Category Archives: Workplace

How Retailers Can Better Mitigate Black Friday Risks

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Black Friday Shopping Risks

With the biggest shopping events of the season, retailers face tremendous amounts of both risk and reward as sales and door-busters draw in eager consumers all week. In 2013, Thanksgiving deals brought in 92.1 million shoppers to spend over $50 billion in a single weekend, the National Retail Federation reports.

The National Retail Federation issued crowd management guidelines for retailers and mall management officials to use when planning special events, including Black Friday, product launches, celebrity appearances and promotional sales. General considerations to plan for and curtail any crowd control issues include:

  • Remind and retrain all employees about your store’s emergency protocols to address potential risks facing employees and customers.
  • Dedicate knowledgeable employees to communicate and manage crowds, from arrival to departure, and resolve any potential conflicts that may arise.
  • Strategically place sale items throughout the store to help disperse crowds and manage traffic flow.
  • Request the assistance of local law enforcement if large crowds are expected and arrange for additional security services.
  • Educate employees about relevant policies and procedures and advise them who to contact in the event of a situation.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration also issued a public letter to retailers urging companies to plan ahead for better in-store safety for both employees and customers. According to OSHA’s “Crowd Management Safety Guidelines for Retailers,” crowd management plans should, at least, include:

  • On-site trained security personnel or police officers
  • Barricades or rope lines for pedestrians that do not start right in front of the store’s entrance
  • The implementation of crowd control measures well in advance of customers arriving at the store
  • Emergency procedures in place to address potential dangers
  • Methods for explaining approach and entrance procedures to the arriving public
  • Not allowing additional customers to enter the store when it reaches its maximum occupancy level
  • Not blocking or locking exit doors

Brick-and-mortar retailers are not the only ones at greater risk. Companies that operate call centers must also be prepared for a drastic increase in customer inquiries and purchases. According to communications intelligence firm Cognia, 69% of U.S. contact centers carry out credit card payments over the phone and 84% record calls, making their archives particularly vulnerable to potential breaches.

“The first thing to highlight with respect to call center compliance at peak times is that this pressure is unlikely to create new issues, but will amplify existing ones. Attackers / threat actors (the bad guys) will also be aware that this is the time at which procedures are most likely to slip, and social engineering vulnerabilities that have previously been identified can be exploited,” said Tom Evans, Cognia’s chief security officer.

“There are challenges but, from a risk perspective, there is also an opportunity to fine-tune the risk management system under pressure. At these peak times, issues will be visible that would go undetected during business as usual operation,” Evans noted. “There is an opportunity to be proactive and to use the pressure around these peak sales times to identify bad practice that, during less pressured periods, is probably limited to one or two individuals or occasional occurrences, and therefore very hard to spot. Even the most dependable employee under the pressure on big queues may resort to a shortcut to get the job done. Identifying these means that controls can be put in place to prevent them being used again, and therefore the overall risk management position improved.”

To improve security and PCI compliance, Evans recommends that companies focus on areas that have lower security controls overall. For example, seasonal employees, over-spill call centers, and work at home agents may all be components of a contingency plan for peak periods that introduce vulnerability that can be mitigated.

Lack of Skilled Workers a Challenge Facing Construction Industry

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NASHVILLE—While a number of issues face the booming construction industry, one concern that has been discussed throughout the IRMI Construction Risk Conference here is the shortage of skilled workers. Projects are larger than ever, with technology and the global supply chain only adding to their complexity, making it even more difficult to find talent.

“The construction industry is absolutely in a war for talent,” said keynote speaker Dominic Casserley, chief executive officer of Willis Group Holdings. He cited a 2013 Willis survey that found 93% of respondents listed a “lack of skilled workers” as their biggest concern. He noted that many workers who left the construction industry during the financial crisis have since gained new skills in other areas and are not coming back.

An example, he said, is in his home, the United Kingdom, which decided in the last two years to return to building nuclear power stations. They had not done this for a number of decades and “quickly found that there were no engineers left. There was nobody capable of building a nuclear power station in the United Kingdom, so our new power station is being built by our great friends, the French. That’s what happens if you lose talent in an area of construction.”

