CHAPTER  8

Health, Safety, and Security

While consisting of only 5 percent of the Associate Professional in Human Resources (aPHR) exam, the functional area of Health, Safety, and Security has a decided impact on any employer organization in the modern era. From a factual viewpoint, this chapter focuses on some important human resource (HR) requirements. Just because it is only a small portion of the test composition doesn’t mean it is something to be passed over quickly. When you are on the job and there is a safety problem, accidental injury, or death, you need to know what to do without spending a lot of time looking up the protocols. In addition, you must know how to fill out all the required reports. Yes, it is an important set of knowledge requirements.

The Body of Knowledge statements outlined by HR Certification Institute (HRCI) for the Health, Safety, and Security functional area by those performing early HR career roles are as follows:

Knowledge of

•  01 Applicable laws and regulations related to workplace health, safety, security, and privacy (for example: OSHA, Drug-Free Workplace Act, ADA, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley Act)

•  02 Risk mitigation in the workplace (for example: emergency evacuation procedures, health and safety, risk management, violence, emergencies)

•  03 Security risks in the workplace (for example: data, materials, or equipment theft; equipment damage or destruction; cyber-crimes; password usage

Laws and Regulations

The following federal laws have an impact on this functional area. Be sure to refer to Chapter 2 for more information about each of these laws. Understanding them is critical to professional performance in the HR profession. You may expect that any or all of these laws will be subjects on the aPHR certification exam.

Organizational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)¹

EXAM TIP    You can expect there will be questions on the exam about OSHA. It is a major piece of legislation that impacts every employer in the country. Read more in Chapter 2.

What is known as the General Duty Clause provides that “Each employer (1) shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees; (2) shall comply with occupational safety and health standards promulgated under this Act.”

And each employee should “comply with occupational safety and health standards and all rules, regulations, and orders issued pursuant to this Act which are applicable to his own actions and conduct.”

The law and its regulations are overseen by an agency in the U.S. Department of Labor (US DOL). Some states have negotiated with US DOL to provide their own safety enforcement organizations under contract. These must all meet Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) minimum standards or exceed the federal expectations for workplace safety and health.

Nothing will allow an employer off the hook for these responsibilities. When there are no specific regulations addressing a situation in an employer’s workplace, the General Duty Clause will still apply. That is the umbrella responsibility all employers must meet.

National statistics are just too big to mean anything of value. Breaking down the numbers into North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code helps the numbers carry more meaning. (Table 8-1 shows the number of nonfatal injury and illness cases in a few example industries.)

Table 8-1 OSHA Nonfatal Occupational Injury and Illness Cases in 2014 and 2015³

Bloodborne Pathogens²

According to OSHA, bloodborne pathogens are infectious microorganisms in human blood that can cause disease in humans, including hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Needlesticks and other sharps-related injuries may expose workers to bloodborne pathogens. Workers in many occupations, such as first responders, housekeeping personnel in some industries, and nurses and other healthcare personnel, may be at risk for exposure to bloodborne pathogens.

EXAM TIP    Bloodborne pathogens are receiving more attention these days. The attempt to prevent injury through contamination or puncture injuries is a key OSHA goal. You can expect the exam to have some references to this issue.

Any employer that faces risks of transmitting bloodborne pathogens must meet specific OSHA standards for handling what are called sharps. These are syringe needles, surgical needles, knives, and other puncture devices. All must be properly disposed of in puncture-resistant containers known as sharps containers. These containers are red with lids that can lock when the container is full.

Also subject to these regulations are used medical sponges, bandages, and any other materials contaminated with human blood. All bodily secretions are included in the list of controlled and hazardous substances. All must be disposed of in a proper way through incineration or in approved medical landfills.

All human blood, urine, and other bodily secretions must be handled as though contaminated with HBV, HCV, or HIV.

There are posting requirements for work areas where employees handle bloodborne pathogens.

Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act⁴

OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens standard as amended pursuant to the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000⁵ prescribes safeguards to protect workers against the health hazards caused by bloodborne pathogens.

Self-sheathing needles, sharps with engineered sharps injury protections, and needleless systems are all examples of engineered protections against bloodborne pathogens in the workplace.

If you are in a doctor’s office, dental office, medical laboratory, veterinarian’s office, hospital, or other such work environment, you need to document all the protections you use against bloodborne pathogens. Also, you need to conduct regular employee training programs to be sure all workers understand the rules and how to protect themselves against infection.

Mine Safety and Health Act (MSHA)

Like the Occupational Safety and Health Act, MSHA addresses the issue of safety and health of employees, but in the mining industry.

Also like OSHA, there is an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor that is assigned responsibility for implementing regulations under the mine safety law. It is known as the Mine Safety and Health Administration. This agency inspects mines in all locations around the country. It tracks statistics based on two categories: coal mines and metal/nonmetal mines. Of course, the agency reports totals also.⁶ In 2015 (the latest data available as of this writing), the mine fatality rate was .0099 deaths per number of miners. In 2014, the death rate was .0148; this improvement was just a bit more than 33 percent. Total injuries improved in the same period by 6.5 percent (2.46 percent in 2014 and 2.30 percent in 2015).

Mine Safety and Health Administration inspections resulted in a 24 percent citation rate in both 2014 and 2015. Fines and assessments by the agency against mine operations totaled $65 million in 2015, down from $96.8 million in 2014.

Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act

This law, “enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was signed into law on February 17, 2009, to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology. Subtitle D of the HITECH Act addresses the privacy and security concerns associated with the electronic transmission of health information, in part, through several provisions that strengthen the civil and criminal enforcement of the HIPAA rules (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).”⁷

HIPAA applies to health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, and healthcare providers that transmit any health information in electronic form.

Breach of electronic data systems and release of patient information can be costly. The interim final rule (regulation) provides that the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) can penalize employers up to $50,000 per violation if the act was willful, but not more than $1.5 million. For nonwillful violations, penalties start at $100 per violation and go up from there.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

This is the grandfather of healthcare data protection legislation. It protects patient privacy in many ways. Electronic systems must be protected from unauthorized persons accessing patient records. Paper systems must provide for the same protections. Disclosing patient information verbally to unauthorized persons is also forbidden.

