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Top 5 Driving Safety Tips for Distracted Driving Awareness Month

At STC, we believe that preserving human life means creating awareness around all aspects of workplace safety. In honor of Distracted Driving Awareness Month, we will be highlighting the dangers of distracted driving and five of our favorite driving safety tips. Here is what you need to know about keeping your employees safe behind the wheel at work from the experts at STC:

1. Save Your Cell Phones for Emergencies Only

According to recent data, nearly 390,000 injuries, and 1 out of 4 car accidents, occur each year from texting and driving. Even something as simple as a phone call can take your eyes off the road for up to 5 seconds. To keep yourself and others safe on the road, limit cell phone usage to emergencies only. This will allow you to focus on the road to make quick, potentially life-saving decisions.

2. Drowsy Driving is More Dangerous Than You Think

Falling asleep at the wheel is far more common than most people think. After a long shift on the job or an early morning commute, drowsy driving can easily turn into asleep at the wheel. Up to 37% of U.S drivers have reported falling asleep while driving, so if this happens to you, pull over. You are much safer taking a quick nap in your car while parked than driving while drowsy.

3. Store Loose Gear Before Hitting the Road

When you are on the job, it is common to store loose work materials in your car during transport. If these materials are not secured properly, they will move around in your car causing distractions for the driver. Storing loose gear in a safe space where it will not move around is a simple way to ensure that you are not distracted or losing focus while driving.

4. Make Adjustments Before You Start Driving

Since many companies require employees to share the same work vehicles, it is easy for mirror and seat positions to need adjustments when you get in the car. To keep yourself safe while driving, it is essential that you make these adjustments before driving. Simply check mirrors, seat positions and GPS before starting your car to save yourself some trouble on the road.

5. Teach All Employees Driving Safety Tips

Lastly, it is critical that every employee that enters a company vehicle is trained on your company-mandated driving safety tips. These driving safety tips can save your lives and prevent your company from receiving legal trouble from improper training. You can create simple checkpoints for employees to ensure that all necessary safety measures are followed.

No matter how you choose to protect the lives of your employees, STC is here to help you implement every precaution you need for every situation. Our safety consulting services and instructor-led safety trainings are designed to make preserving human life simple. Want to learn more about keeping employees safe on the job? Check out the STC blog today!

Photo Sourced from Getty Images: #1170257623

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OSHA Regulations that Employers Should Be Aware of During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused businesses of all kinds to start taking extra precautions to care for the safety of their employees and customers. Safety organizations like OSHA, the CDC and WHO have implemented regulations for businesses that rely on in-person employees to keep their business running. Here are the OSHA regulations you should know from STC:

Understand the Risk Factor Your Job Presents

The new OSHA regulations classify every job type as either low, medium or high exposure risk, depending on a variety of factors. Lower exposure risk jobs do not require contact with the general public or those possibly infected with the virus, while medium risk jobs require it frequently. High-risk jobs have a high potential for exposure to people with the virus, such as healthcare workers, medical transport workers and mortuary workers involved with preparing.

How COVID-19 Exposure Can Affect Your Business

There are a great number of ways in which COVID-19 exposure can affect your business and employees. This is a virus that can cause widespread, extensive outbreaks that will likely affect more than one employee without taking special precautions. Absenteeism is the most likely outcome, with one or many employees needing to take sick leave due to the virus. The virus affects people of all kinds, so many businesses will also notice a change in consumer demand.

OSHA Regulations for Reducing Virus Exposure

Every employer, regardless of risk factor, should take precautions against COVID-19, as stated by the new OSHA regulations. Start by understanding the sources in your business where and how coronavirus infections may occur. Work to isolate these sources to lower infection risk. All workers should be encouraged to wash hands frequently, social distance and practice respiratory etiquette. Any employee with a sickness of any kind should remain at home.

No matter what precautions will work best for your business, STC is here to help reduce your infection risk through COVID-19 monitors and safety consulting. Our team works hard to protect human life and deliver results that keep your employees and customers safe. Want to learn more about OSHA regulations or Safety Training & Consulting? Check out our blog today!

Photo Sourced from Getty Images: #1212934028

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Three Ways to Keep Your Workforce Safe and Healthy with COVID Office Safety Tips

As the coronavirus continues to spread rapidly across the country, caring for the safety of your employees is more important than ever. While many employers have their employees working from home, some offices simply do not have that option. To help you prevent your employees from becoming infected on the job, here are a few COVID office safety tips from the safety experts at Safety Training & Compliance:

Ensure Your Employees are Sticking to CDC Guidelines

As health care professionals continue to learn more about COVID-19, the CDC’s COVID-19 guidelines will change in accordance with the new knowledge. It is important to stay up to date with the newest information from the CDC on how to keep your employees safe. This includes, but is not limited to, encouraging social distancing, protective face wear and improving the ventilation system in your office to filter out virus-sized particles.