Organizations are putting programs in place in the emerging markets to train talented resources “close to where the action is,” he said. Going forward, however, “We don’t see this challenge getting any easier.
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” Looking at millennials as a potential workforce, which represent 27% of the U.
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S. population, “you will see that they have some pretty interesting attitudes about work.”

Casserley noted that of millennials:

● four out of five feel they need to be recognized for their work and want regular feedback

● 72% would like to be their own boss

● 79% would like to have their boss serve as a coach or mentor

● 88% prefer a collaborative to a competitive work culture

● 88% want to integrate work and home life

● 74% want flexible work schedules

Asked how firms can bring millennials into their workforce and be flexible while still getting the job done, he said he views this as an opportunity for companies. “I think this is a very talented, aspirational, exciting generation.

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They are highly tech-savvy and have grown up in a global world.”

What employers will need to do, he said, is to “get their minds around how to harness that asset.” An interesting aspect about millennials, he noted, is their belief in having social value in what they do. “I can tell you, that for the generation entering the workforce today, that really matters. They want to work for a firm that means something to them so they can go home and feel proud of what they do.

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”

While all generations may feel this way, millennials are expressing it more openly. “And until you can get your mind around describing what [your industry] does and why it is important to the way the world goes around, I think we will struggle to attract and attain people, particularly that generation,” Casserley said, adding that if members of the industry don’t do this, “you are going to constantly lose people.”

Jack Gibson, president and CEO of the International Risk Management Institute (IRMI), agreed, noting that the construction industry is often viewed as a workplace where people are injured and the insurance industry is seen as a life insurance sales force. “Both industries do so much good, but we have not done a very good job of delivering that message,” he said. Gibson encouraged contractors to get involved in mentoring programs as well as the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF), which has contributed more than million in local community grants and more than 155,000 hours of volunteer service.

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Zero Tolerance Needed to Stop Construction Injuries

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Photo by Caroline McDonald

NASHVILLE–For David B. Walls, president and chief executive officer of Austin Industries, construction safety became a lifelong mission the day he had to answer to the father of a worker killed in an accident.

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“Why did you kill my son?” he asked Walls over and over.

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“Those words haunted me,” Walls said during his keynote address at the IRMI Construction Risk Conference here. “Nothing I could do would bring him back.” Tragic events such as this are “defining moments,” he said.

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“But we need to get passionate about safety without experiencing a fatality.” Walls explained that the construction industry has a long way to go, with the worst record for fatalities, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Organizations, he added, should focus on the physical work environment and the company culture. They also need to realize that a world-class safety program leads to higher quality throughout the organization.

One prerequisite is strong leadership. A good leader takes the time to really listen to people, admits to making mistakes and shares recognition for a project well done with employees, he said. This person also should be consistent in addressing safety issues and assertive enough to stop workers from continuing on a job if unsafe conditions are evident.

An effective leader needs to be accountable and hold the entire team accountable when it comes to safety. For example, workers need to know that breaking certain safety rules could cost them their job. After all, he said, “you have a moral obligation to get employees home to their families each night in a safe condition.”

Walls recommended frequent discussions of company successes as well as failures. Weekly dialogues of near-misses, for example, can raise awareness about how they could have been prevented and encourage safe behaviors. Posting the safety records of contractors “makes them improve quickly,” he said. Walls advocates for both classroom and thorough on-the-job training.

Safety managers and employees also need to focus on what they might be overlooking, the “sins of omission.” For example, he said, “what are you not doing that you could be doing to save lives?” The litmus test, he added, would be for a manager to ask him or herself, “Would I let my child work here?”

Asked by an audience member how to get the necessary buy-in from a CEO, Walls advised, “Get the CEO to walk the job and see the hazards. Go to the job site and see where someone fell and where the accident took place. Two to three people a day are dying in this industry and it is unacceptable.”

Handling the Pain: Getting People Back to Work

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Photo ©Donscarpo

Employers nationwide are always concerned about absenteeism. When a worker doesn’t show up, the loss of productivity and profits can be staggering, making the worker’s problems a serious issue for the employer.

If the employee doesn’t stay home, the result doesn’t fall under ‘absenteeism’ but it still creates a negative impact.

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Productivity loss due to poorly performing employees who try to “work through” recurrent pain places employers in a difficult situation. Lost productivity—like time itself—is a non-renewable resource. No one wins when employees are unable to work.