Covered entities include hospitals, doctor offices, dentist offices, and other medical-care providers. Business associates of these entities are also covered. These include services to a covered entity and are limited to legal, actuarial, accounting, consulting, data aggregation, management, administrative, accreditation, and financial services. All must have systems that protect personally identifiable patient information from disclosure to unauthorized persons.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

In 1973 the Rehabilitation Act was passed by Congress to require federal contractors to make reasonable job accommodations for disabled people on the workforce or those who are job applicants. In 1990, much of the same content was reapplied to all employers engaged in interstate commerce who have 15 or more people on their payroll. The ADA was amended in 2008. (See the next section.)

EXAM TIP    The Americans with Disabilities Act is a key piece of legislation that impacts most employers in the country. You will find questions on the exam about this subject area.

Disabled individuals are defined as people with physical or mental impairments that substantially limit one or more major life activities, people who have a record or history of such impairment, or people perceived by others as having such an impairment.

Employers are not required to make job accommodations until they receive a request for a job accommodation. At that time, the employer is required to enter into a discussion about the specific disability, the accommodation requested by the employee, and any alternative accommodation the employer believes would speak to the individual’s request while being more acceptable to the employer.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published regulations implementing the ADA to prohibit inquiring about disabled status until after a job offer has been extended to a job applicant. Recently, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has promulgated regulations that require federal contractors with $10,000 or more in contracts to gather disability status about job applicants as well as employees. To do that, the contractors must inquire about disability status from job applicants. The EEOC has published an opinion letter that grants permission to employers in this situation to ask job applicants about their disability status without fear of penalty.

Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act

After it was passed in 1990, the courts tightened the interpretation of disability under the ADA, much to the concern of Congress. When Congress passed the ADA Amendments Act, it was intended to “loosen” the interpretation of disability so more people would be covered by its protections. Now almost any physical or mental condition that impacts a major life activity can be considered a disability covered under the act.

Mitigating circumstances may no longer be considered in determining disability status. If an employee takes medication for controlling multiple sclerosis (MS) and the disease has been in remission because of that treatment, the individual is still considered disabled under the ADA Amendments Act. Treatment is irrelevant under the new law. The only specifically excluded treatment for determining disability is the use of eye glasses or contact lenses. Only blindness is considered a disability. Eyesight problems that depend on corrective lenses are not considered disabling.

Under the original ADA, an employee whose migraine headaches were controlled by medication was not considered disabled. That is now different under the ADA Amendments Act.

Having more people defined as disabled doesn’t necessarily mean there will be more people asking for job accommodations. Since the ADA Amendments Act was passed in 2008, there has been no observable change in the willingness of people to be viewed as disabled. There is still a reticence about being seen as disabled. It will take more education for people to gain more comfort with that identifier.

Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)

In 2008 (a busy year for Congress), the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act was passed and implemented. Up until then it was fairly common for employers, and particularly insurance companies, to restrict benefit coverage based on genetic information. Even the basic decision to hire or not hire someone based on their genetic information was not uncommon.

Why? Genetic information can offer indicators of predilection for certain diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis (MS), and diabetes. Over time, those are expensive diseases to treat. Avoiding people who would likely have those diseases in the future was a way to control insurance costs and medical expenses.

Genetic science is gaining more sophistication every day. We can tell with more precision what might happen to individuals in the future. Yet that information may no longer be used for employment-related decision-making.

Rehabilitation Act

As previously noted, the Rehabilitation Act was passed in 1973 and applies only to federal contractors and subcontractors with $10,000 or more in contracts. It requires that federal contractors make job accommodations for employees and hiring accommodations for job applicants under certain circumstances.

Additionally, the Rehabilitation Act replaced the Vocational Rehabilitation Act and created support for states to form vocational rehabilitation programs. When the legislation first was published, it used the term handicapped. The term has been replaced by disabled.

Table 8-2 lists some of the important sections of the Rehabilitation Act.

Table 8-2 Rehabilitation Act Components

Pregnancy Discrimination Act

In 1978, 14 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act provided some modifications to coverage under the 1964 law. This law defined pregnancy as protected within the definition of sex for the purpose of coverage under the Civil Rights Act. It also specifically said that no employer can illegally discriminate against an employee due to pregnancy. It defines pregnancy as a temporary disability and requires accommodation on the job if it is necessary. It guarantees the employee rights to return to work to the same or similar job with the same pay following her pregnancy disability.⁸

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

This law requires some employers to provide unpaid leave of absence when the employee, the employee’s spouse, or other family member requires medical attention and the employee must be off work to care for the circumstance. Some states like California have enacted expanded Family and Medical Leave Act legislation that provides for paid time off. Be sure to identify the requirements in the state (or states) where you have employees.

FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. The year is a rolling year. It begins when the employee begins using FMLA leave and continues for the next 12 months. It also requires that the employee’s group health benefits be maintained during the leave and the employer continue paying whatever portion it would normally pay if the employee were working. Over the years since this was enacted into law, regulations have been developed that provide for the 12 weeks to be taken in increments of a day if required for periodic medical treatment (e.g., chemotherapy). The leave is deemed to be flexible in favor of helping the employee accommodate their medical needs.

FMLA leave may be taken for any of the following reasons:

•  For the birth and care of the newborn child of an employee

•  For placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care

•  To care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition

•  To take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition

FMLA applies to all public agencies, all public and private elementary and secondary schools, and companies with 50 or more employees.

Mental Health Parity Act and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA)

The Paul Wellstone (D-MN, U.S. Senate) and Pete Domenici (D-NM, U.S. Senate) Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 is a federal law that generally prevents group health plans and health insurance issuers that provide mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits from imposing less favorable benefit limitations on those benefits than on medical/surgical benefits. MHPAEA originally applied to group health plans and group health insurance coverage but has since been amended to include individual health insurance coverage.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

This landmark legislation was the flagship for the first Obama administration in 2010. It is sometimes called the Obamacare law or the Affordable Care Act because of President Obama’s effort to get it passed and implemented.⁹

Key benefits to Americans include the following:

•  Improving quality and lowering healthcare costs

•  Free preventive care

•  Prescription discounts for seniors

•  Protection against healthcare fraud

•  Small business tax credits

•  New consumer protections

•  Preexisting conditions

•  Consumer assistance

•  Access to healthcare

•  Health insurance marketplace in each state

•  Benefits for women

•  Providing insurance options

•  Covering preventive services

•  Lowering costs

•  Young adult coverage

•  Coverage available to children up to age 26

•  Strengthening Medicare

•  Yearly wellness visit

•  Many free preventive services for some seniors with Medicare

•  Holding insurance companies accountable

•  Insurers justifying any premium increase of 10 percent or more before the rate takes effect

Risk Mitigation

The HR department is responsible for controlling the risk of financial loss due to safety and health issues in the workplace. Mitigation means to lessen in severity. The following sections cover the key areas in which HR professionals focus their efforts in this regard.