Conduct Daily Health Checks to Reduce Risk

Ensuring that employees are healthy before entering the building can be the difference between one office infection and 50. At the very least, you can task an employee with monitoring temperatures, but this can put your employees at risk due to improper training. The best way to prevent an infected person from entering the building is hiring a COVID monitor from STC. We employ trained medical professionals that understand the varying symptoms of the virus. They can spot symptoms that a regular employee cannot.

Create an Understanding of Covid Office Safety Tips

One of the most important methods for creating a COVID free office environment is ensuring that your staff has an understanding of the essential COVID office safety tips. A helpful way to educate employees is by creating a protocol for office sickness during the pandemic. Let them know what they should do if they wake up coughing ahead of time, so no one feels the need to come into work regardless of their wellbeing.

The COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of slowing down soon, so staying prepared is your best chance at keeping your employees, and business, free from the impacts of the virus. We are dedicated to keeping businesses prepared for incidents of all kinds, and we are here to help keep your office safe from COVID-19 as well. Want to learn more about the ways STC can help you create a safer workplace? Check out our blog today!

Photo Sourced from Getty Images: #1220761973

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The Benefits of Utilizing On Site Medical Staffing During COVID-19

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the world, many companies are finding new ways to keep their employees safe. The construction industry is no exception, and many are starting to explore the advantages of on site medical staffing. STC is here to guide you through the benefits of utilizing our onsite safety services to keep employees safe during COVID-19:

COVID-19 Monitors for Construction

The construction industry, like many others, is likely to take a massive hit in the event of crew members becoming infected with the virus. Preventing this from happening is as simple as utilizing on site medical staffing from certified nursing assistants. Our CNA’s will monitor your staff each day to ensure that temperatures are low, and no visible symptoms are showing.

The Benefits of On Site Medical Staffing

While peace of mind is certainly a great benefit of our on site medical staffing services, there are a large number of other ways it can improve your business. Your crew will feel comfortable entering the worksite each day and if someone shows up sick, it will be caught much earlier than without. With onsite safety services, you can prevent your entire crew from needing sick leave.

Application in Many Other Industries

From office buildings to retail locations, our COVID-19 monitors will work to protect your business and workers from the effects of the virus. One infection can drain your entire workforce due to the contagious nature of the novel coronavirus. The first step to ensuring any business can operate during the pandemic is preventing your employees from getting sick.

While the future of the coronavirus in the United States is uncertain, evidence has shown that every precaution needs to be taken to prevent it from spreading. At STC, we take safety seriously and our dedicated team is here to help your business thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic. Want to learn more about the services STC offers? Check out our blog today!

Photo Sourced from STC

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How STC Partners with Companies to Create Meaningful Outcomes

At Safety Training and Compliance, safety is our highest priority, but the benefits our clients receive are much more meaningful than simply achieving OSHA compliance. We work hard to deliver an experience that transforms the safety and culture of every client. Here are the ways that STC partners with companies to deliver meaningful outcomes and improve their culture:

The STC Approach to Improving Culture

When you work with STC, safety training is only a fraction of the benefits you’ll receive. We are dedicated to understanding every detail of your business so that we can improve the way your team and company operates. Our team is highly motivated to help companies develop a safety culture based on increased productivity, employee satisfaction and improved outcomes.

Putting in Hours vs. Culture Building

STC does business differently to help our clients get more out of our services. Instead of the hourly billing structure that is common in our industry, we form partnerships based on getting the job done right. We don’t stop putting in hard work for your business when you’ve reached your allotted service time. We work with you until we’ve achieved a long-lasting safety culture.

The Benefits of Culture Building in the Workplace

The role a company’s culture plays on the success of their business cannot be underestimated. Research shows that culture building in the workplace can create a motivated community of employees that work well together. A solid company culture will create a clear message and an attainable goal for everyone to follow. We’ve seen it a countless number of times in our clients.

No matter how you choose to improve the safety of your business, STC is here to create a long-lasting partnership rooted in your success. We will latch onto the traction your company already has and work from there to create better results, build company culture and improve the safety of your workforce. Want to learn more about the benefits of working with STC? Check out our blog today!

Photo Sourced from STC

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How Your Company’s “EMR” Affects Your Business

Do you realize the effects a good safety record can have on your business? How can others tell if you have a good safety record?

The answers to these questions can be found in your company’s EMR, a safety metric that is stashed away in the company’s profile which has a large impact on your bottom line.

What is an EMR?

An Experience Modification Rate (EMR) is a “Key Performance Indicator (KPI)” that insurers use to determine the likelihood that a company will experience a worker’s compensation claim. An above average EMR will drive premiums up. Adversely, a low EMR keeps insurance rates low. But wait, there’ more…….

Your company’s EMR doesn’t only impact your insurance premiums. It is the only consistent and measurable metric of safety on a job site used by both government and private owners when considering bids, and it can have a tremendous impact throughout the bidding process.

How is Your EMR Calculated?

Calculating your company’s EMR can involve some extensive calculations that, for the purposes of this article, we will leave up to the insurers.