The reverberations are felt on many levels. The worker may continue to feel pain. The employer must deal with the issue. Colleagues and associates often need to pick up the slack. Customers may be affected.

Who else? The employee benefits managers and the company’s workers compensation claims statistics. The higher the number and value of claims, the greater the drag on the company’s fiscal performance.

Pain emanating from chronic or lingering injuries needs professional involvement. The good news is that by treating the pain comprehensively or applying interventional pain techniques, nagging injuries or pain can be remedied or reduced sufficiently to increase the productivity of suffering employees.

On the Job

For many sufferers, relief through medication, physical therapy or other ‘traditional’ remedies is temporary, but pain and lost productivity continue.

Interventional pain care and management is a specialty where the physician diagnoses and treats pain at the source. According to the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP), “Interventional pain management is defined as the discipline of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and treatment of pain-related disorders, principally with the application of interventional techniques in managing subacute, chronic, persistent, and intractable pain, independently or in conjunction with other modalities of treatment.” Employers should encourage workers to learn more on how interventional pain management can reduce the duration and severity of pain, help them return to work faster and enjoy an overall improved quality of life.

Interventional pain physicians employ a number of techniques and procedures. Among the many successful solutions are epidural steroid, trigger point and botox injections; sympathetic plexus blocks; spinal cord stimulation; radiofrequency ablation, percutaneous intradiscal procedures, and implantable intrathecal drug delivery systems.

Pain reduction or eradication is the desired outcome, but diagnosis plots the path to potential recovery. Procedures like fluoroscopically-guided injections using local anesthetic can provide both relief and diagnostic value. Fluoroscopy is an imaging technique that incorporates X-rays to produce real time images of the internal anatomy. This diagnostic tool provides more accurate delivery of medication and important information to the physician on the origination of the pain, and thus the doctor can offer more effective treatment. In a healthcare climate that seeks to reduce unnecessary expenditures, like tests or procedures, such interventional techniques can reduce or eliminate ineffective, unnecessary or even more invasive options, up to and including surgery.

Injuries, chronic pain and absenteeism, plus the urgency to get employees back to work affect more than the bottom line. From on-the-job injuries, like lifting, strains and slip-and-fall injuries, to the resulting drain on human capital and performance, organizations are in need of solutions.

The Call of the Benefits Manager

The appropriate first call made by a human resources director or employee benefits manager is to the general practitioner or claims adjuster to document the mishap. Yet, if pain persists and lengthens an employee’s out-of-work status, quite possibly exacerbating a deteriorating psychological status, resolution may be difficult to achieve.

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The advice and services of an interventional pain management specialist are beneficial and can often be even more effective when combined with physical therapy or other home programs. A patient treated early often begins to experience expedient and lasting relief. The employee is not only more comfortable, but also returns to work sooner. This increases organizational productivity and, equally as important, reduces the time of a workers compensation claim.

Interventional pain care and management is growing in favor and its beneficiaries run the demographic gamut. Depending on the injury or source of lingering pain, employees from millennials to baby boomers approaching retirement are ideal candidates for many procedures.

This is especially important as many workers are putting off retirement into their late 60s and 70s. As those older patients more frequently suffer degenerative problems that may create or complicate injuries, interventional treatments deliver an ideal remedy, especially when performed in concert with physical or occupational therapy.

Using an Interventional Pain Specialist

The engagement of an interventional pain specialist presents a unique scenario. Benefit managers, human resource professionals and case workers have become more aware of interventional pain care over time.

Who should get the referral? The American Board of Anesthesiology has a certification process for interventionalists, as well as an additional sub-specialty certification in pain management. The American Board of Pain Medicine (ABPM) also certifies qualifying members. A Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) has earned certification by the World Institute of Pain, and the American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians (ABIPP) has a certification process as well.

The American economy loses upward of billion annually, due to lost productivity stemming from health issues and missed work, according to a 2013 report from Gallup-Healthways.

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Issues include chronic health problems such as pain, obesity, high cholesterol, blood pressure, cancer, asthma and depression. Even issues like poorly designed ergonomics in the workplace can result in significant pain and absenteeism. About one in three (34%) of all work missed stems from ergonomic-related issues, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For employee benefits managers who know how to help employees tackle pain and return to work, absenteeism and lost productivity can be reduced and billions of dollars can be saved all year long.