Injury and Illness Prevention Plan (IIPP)

IIPPs are not mandated by OSHA. However, some states do require employers to use them. OSHA endorses the application of IIPPs in every workplace. Key elements of an IIPP include management leadership, worker participation, hazard identification, hazard prevention and control, education and training, and program evaluation and improvement.

EXAM TIP    Even if you are not required to have an injury and illness prevention plan, you can expect the exam will ask you something about that topic.

Eight states either require employers to have IIPPs or provide incentives for employers who use them.¹⁰

•  Alaska had an injury and illness plan requirement for more than 20 years (1973 to 1995). Five years after the program was implemented, the net decrease in injuries and illnesses (the statewide reduction in injuries and illnesses over and above the national decrease during the same time period) for Alaska was 17.4 percent.

•  California began to require an injury and illness prevention program in 1991. Five years after this requirement began, California had a net decrease in injuries and illnesses of 19 percent.

•  Colorado has a program that allows firms to adopt basic injury and illness prevention program components in return for a workers’ compensation premium reduction. The cumulative annual reduction in accidents was 23 percent, and the cumulative reduction in accident costs was between 58 and 62 percent.

•  Hawaii began to require employers to have injury and illness prevention programs in 1985. The net reduction in injuries and illnesses was 20.7 percent.

•  Massachusetts workers’ compensation program firms receive a premium credit for enrolling in a loss management program. In the first year of this program, firms participating in the program had a 20.8 percent improvement in their loss ratios.

•  North Dakota has a component under its workers’ compensation program for employers who have a risk management plan. The incentive is a 5 percent discount on annual workers’ compensation premiums. These risk management programs contain many of the elements of an injury and illness prevention program. They resulted in a cumulative decline for serious injuries of 38 percent over a 4-year period.

•  Texas had a program under its workers’ compensation commission from 1991 to 2005 that identified the most hazardous workplaces. Those employers were required to develop and implement injury and illness prevention programs. The reduction in injuries over a 4-year period (1992 to 1995) averaged 63 percent each year.

•  Washington began requiring establishments to have injury and illness prevention programs in 1973. Five years later, the net decrease in injuries and illnesses was 9.4 percent.

Clearly, there are financial benefits to employers who use IIPPs in their workplaces.

Identification of Risks/Dangers

A basic tenant of any safety program is workplace inspection. Identifying hazards, safety issues, and behavior problems that can cause injury are the result of such inspections. Once problems are identified, employees can be coached in how to change the way they behave in their workplace so the hazard can be reduced or eliminated. An example is leaving file cabinet drawers open after adding or removing documents. The potential for someone to walk into the open drawer is high when the cabinet is in the center of the workgroup. Opening more than one drawer at a time is another behavior problem that can result in the file cabinet tipping over onto the user. Only bad things can result.

Figure 8-1 is an example of a simple safety inspection form.

Figure 8-1 Sample office safety inspection form

Emergency Evacuation

One important provision of any safety plan is the preparation of emergency evacuation procedures. Employees must understand where the nearest exits are and what alternate exits are available in case the primary route out of the building is blocked. In addition, they need to know where to reassemble outside the building so the emergency operations officer can count noses and be sure everyone is safely away from the hazard.

Emergency Medical Care

When creating an emergency plan, considering emergency medical care is a key element. It is nice when a call to 911 will garner ambulance dispatch, but what if you can’t reach 911 or there are no ambulances available when you call? Alternative plans must be made for treating and transporting injured workers to a medical facility where they can receive proper treatment.

Workplace Violence

A growing problem in this country is workplace violence. Everything in this category can cause trauma, physical or emotional. Consider how you will handle issues involving an employee who is upset and yelling at others in the workplace. What about a former employee who feels disrespected and returns to the workplace intent on killing someone? What about people who enter the workplace with weapons to take away valuable property? Any or all of these situations should be on your list of potential workplace violence incidents for which plans should be made.¹¹

Health and Safety Monitoring

Human resource professionals are in a unique position to monitor employee health and safety. They usually have access to attendance reports and can identify patterns in employee wellness or illness. They can also detect issues with employee safety that occur in more than one supervisory unit. Perhaps the safety concerns span multiple work shifts within the same unit. Whatever the issue, human resource professionals should identify it and begin interventions that can mitigate the problems.

Workplace Safety Inspections

A key activity in preventing safety (and health) hazards is an active inspection program that covers all areas of the workplace. That means production facilities, office facilities, loading facilities, and shipping facilities. No location within the workplace should be exempt, and the inspections should be conducted on a regular basis. Often organizations find it helpful to apply a quarterly schedule; sometimes monthly inspections are more appropriate. It depends on how high a risk the work location faces. The higher the risk, the more frequent the inspections should be.

Handling Workplace Violence

All employees should be trained in recognizing and handling workplace violence problems. Supervisors must be trained in how to respond to workplace violence behavior and when to sound an alarm to other employees. There needs to be a management person appointed as the emergency response officer who will be responsible for talking with the media when that becomes necessary and for collecting information that can be passed on to senior management on a regular basis until the emergency has ended. Typical emergencies include fire, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, flooding, isolation of the facility due to utility failure, surface road failure, or communication failure. Severe snow storms can cause emergency conditions, and the employer must be prepared for them, knowing that they will come sooner or later.

Handling Emergencies

When emergencies occur, employees need to understand how to respond. There should be some employees trained in first aid so they can provide preliminary treatment to people who have been injured. There should be some people designated to secure the facility by locking doors and closing other access points. Someone should be designated to contact law enforcement or emergency services (fire, paramedics) so employees and others can receive proper treatment. Someone should be designated as the spokesperson for media contacts and senior management briefings. Proper safety training for employees and supervisors can go a long way to reducing injuries and achieving the appropriate emergency response when it is needed.

Security Risks

In the modern American workplace there are a lot of potential security risks. Just in the information services context, cyber-crimes have begun climbing the activity chart. International players are involved in some attacks, and other bad actors are people within our own country. Identifying the risks is a task that should be undertaken as part of the policy development process and procedural planning. The way to do that is to inspect each element of organizational operations and ask yourself what could go wrong, or what is exposed, and then develop your plans accordingly.