In a nutshell, it compares your specific payroll and loss history to other businesses in the same industry and of like-size. This is compared to a calculation of expected losses for a company conducting similar work within the same state and modified for the size of the employer.

If you have an average rate among similar businesses of similar size, then your EMR would be 1.0. If your history is 10% better than average, your EMR would be .90 or 10% worse at 1.10.

How is Your EMR affecting your Bottom Line?

Even though your EMR is calculated for insurance purposes and has a direct and measurable impact on your company’s premiums, there are other ways it impacts your bottom line.

1. Most Importantly, Your Employees Are Being Injured On Your Watch

  • That safety metric (EMR) that is stashed away in your profile, represents actual people that are being impacted by injury within your company.
  • Injuries that are preventable.
  • Impacted lives, that are preventable.
  • Aside from the massive human costs by these injuries, these injuries are costing your company time and money that your competitors, with a lower EMR, aren’t spending.

2. Losing Large Contracts

  • By having a significantly higher EMR than your competitors, you put yourself in an extreme disadvantage with other considerations being equal.
  • Or worse, your competitors may be submitting higher bid prices, but still winning the bid due to their excellent EMR.

One Final Question….

How Can You Improve Your EMR?

Improving your EMR is a direct result of improving and changing your company’s mind-set and culture in regards to safety. In other words, IMPROVE YOUR SAFETY, IMPROVE YOUR EMR.

The easy answer is to avoid hazardous situations and prevent accidents that result in injuries, claims and losses. Naturally, this is a lot “easier said than done”. With the right assistance, you can improve in all of these areas.

STC can provide:

COMPREHENSIVE safety solutions and provide an innovative and customized approach that stays on top of initiatives, responsibilities, and most importantly, the employees’ health and safety for their best quality of life.

PROACTIVE deployment of industry best practices, efficiencies and proven processes. We establish leading indicators in an interactive cloud-based system that targets behaviors and trends and ultimately reduces compliance issues and injuries.

RESPONSIVE We leverage powerful technology tools so you can make informed business decisions based on your company’s needs. Our team is committed to real time reporting for a fast response to unsafe situations.

Safety does pay off, whether it’s the safety of your employees, the cost of your premiums, or winning the bids for the work you’re looking for.

With the right help, you can strengthen your bottom line ten-fold.

Chris Hall | SSH, CRIS
Client Partner
Chris has worked as a Safety Consultant for the last 4 years helping clients develop and implement safety plans. He has recently achieved his Construction Risk Insurance Specialists (CRIS) certification.
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It’s more than a Regulation or Requirement

Why do we do what we do? Why do we repeat our mistakes and others’ mistakes despite knowing the consequences? Why do we have regrets for past decisions when we can make a better decision that keeps us safe or improves our future?

That’s what we asked when we started breaking down incidents for our clients.

Was the ladder too short or was the worker preoccupied with his work to get a taller ladder? Did the supervisor send the worker off without the right equipment? Was there a plan to do the job at all? Did the worker know or ask for the right equipment and never receive it? Or is there a systemic organizational issue that impedes safety progress?

Let’s face it, we have all made bad decisions, but wouldn’t it be great to understand the decisions individual employees make along with how company structures may suppress the freedom of workers to be bold, plan, take ownership and ask for what they need?

Envision coupling your regular safety compliance based training with a more in depth, pure, human relatable style training that impacts lives at work and at families at home.

It’s possible by tapping into STC’s (Safety Training and Compliance) Decision Making Training Curriculum which can unravel the mystery of “bad” decisions that we make that lead to injuries at levels within an organization.

Decision making 101 is complimented by a variety of supplementary courses such as Cognitive Dissonance Training, Fundamentals of Safety Leadership, Performance Improvement and Safety Leadership just to name a few. These courses will unravel the mystery of your employees thoughts and take your safety program to the next level by making it personal.

Daniel James, STC Senior Consultant
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STC Safety helps client win Safety Award

STC Safety Award

For the past four months, STC has partnered with Harmon, Inc. at the American Airlines campus construction site in Fort Worth, TX. Recently, Harmon was recognized by the site’s GC, Austin Commercial, as the first top safety subcontractor of the month for January 2018.

STC Safety Award

Working alongside our outstanding client, STC’s Alex Navarro has been instrumental in elevating the site’s safety knowledge and awareness for all personnel working on this high-profile project. Harmon’s award is a testament to their employees’ buy-in and acceptance of STC’s consistent safety oversight and focused services.

Through STC’s approach, Harmon has constantly identified hazards, assessed risks, and taken action in order to prevent safety incidents.

This type of safety culture has given way to a more productive and efficient work site for Austin Commercial, Harmon, and all other subcontractors involved with the project.

At STC, we are focused on preserving the word’s most precious resource – human life.

In order to do that, we understand the importance of building and sustaining effective safety cultures that produce tangible results over time.

If your company is in need of safety assistance on similar job sites, please reach out to us by responding to this email to learn more about our approach to safety and how we can help your organization.

 

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