hours of safety training on-line or in person for companies participating in group rating.
Group retrospective rating: The 7/1/09-6/30/10 policy year is the first for this program. Employers pay their individual premiums. At the end of 12, 24 and 36 months, the group experience is analyzed and employers either get a rebate because the group performed well, or they get a bill for more premiums due to poor group performance (too many claims). There does not appear to be a safety training requirement for employers in this program, but employers can participate in the Safety Council Rebate Program.

The deadline for enrolling in the Drug Free Safety Program is June 30, 2010. The program used to be called the Drug Free Workplace Program, but is has been renamed to alert you that the program has changed.
RED FLAG: If you enroll in the Drug Free Safety Program starting 7/1/2010, your company cannot pay salary continuation in any claim with a date of injury of January 1, 2011 or later.
The good news is that a company will be able to stay in the program longer than the current 5 years – at least until the BWC changes the program again. If your company was in drug-free and was eliminated after 5 years, it can apply again. There are 2 levels, Basic and Advanced.
Basic level: 4% discount for non-group experience rated employers. The components are similar to the current program, including written policy, testing, education, training and assistance, and the hourly education and training requirements have been reduced. A safety review, and supervisor accident analysis training and accident reporting have been added. If your company will receive a group experience rating discount, it will not get an additional discount for the Basic level.
Advanced level: 7% discount for non-group experience rated employers. Your company must meet all requirements of the Basic level plus 15% random drug testing, safety action plan and a second chance after first positive. A group experience rated employer can stack up to 3% on top of the group discount, as long as the total discount is equal to or less than the maximum discount (currently 49%).
Is a 3%, 4% or 7% discount worth the paperwork hassle and the inability to pay salary continuation?
Here’s an example. A company has yearly payroll of 3.5 million dollars. Without group rating, its EM would be 120. If it enrolled in the Advanced level, its EM would be 113 and its premiums would be $7,400 lower. With group experience rating, its EM will be 83. Enrolling in the Drug Free Safety Program would lower its EM to 80, and reduce its premiums by $3,000. Are those savings in one year worth giving up the ability to control its claims costs in lost time claims?

To enroll in a course, go to bwclearningcenter.com. At the bottom of the page, click on First Visit to create a new login ID and password for this service. You cannot use the same login ID and password that you use for the BWC website.

After your login ID and password are accepted (write it down!) you will be asked to provide optional identifying information.

Once you are in the Learning Center site, click on the Course Information & Enrollment button in the middle of the screen to see information about the courses. You can Take the course, Browse the course or Review it. If your sound is on, you will hear the information on the page. There is no additional information offered.

When you Take the course, you must score at least 85% to get credit for it.

There are bulletin boards and discussion groups in the Café, and access to other materials in the Resource Center.

Call 614-995-8622 to ask questions or make suggestions.

The BWC provides 109 courses through this learning center. Seven are available on line at the Oho BWC Learning Center, and the others are half or full day courses at various BWC locations around the state.

If your company had a workers’ compensation claim in 2007 or 2008, someone from your company must complete two hours of safety training before 7/1/10 to be allowed to participate in group rating. The BWC has on-line courses you can take to meet the requirement.

The two free courses you can take online that meet the requirement are Avoiding Back Trauma (2 hrs) and Getting Started with Safety (4 hrs).

You can combine these on-line courses to meet your 2 hour requirement: Preventing Slips/Trips/Falls (1 hr), Industrial Hygiene Overview (1 hr), Preventing Cuts & Lacerations (35 mins) and Ladder/Stairway Safety (45 mins)

If you attend a classroom course given by the BWC, your company can use that credit to meet the 2-hour requirement.

If you want your employees to take the courses, they must start with your policy number and create their own login ID. The password could be the same for all employees. At the end of the course, the employee should print the test results and fax them to 614-365-4974. The BWC will print a certificate. The BWC is working on the ability to have the student print the certificate.