If your organization is large enough to enjoy the presence of a security department, you should expect those folks will play a key role in all of the following planning, problem identification, and response implementation.

Data Security/Cyber-Crimes

Data security is critical for human resource professionals. Maintaining a viable HR data system (human resource information system [HRIS]) is important for employee, supervisor, and HR use. Having that access blocked is a serious issue. If it is blocked because of equipment problems, that is one set of problems. If it is blocked because of a cyber-attack from someone intending to do harm, that is a different set of problems. Planning for both is something HR professionals must contribute to and sometimes take the lead in managing. Often, when there is a staff of information service professionals, they will be key allies in the planning and response process. Working with law enforcement officials is another duty that must be assigned to someone in the organization. Supporting organizations that work to prevent cyber-crimes is a consideration for medium to larger-sized employers.

Hacker Theft

What happens when someone hacks into the HRIS and gains access to personal information about employees? HRIS data includes Social Security numbers, home addresses, names and ages of dependents, employee banking information used for direct deposit, and more. When an unauthorized person gains access to that level of sensitive data, there needs to be a rapid response to help employees protect themselves and their families. One type of support is to sponsor coverage by an organization such as the Equifax credit protection service or the LifeLock identity theft protection service. There are many such services in the marketplace. You can get advice about selecting such support from your chief financial officer and legal adviser.

A relatively new problem in the area of cyber-crime is the problem of hackers holding your data hostage. They corrupt your computer disk so that you cannot access or retrieve your data if you don’t agree to pay them a fee to unlock your computer. This is emerging as a serious threat to employers. What if you pay and the hackers don’t unlock your computer? What if you don’t pay and your computer is suddenly worthless? What backup practices do you have for ensuring you can re-create your computer on a different machine with all the current data should that be necessary? Cyber-criminals are becoming very creative in their methods of attack. Almost always, their nastiness is aimed at ways they can extract money from employers for the release of the employers’ information.

Employee Cyber-Theft

Disgruntled employees sometimes head for the company’s databases with an eye to stealing proprietary information on products or services. They also can seek out access to employee data from payroll systems or the HRIS. You can imagine all the bad things they could do with such data if they got it. An HR professional’s first duty is to plan for such problems and create plans to prevent them from happening. The second duty is to determine how to respond once a theft has occurred. Human resources normally plays a lead role in planning and implementing these plans and policies.

Inventory and Supply Security

Large organizations usually have large quantities of raw materials and completed product on hand. They also have large quantities of supplies used for office functions, medical support, employee comfort, and safety. Small organizations don’t have nearly the same levels of inventory, but what they have is precious to them and a financial hardship if these supplies should go missing.

HR professionals need to work with operations managers and supervisors who have primary oversight of raw materials and product inventories and identify the risks they face and how those risks can be mitigated. Then, there should be attention paid to how the organization will respond if such a theft should occur. What law enforcement will be needed? What, if any, public announcements should be made and by whom within the company?

Equipment Security

Equipment is expensive. Human resource department computer equipment expands with the size of the organization. The more there is, the greater the investment that must be made to replace the equipment should it be stolen. Many years ago, a human resource consulting firm was the victim of vandals who broke into their offices and removed every computer they had. The criminals were in and out of the facility so fast that no one saw them, and they didn’t appear on any video surveillance recording because the firm didn’t have any cameras installed. The data was lost. There were no backups. The firm nearly went out of business because of that theft. You can protect your organization from such a disaster if you think ahead to what you would face if someone stole your computers or other essential equipment. How can you protect that equipment? How can you prevent such a theft? What will be your recovery plan if you do experience such an attack?

Theft Prevention/Loss Prevention

In large organizations, entire departments are given the responsibility of preventing loss. There is “shrinkage” of inventory caused by shoplifting and employee theft. There is loss of money from bank accounts due to embezzlement. If it is an asset to the business, it can be stolen. HR professionals have roles to play in loss prevention, whether or not there is an independent department assigned to address those issues.

Employee Theft

Pilfering from the petty cash box in the office manager’s desk drawer or diverting customer payments to personal accounts rather than company accounts are both examples of employee theft. In retail establishments, employee theft of products can be an issue.

When individuals have a predilection to stealing, they likely have a record showing they have been in trouble for such behavior in the past. Background checks should be able to unveil the record so it can be assessed and the job candidate rejected from further consideration if that is appropriate. To do that, the historical problem should be relevant to the job in question. If the job involves handling inventory, cash, or financial records, and the background shows convictions for grand theft, that might qualify as a rejection reason.

Customer Theft

Customer theft can involve a “five-finger discount” taken as the customer cruises the aisles of the employer’s store. Shoplifting is America’s number-one property crime according to pricegun.com.¹² On average there are 550,000 shoplifting incidents every day. They total $13 billion of loss each year, representing a daily loss of $35 million. That is significant reason for employers to address customer theft issues.

Forty-seven percent of high-school students admit to shoplifting in the past year.¹³

HR professionals are involved with policy development and implementation coordination with operations departments and other staff organizations. The tasks HR people may be involved with can include investigation of complaints about management treatment, investigation of policy violations, and training for employees on policy requirements.

Preventing Equipment Damage

One would normally think that preventing equipment damage falls to the operations groups that use the equipment. Yet when arguments turn nasty, employees can resort to sabotage. Sabotage means deliberately destroying something so it will not work; the word comes from a century-old employee grievance over employer treatment (literally, throwing a shoe, or sabot in French, into the machinery to cause damage or failure of the equipment).

HR professionals can play a preventative role by properly training employees in requirements of organizational policies and investigating employee complaints of unfair or illegal treatment. Feedback to the complaining employee is critical so the communication cycle is fulfilled. The complaining employee must learn what has resulted from the complaint. Without that feedback, employee trust in the employer’s handling the issue without bias will diminish substantially.

Securing Passwords

HR professionals can help the organization with securing passwords by reviewing and training employees on the policy requirements. HR can also maintain a master log of passwords issued to each employee for the software access each person needs. If there is an information technology department, that log can be kept by the computer professionals. Preventing people from using sticky notes to write passwords and sticking them onto computer screens is important. Putting passwords on a list taped to the “breadboard” pull-out tray on a desk is also unacceptable. HR can help organizational groups determine the proper method for securing passwords for the employer.

