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Work-From-Home Risks: The Toll of Bad Ergonomics

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The early days of COVID-19 saw employees camped at home, using kitchen tables, beds, sofas and whatever else they could use as makeshift workstations. The compounding stress of prolonged sub-optimal work conditions in a residential environment is taking a significant toll on the workforce’s physical health and mental wellbeing.

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Unless organizations intervene to address this situation, the problem is likely going to snowball into a very expensive oversight.
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Ergonomics aims to increase efficiency and productivity, and reduce discomfort. If left uncorrected, however, an un-ergonomic desk-chair-monitor-keyboard combination can lead to numerous manifestations of so-called “sitting disease,” such as repetitive strain injuries (RSIs), fatigue, vision complications, metabolic syndrome (weight gain and diabetes), circulatory issues in the legs, and musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) like chronic back, neck and shoulder pains.

The appalling work-from-home conditions for millions of employees in the United States may also soon be a nightmare for HR when it faces massive payouts for occupational injuries and MSD complications. The productivity losses that will ensue may also impact organizational performance as a whole.

Minimizing Workstation-Related Health Risks During Quarantine

Here is a snapshot of typical company costs for treatment of MSD-related complaints, in terms of direct and indirect workers’ compensation. In some regions, the average claim amounts for these kinds of injuries can be two to four times larger. Multiply these numbers by the number of potentially affected employees, and the math begins to look pretty grim:

• Wrist/Carpal tunnel injury: $7,600 average cost

• Tennis Elbow: $9,100 average cost

• Shoulder/Rotator Cuff injury: $14,800 average cost

• Neck injury: $21,000 average cost

To address these issues, employers can improve work conditions at home by offering ergonomic solutions. Ergonomic workstation equipment, such as sit-to-stand desks and proper standing mats, monitor arms, keyboard trays, active chairs and other flexible accessories help mitigate the most common health risks associated with desk jobs, such as back and neck pain, eye strain, wrist and carpal tunnel injury, and sitting disease. Here is a breakdown of the most common injuries and the office equipment that may address each:

Back and Neck Pain is caused by a lack of movement while holding the body in a fixed (often awkward) position, forcing discs to bulge and exert pressure on the spinal nerve. One solution is ergonomic sit-stand desks and desk converters, which allow employees to work while standing. This stretches out the spine, relieving pressures that accumulate in the back and neck areas.

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More time spent standing also reduces risks of heart disease and high blood sugar while boosting the body’s metabolic rate for weight loss, increased energy and improved mood.

Eye Strain is caused by having a computer monitor placed too close or too far away from the face, making the eyes work harder to focus or forcing the body to lean forward and strain the neck and eyes. One solution is an ergonomic monitor arm, which allows the user to move the screen forward or back and up and down to keep the center of the screen comfortably located between 15 and 20 degrees below horizontal eye level.

Wrist and Carpal Tunnel Injury is caused by long hours of keyboard use, resulting in painful fluid build-up, pressure on the median nerve, as well as awkward positioning of the hand and wrist while typing. A vertical mouse, which places the hand in an upright position, or an ergronomic keyboard tray can prevent this injury.

Sitting Disease and physical inactivity can lead to health consequences such as obesity, increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, accumulation of belly fat and abnormal cholesterol levels. Switching from sitting to standing to walking throughout the day is the most prudent regimen. Using a treadmill desk can help mitigate the debilitating consequences of sitting disease while potentially giving the body more oxygen, increased focus and enhanced mental acuity.

The human body was not designed to sit for many hours at a time doing repetitive work. Before the industrial revolution, people spent only three hours per day sitting. COVID-19 has effectively made an already known health risk many times worse by restricting employees indoors and forcing them to work off beds, sofas and kitchen tables.

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The onus is now on employers to get proactive about employee health and productivity while lowering healthcare costs.

‘Take-Home COVID-19’ Claims: Preparing for a Second Wave of Coronavirus Litigation

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The Spanish Influenza epidemic came in three waves, with the first hitting in March 1918, the second in the fall and the third in the winter of 1919. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the second wave to have been the most deadly. In the United States, well over half of the epidemic’s death toll of 675,000 occurred during the second wave. It is no surprise then that public health experts were already warning of the possibility of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic when the world was just beginning to acknowledge that the first wave was upon it in February.

Personal injury mass litigation also comes in waves. Consider asbestos: In the first wave, individuals who worked directly with asbestos filed workers compensation claims. Workers exposed to asbestos in products filed products liability suits during the second wave. A third wave included “take-home asbestos” claims in which workers’ children and spouses sued for illnesses caused by exposure to asbestos fibers taken home from work. A fourth wave is now underway with the alleged asbestos contamination of consumer talc products.