Terrorism

Hardly a day goes by without a news story about terrorism somewhere in the world. Workplace violence is sometimes a result of terrorism and sometimes a result of disgruntled workers. It is obvious that terrorism can sometimes result in harm to employees and sometimes in loss of property. A key method for identifying situations that can involve terrorism is through employee involvement. Employee alerts to a central processing group (text message, voice call, or e-mail message) can start the wheels turning to respond and save injury and damage. Training employees in the policies for handling such incidents and how to report them is often an HR responsibility.

Report Processing

At the beginning of the twentieth century, HR departments as we know them today didn’t exist. There were a few reports to track, and often that was done by secretaries in each department. Also, the report content varied from one department to another, usually based on the wishes of the department managers. Then, the personnel department was born. In it were consolidated all of the responsibilities for filling out payroll forms, handling benefits enrollment, and tracking worker attendance. Personnel had little to do with policy. It was a paper-handling group of people that took work off the shoulders of operations supervisors. Late in the twentieth century the HR management group was invented. As it evolved within organizations, it took on more and more strategic importance. In some organizations, HR departments have become profit centers, billing out to organizational units the cost of services provided to those remote groups. In some instances, the HR department has even become a profit center, providing services for a fee to other employer organizations. Strategic planning is a key HR focus these days.

How can benefits planning contribute to the company’s profit and loss statement? How can policy development address evolving employee needs while meeting legal and organizational requirements? While entry-level HR professionals won’t likely be involved in the policy discussions, they will be expected to conduct one-on-one discussions with employees who have questions about their benefit coverage, savings plans, and even disciplinary treatment. After some initial experience in the HR department, new professionals may even be involved with complaint investigations.

Workers’ Compensation

The world of workers’ compensation insurance is tightly regulated by state governments. States govern reporting of workplace accidents and follow the treatment for each injured worker from beginning to end. Workers’ compensation insurance dictates how much will be paid for treatment and for how long. Yet there are some decisions employers get to make about their involvement with workers’ compensation cases.

EXAM TIP    Every employer is required to have workers’ compensation insurance. Even though the rules governing workers’ compensation are generated by each state, you can expect there will be some questions on the exam about this topic.

Reporting Requirements

Workers’ compensation insurance procedures specify what information must be transmitted to the insurance company for an employer with a workplace accident. Also, they specify what administrative information must be sent periodically, along with medical treatment reports. HR professionals are usually tasked with the responsibility to monitor case reports and be sure everything the insurance carrier needs actually gets to them.

Return-to-Work Policies

You might not immediately think there are policy latitudes available to employers in the handling of workers’ compensation issues. Yet return-to-work policies are a good example of how employers get to determine certain employee-handling questions.

It is almost never up to the employer how early someone can return to work. That is governed by the medical evaluators. But employers can overlay policies about the conditions under which a person can return to work.

Modified-Duty Assignments Some people believe that modified-duty assignments are required by workers’ compensation rules if there are medical restrictions when an employee is ready to return to work. In fact, employers can determine their own policy about their ability to have someone working with restrictions. That policy may vary by job type and the restrictions specified by the workers’ compensation medical determinations.

If someone is going to return to work from a skiing accident with the restriction that they may not carry more than 10 pounds because of a broken leg that is still in a cast, for example, the employer gets to say whether it can have someone on the job with those restrictions. If it is not possible to have the employee lift only 10 pounds in a shipping and receiving job, it is permissible for the employer to delay the worker’s return until there are no restrictions required.

Likewise, if the medical restriction involves working only a few hours each day, the employer gets to determine whether it can use someone on the specific job assignment for less than full time each day.

Any decisions about these return-to-work issues should be properly documented to show both the decision and why that decision was the best for the circumstances. Employers may not arbitrarily block someone from returning to work without a legitimate business explanation.

Reasonable Accommodation Reasonable accommodation in workers’ compensation cases involves the same obligations that any other job accommodation request would impose on the employer. The employer must be willing to engage in an interactive dialogue process with the employee about the medical restrictions and how the job can be performed with those restrictions.

Safety is one reason for rejecting a job accommodation request. Return-to-work decisions must provide for the safe performance of job duties. If it is not possible for an injured worker to perform the job without significant safety risks, the employer may be justified in delaying the return to work by rejecting the job accommodation request.

Independent Medical Exam Often the medical advisers on which a workers’ compensation case will rely are those hired by the insurance carrier. At any time, the employer and/or the employee can choose to involve different medical people for additional opinions. Those involvements will come at the expense of the party requesting the additional opinion. When medical opinions clash, a decision must be made with concurrence of the workers’ compensation insurance carrier, the employer, and the employee.

When an employee doesn’t want to return to work under conditions specified by the medical experts, it may be that progressive discipline is the appropriate avenue for resolving the disagreement.

Documentation by the HR organization will be essential in case the employee decides to contest his or her treatment in court. Entry-level HR professionals play a key role in that documentation process, if not by writing it then by ensuring that appropriate parties submit it for the case file.

OSHA Compliance

Federal safety and health laws and regulations begin to impact an employer once the first employee is hired. The Occupational Safety and Health Act contains a General Duty Clause that requires employers to provide safe and healthy working conditions. That duty involves proper observation of workplace safety conditions and correction of any problems identified.

Workplace Safety Inspections

Larger employers have organizations that care for safety issues in all organizational units. Even though a safety department may exist, it is still incumbent upon supervisors, managers, and HR professionals to support safety rules and policies.

In smaller organizations, it may be the HR professional in concert with line supervisors who will handle safety monitoring and reporting tasks. Conducting inspections using a documentation tool such as that in Figure 8-1 (shown earlier) can be helpful to document the safety status of your workplace.

Accident Reporting

Depending on your organizational payroll size, you may have specific requirements for reporting accidents to OSHA. Even if you have only one person on the payroll, you will have reporting requirements under your workers’ compensation insurance policy.

For detailed instructions about OSHA injury reporting requirements, you should visit the agency’s web site at https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/RKforms.html. Any changes the agency might make in the future will be posted on the web site as soon as they are approved for use. Make a habit of checking the site often.

Accidents that require only first aid are not reportable under OSHA regulations. You must identify your company’s policy to determine how you should report such incidents internally.

How does OSHA define first aid?¹⁴

•  Using a nonprescription medication at nonprescription strength (for medications available in both prescription and nonprescription forms, a recommendation by a physician or other licensed healthcare professional to use a nonprescription medication at prescription strength is considered medical treatment for recordkeeping purposes)

•  Administering tetanus immunizations (other immunizations, such as hepatitis B vaccine or rabies vaccine, are considered medical treatment); cleaning, flushing, or soaking wounds on the surface of the skin

•  Using wound coverings such as bandages, Band-Aids, gauze pads, and so on; using butterfly bandages or Steri-Strips (other wound-closing devices such as sutures, staples, and so on, are considered medical treatment)

•  Using hot or cold therapy

•  Using any nonrigid means of support, such as elastic bandages, wraps, nonrigid back belts, and so on (devices with rigid stays or other systems designed to immobilize parts of the body are considered medical treatment for recordkeeping purposes)

•  Using temporary immobilization devices while transporting an accident victim (e.g., splints, slings, neck collars, back boards, etc.); drilling of a fingernail or toenail to relieve pressure; draining fluid from a blister

•  Using eye patches

•  Removing foreign bodies from the eye using only irrigation or a cotton swab

•  Removing splinters or foreign material from areas other than the eye by irrigation, tweezers, cotton swabs, or other simple means

•  Using finger guards

•  Using massages (physical therapy or chiropractic treatment are considered medical treatment for recordkeeping purposes)

•  Drinking fluids for relief of heat stress

How does OSHA define a recordable injury or illness?¹⁵

•  Any work-related fatality.

•  Any work-related injury or illness that results in loss of consciousness, days away from work, restricted work, or transfer to another job.

•  Any work-related injury or illness requiring medical treatment beyond first aid.

•  Any work-related diagnosed case of cancer, chronic irreversible diseases, fractured or cracked bones or teeth, and punctured eardrums.

•  There are also special recording criteria for work-related cases involving needlesticks and sharps injuries, medical removal, hearing loss, and tuberculosis.

It can be helpful to prepare a reference list showing your reporting requirements to refer to should there be an accident with one of your workers. It could look like Figure 8-2.

Figure 8-2 Employee injury reporting contacts

You should customize Figure 8-2 for your organizational policies and expectations. The priority of contact points should be resequenced for your employer. It may be that management wants notification before the workers’ compensation insurance company is called. Make this tool fit your requirements. It is better to get these questions answered in advance of any actual injury and a need to use the list.

Incident Reports OSHA has a series of forms that are important for tracking injuries and illnesses and then summarizing the totals at the end of each year.

OSHA Form 301,¹⁶ Injury and Illness Incident Report, is used to document a reportable injury. It asks for basic information such as name, address, birth date, hire date, who the tending medical provider was, what happened, and what the employee was doing just before getting injured. Current requirements call for retaining each of these incident reports for a minimum of 5 years.

Annual Accident Summary At the end of each calendar year, employers with ten or more people on the payroll must prepare summary reports called OSHA Form 300 and OSHA Form 300A. These forms contain information about the number of days of work lost because of the accident and the number of days that the employee was on restricted duty or in a different job assignment while recovering. OSHA Form 300 is, in essence, a log of accidents that have happened during the year. This log must be summarized and documented on OSHA Form 300A. It is the summary form (OSHA Form 300A) that must be posted in a conspicuous location within the workplace from February 1 to April 30 each year. This summary does not have any personally identifiable information on it. That is all on the log (OSHA Form 300), which does not need to be posted. Form 300A must be retained for a minimum of 5 years.

Employee Wellness Programs

Programs that promote employee wellness are considered part of the employee benefit package. A 2012 SHRM survey of 646 HR professionals¹⁷ found that there was a return on investment (ROI) of $1 to $3 for every $1 spent on employee wellness programs. The following are some basic elements that are usually included in all wellness programs:

•  Health screenings

•  Health risk assessments

•  Healthcare coaches or advocates

There are federal requirements for wellness programs governed by three laws.¹⁸

•  The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) prohibits discrimination by group health plans based on an individual’s health status. ERISA makes exceptions for wellness programs to offer premium or cost-sharing discounts based on an individual’s health status in certain circumstances.

•  The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits employment discrimination based on health status and generally forbids employers from inquiring about workers’ health status but makes an exception for medical inquiries that are conducted as part of voluntary wellness programs.

•  The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act prohibits employment discrimination based on genetic information and forbids employers from asking about individuals’ genetic information, including information about family members’ health status or family history. Like the ADA, GINA allows an exception for inquiries through voluntary wellness programs.

Another federal law—the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act—establishes standards to protect the privacy of personal health information, including information that may be collected by some workplace wellness programs. The ADA and GINA also include certain privacy protections.

According to the EEOC, in May 2016, the EEOC, which enforces ADA and GINA, issued new regulations to modify ADA requirements for workplace wellness programs in a manner that reflects both the ADA’s goal of limiting employer access to medical information … and the ACA’s provisions promoting wellness programs. A new final rule made similar changes to GINA wellness program requirements.¹⁹

As Part of Medical Coverage

These days most health insurance providers are well accustomed to the requirements of laws related to employee wellness programs. Often benefit programs such as health insurance will include provisions for wellness programs. The insurance will pay for such things as gym memberships, nutritional education, and smoking cessation. If your health insurance does not currently provide these benefits, it likely will in a short while. Employee wellness programs are the up-and-coming thing in today’s workplace.

Employee Assistance Programs

Another benefit of many health insurance programs these days is an employee assistance program (EAP). These are formal structured programs that tap into third-party organizations that are staffed by health management experts. Used for both mental and physical issues, an employee can place a confidential call to the EAP adviser 24/7. The EAP adviser is qualified to dispense counseling and connect the employee with additional resources for their specific need. Usually there is no limit to the number of times an employee can use the EAP advisers. The entire focus of EAPs is early intervention in health issues before they become debilitating to the employee.

Ergonomics

Finally, ergonomics have been gaining ground in health programs for employee populations. Employers have been paying more attention to these needs and allocating budget dollars to helping assure the work environment is contributing to employee wellness. Scientists have studied workplace requirements for human motion and discovered there are ways to reduce the risk of injury by assessing the ergonomic requirements of the job assignment. OSHA has used these studies to create its own ergonomic assessment program.²⁰ Said simply, “ergonomics is the science of designing the job to fit the worker, rather than physically forcing the worker’s body to fit the job.”

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are caused by repetitive use of fingers, hands, arms, legs, and back. Identifying the body part impacted by a given job can help determine whether there are ways to redesign a job so those impacts can be reduced or eliminated. Controlling costs that rise with employee absenteeism and medical treatment expense is another goal of ergonomic programs.

Chapter Review

This chapter covered the importance of employee health, safety, and security issues. Employers are governed by many federal laws in these areas. Those laws require certain documentation and reporting of events. Although collectively they amount to only 5 percent in the test weighting, it is an important portion from a cost management perspective. You also saw how advance planning can help prevent workplace accidents. New developments in the area of cyber-theft and network hacking are becoming more important to HR professionals. Medical benefit programs such as health insurance are embracing more preventative approaches to employee care, including employee wellness programs and employee assistance programs. There are many tasks involved with these facets of HR management. Understanding the impact they have on the organization and its workers is critical to all HR professionals.

Questions

1. The ABC Company owns a gold mine in the California mountains. It has only eight employees. The company is most certainly going to be governed by the federal law known as

A. MSHA

B. OSHA

C. TEPA

D. SBGP

2. In an insurance company, there are few employee hazards according to its HR manager. In fact, the HR manager believes there are no federal laws that will impact safety in its operations. As the associate HR manager, what recommendation would you make to your boss?

A. Stay the course. The HR manager is right about the freedom from federal oversight.

B. Reconsider the conclusion. Federal oversight and office safety laws say that the employer must conduct safety training for all employees.

C. Stay the course. The employer is specifically exempt. All insurance companies are excluded from coverage under federal safety laws.

D. Reconsider the conclusions. OSHA requires all employers to provide a safe workplace in compliance with the General Duty Clause.

3. Latisha works for a veterinarian as the office manager. She also serves as the HR manager. It is a small practice with only 12 employees. The boss, veterinarian Jill, is strict about handling needles and other sharp instruments. Also, since they are not dealing with human patients, Dr. Jill says they don’t have to worry about bloodborne pathogens. Is she right?

A. Dr. Jill is wrong. While animal blood may not transfer human diseases, accidental human injury by sharps can cause human blood transfer.

B. Dr. Jill is wrong. Animal blood can easily transmit most human diseases.

C. Dr. Jill is right. However, Latisha should ignore the issue until there is need to respond to an accident involving a needle or other sharp instrument. Then she can put together a program.

D. Dr. Jill is right. Even if someone should get stuck by a needle, there is still no coverage under OSHA’s regulations.

4. HIPAA does not apply to which of the following?

A. Health plans

B. A healthcare clearinghouse

C. A healthcare provider that sends medical records electronically

D. A chiropractor who has retired and sold the practice

5. Morton is your colleague and another Associate Professional in Human Resources. He is wondering if someone who has diabetes under control by using insulin should be considered disabled. What is your advice?

A. Absolutely not. When a disabling condition is controlled by medication, it is no longer considered a disability.

B. When the disability is controlled with only limited insulin injections, it is no longer considered a disability.

C. Even if it is controlled by insulin, diabetes is still considered a disability under the ADAAA.

D. Unless the diabetes has been treated for more than 5 years, it is not considered a disability.

6. Why was the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act passed by Congress?

A. Employers were being nosy about employee health problems that they had not admitted on their job applications.

B. Insurance companies were using genetic information to determine who would have expensive diseases in the future.

C. Insurance companies were finding it useful to know genetic information to defend against lawsuits.

D. Employers were using the genetic information to determine racial category membership.

7. The Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act apply to employers

A. Only one at a time but never both together

B. Only when the employer is a federal contractor with $10,000 or more in contracts and more than 15 people on the payroll do both laws apply at the same time

C. Only when there are 15 or more people on the payroll; then ADA takes precedence over the Rehabilitation Act

D. Only if the federal contractor has a contract of $100,000 or more and at least 50 people on the payroll will both laws apply

8. The Family and Medical Leave Act will apply to an employee who

A. Is a new father wanting to take time off for bonding with his new son

B. Is an uncle who wants to travel to the “old country” to see his new niece

C. Is a mother who wants to take more time off following her vacation

D. Is a sister wanting to surprise her brother for his 50th birthday

9. An injury and illness prevention plan is a tool for improving safety when

A. A company receives a letter from OSHA saying they will soon be inspected

B. An employer wants to cover up hazards that have been bothering people for years

C. A company wants to communicate with its employees the procedures for handling certain hazards

D. Personal protective devices are sent out for repair

10. IIPPs have been shown to

A. Reduce illness and injury by as much as 17 percent

B. Improve the décor of any modern-day office

C. Reduce the paperwork associated with injury reports to the government

D. Increase the amount of supervisor interventions when janitorial staff performance problems arise

11. Workplace hazards are best identified through

A. Having a working committee to discuss the problems they see

B. Conducting periodic inspections of each work location and documenting the issues identified as potential hazards

C. Logging the accidents that employees have

D. Employee suggestions for fixing problems they see at their workstation

12. One hazard common to all work locations is fire. Consequently, an evacuation plan should be developed and included in the

A. Material Safety Data Sheets at that location

B. Illness prevention medical reference maintained at each location

C. Injury and illness prevention plan

D. Identification of employee problems that should be addressed

13. Workplace violence is something that most employers

A. Won’t have to worry about

B. Will address through the IIPP

C. Should downplay to prevent any self-fulfilling prophecies

D. Can prevent if they keep their doors locked

14. The following are not considered security risks

A. Employees who have a worsening attendance problem

B. Customers who insist on seeing the way their products are assembled

C. City refuse collection personnel

D. Managers who travel with laptops containing company databases

15. If you receive an anonymous tip that one of the company employees is stealing employee data for identify theft purposes, you should

A. Call the police and let them handle it

B. Confront the employee to get their reaction

C. Notify senior management and begin an investigation

D. Dismiss it as an unfounded story

16. Some of the reports created from HR data include

A. Employee birthdays, new hires, employee training needed, EEO

B. Training needed, department expense reports, building security access

C. Performance evaluations, employee absence, profit and loss by department

D. Payroll account bank reconciliation, EEO, employee longevity, employee terminations

17. HR can influence the company’s “bottom line” financially through

A. Advising senior management

B. Tracking birthdays

C. Determining reasons for turnover rates

D. Checking with colleagues in competing organizations

18. When an employee is injured at work, HR should

A. Notify the proper federal and state demographic agencies

B. Notify the bank that there will be more workers’ compensation checks needed

C. Notify the workers’ compensation insurance carrier

D. Notify the parent company

19. When an employee’s doctor releases the employee to return to work with restrictions, what should happen?

A. The employer must take the employee back and find a way to accommodate the restrictions.

B. The employer can determine whether there is a way to accommodate the restrictions.

C. The employer is obligated to return the employee to the same job without doing all the heavy lifting.

D. The employer is required to pay the employee the normal rate even if there is no job available with the required restrictions.

20. An employee is ready to return to work with restrictions lasting 8 months specified by his doctor. The employer

A. Must make a job available that matches the restrictions for the entire 8 months.

B. Must pay the employee at the old earnings rate even though the restrictions mean working at a lower-paid level.

C. Must give up to a full year of restricted-duty assignment to any worker injured on the job.

D. Must determine whether it is possible to keep the employee working with restrictions for that long a period. If not, the employer may choose not to return the employee to work.

21. All employers are subject to OSHA regulations

A. As long as they have ten people on the payroll

B. If they engage in interstate commerce

C. Regardless of the number of employees

D. Whenever state regulations don’t predominate

22. When someone at work is injured and the injury is treated with Steri-Strips, OSHA classifies it as

A. A reportable serious injury

B. A nonreportable serious injury

C. A nonreportable first-aid injury

D. A reportable first-aid injury

23. When someone is stuck by a syringe needle accidentally, OSHA says you should

A. Report the case under special OSHA rules.

B. Save the reporting until the end of the calendar year for the summary report.

C. Report the case as a minor incident that didn’t require medical treatment.

D. Ignore the needle stick. It isn’t covered.

24. The year-end OSHA summary report must be posted

A. From January 1 through March 31

B. From February 1 through April 30

C. From March 1 through May 30

D. From April 1 through June 30

25. Employee wellness programs are

A. A bad idea because they discriminate against disabled workers

B. A good idea because they can reduce employee rates of illness

C. A bad idea because the physical stress may cause heart attacks

D. A good idea because they use genetic information to work around genetic predispositions for illness

Answers

1. A. The Mine Safety and Health Administration governs all mining operations in the United States. It has overall authority for safety in mining. Even with only one employee, the company must meet standards prescribed by the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

2. D. OSHA’s General Duty Clause requires all employers to offer employees a safe and healthy work environment.

3. B. Any veterinary facility dealing with known human pathogens must comply with OSHA’s regulations on bloodborne pathogens. AVMA strongly recommends voluntary compliance for all veterinary establishments.

4. D. Responsibilities for record privacy transfers to the new owner, assuming the chiropractor will not be retaining any medical records after the transaction.

5. C. Mitigating treatment used to eliminate disability status, but no more. The ADAAA now says that mitigations may not be considered in determining disability status.

6. B. Determining who would be covered by health insurance based on who would have expensive diseases in the future was judged by Congress to be unacceptable.

7. B. A federal contractor with 15 employees and a contract or subcontract of $10,000 or more will be subject to both laws.

8. A. Time for bonding with a new child is a qualifying event under FMLA.

9. C. IIPP is a tool for communicating hazards and the means for handling them in the workplace. It should address the specific workplace in question.

10. A. Alaska discovered there was a direct link between having an IIPP and reduction in the number of injury and illness cases.

11. B. When supervisors make inspections and record hazardous conditions, they have a record of actions necessary to make the workplace safer. Repair and improvement can be noted in future inspections.

12. C. Every IIPP should contain an evacuation plan and directions for reassembly outside the facility so it can be determined whether everyone evacuated successfully.

13. B. Both internal and external workplace violence possibilities should be addressed in the IIPP along with the employee training plans for dealing with them.

14. A. Employee attendance records have no correlation to security risks.

15. C. Even though the allegation is from an anonymous source, you should discuss it with senior management and, with their approval, begin an investigation to determine whether there is any truth to the story.

16. A. Each of the four examples can be generated from the HR information system.

17. C. Identifying reasons for employee turnover can lead to reducing turnover and the need to hire fewer replacements, which lowers training cost and increases production output.

18. C. The workers’ compensation insurance carrier will open a case file and begin the process of managing examination, medical treatment, and recovery details.

19. B. The employer must evaluate the restrictions and determine whether it is possible to accommodate the employee given the performance limitations.

20. D. The employer must evaluate and document its efforts to identify a placement opportunity for that duration, but it is not obligated to create a job for the restricted employee.

21. C. OSHA rules apply to all employers. Sometimes states contract with OSHA to perform the same functions in OSHA’s place.

22. C. First-aid treatment is a nonreportable event under OSHA rules.

23. A. OSHA calls needlesticks reportable injuries under special recording criteria.

24. B. The summary report must be posted for 90 days from February 1 through April 30 each year.

25. B. Employee wellness programs have been shown to reduce employee illness rates.

Endnotes

1. 29 USC 654

2. https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/bloodbornepathogens/, accessed on November 29, 2016

3. www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/osh/os/ostb4736.pdf, accessed on November 30, 2016

4. https://www.osha.gov/needlesticks/needlefaq.html, accessed on November 29, 2016

5. www.cdc.gov/sharpssafety/pdf/Neelestick%20Saftety%20and%20Prevention%20Act.pdf, accessed on November 29, 2016

6. http://arlweb.msha.gov/mshainfo/factsheets/2016-at-a-glance-legacy.pdf, accessed on November 30, 2016

7. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/HITECH-act-enforcement-interim-final-rule/, accessed on November 30, 2016

8. www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/pregnancy.cfm, accessed on November 30, 2016

9. www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts-and-features/key-features-of-aca/benefits-of-the-affordable-care-act-for-americans/index.html, accessed on December 1, 2016

10. https://www.osha.gov/dsg/InjuryIllnessPreventionProgramsWhitePaper.html, accessed on December 1, 2016

11. Jay C. Beighley, CPP, “War in the Workplace: A Practical Guide to a Safer Workplace,” The Management Advantage, Inc., 2016

12. www.pricegun.com, accessed on December 23, 2016

13. Ibid

14. https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/medicalfirstaid/recognition.html, accessed on December 26, 2016

15. https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/, accessed on December 26, 2016

16. https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/RKforms.html, accessed on December 26, 2016

17. https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/hr-topics/benefits/Pages/Wellness-Dollars-Saved.aspx, accessed on December 26, 2016

18. http://kff.org/private-insurance/issue-brief/workplace-wellness-programs-characteristics-and-requirements/, accessed on December 26, 2016

19. Ibid

20. https://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3125.pdf, accessed on December 26, 2016