The first wave of personal injury coronavirus litigation emerged in early March when a married couple sued Princess Cruise Lines for gross negligence for placing “…profits over the safety of its passengers, crew, and the general public in continuing to operate business as usual.” Many similar individual and class action lawsuits have followed. According to an analysis by the Miami Herald, some 3,600 cruise line passengers have contracted COVID-19 and more than 100 have died. 

The situation in nursing homes is far worse. Nursing home residents account for an estimated 40% of U.S. coronavirus deaths thus far. Predictably, wrongful death suits filed by the family members of nursing home residents are surging, even as some states move to shield nursing home operators from liability. Personal injury lawsuits have also been filed against hospitals, meatpackers, restaurants, grocery stores and warehousing operations.

However, as the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic subsides, personal injury litigation may subside along with it. But what if the pandemic has a second wave? Although there is a great deal of uncertainty, public health experts now believe that there is no inherent seasonality to COVID-19 itself, but they remain deeply concerned that a combination of complacency and greater indoor activity could lead to a second wave of infections in the coming months.

What would a second wave of coronavirus personal injury litigation look like? One possibility that modelers at Praedicat are considering is a wave of “take-home COVID-19” litigation arising from occupational infection, coupled with high rates of intra-family transmission. Praedicat modelers estimate that 7-9% of COVID-19 deaths in the first wave have been family members of workers in essential industries who acquired coronavirus at work. With widespread testing and improved contact tracing, take-home transmission could be relatively easy to demonstrate during a second wave. The first take-home COVID-19 lawsuits were filed in August against an electrical supply company and a meatpacking facility, and the precursors to these complaints are present in earlier lawsuits filed against Amazon and McDonald’s.

Many public health officials believe that it is entirely within our power to keep a second wave of the virus from forming while we wait for a vaccine to be developed and deployed. A unified and steadfast public health campaign is critical if we are to avoid a second wave, individual companies working to limit transmission among their workers and customers is as well. First and foremost, this means closely adhering to federal, state, and local guidelines and industry best practices regarding disinfection, screening and testing, social distancing, and the use of masks and other personal protective equipment. Employers might also work to raise awareness of take-home exposure and the risk to vulnerable older family members or those with pre-existing conditions like diabetes that have been shown to elevate the risk of life-threatening complications associated with COVID-19.  Depending on the circumstances, maintaining social distance at home may be just as critical as maintaining social distance at work.

While a second wave of the pandemic may be unlikely, some level of infection, illness, and litigation is sure to be with us until there is a vaccine. The best protection against liability is making the safety of workers and customers paramount. But risk managers need to prepare for the worst and should also be reviewing the availability of coverage for employment related coronavirus claims, including take-home exposure. The employers liability exclusion under a general liability policy, for example, might exclude claims made by the family members of workers.

Key Insurance Considerations in a Record Hurricane Season

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The active 2020 hurricane season has produced so many named storms that scientists ran out of traditional names and have moved to the Greek alphabet for the first time since 2005. Most recently, Hurricane Sally struck the Gulf Coast, making landfall in Alabama with winds above 100 miles per hour, causing widespread destruction, and leaving hundreds of thousands of residents and businesses without power. Ensuring that your business’ insurance program is ready to deal with such perils will prove critical to maximizing insurance recovery for business interruption and property damage claims. Below are critical steps policyholders can take now to ensure that insurance available if and when it is needed.

Locate a Copy of Your Policy

Having your policy on hand prior to a loss will help start your claim as soon as possible, as it may be more difficult to contact your insurer or broker following a storm, when thousands of claims are taking place simultaneously. Your policy will also provide important information regarding how to get in touch with your insurer following a loss.

In addition to windstorm and flood coverage, commercial policyholders should ensure that they have the following specific coverages in place before a storm hits:

  • Physical Loss or Damage to Insured Property: This is the basic coverage afforded under almost all commercial property policies. Policies generally cover the cost to repair, replace or rebuild property that suffers physical loss or damage. Covered premises are usually listed or scheduled in the policy and may include not only buildings, but also equipment and business personal property such as furniture, machinery, and stock. Although typically a lesser concern, many policies do not include coverage or limit coverage for outdoor landscaping and paved surfaces like parking lots.
  • Debris Removal: This covers costs incurred when removing debris from covered property damaged by an insured peril such as a windstorm. The maximum policy benefit for this coverage is usually expressed as a percentage of the total loss.
  • Expenses Incurred to Mitigate Loss or Damage: Property policies often cover expenses incurred to prevent or minimize loss or, where some loss has already occurred, to mitigate additional loss. In fact, many policies say the policyholder must take steps to safeguard the property and prevent further damage. Failure to do so could jeopardize coverage.
  • Extra Expense Coverage: Extra expense coverage is intended to indemnify the policyholder for expenses that are above and beyond the business’s normal operating expense that are incurred to continue operating the business after damage has occurred. Examples may include the cost of a generator when electricity is lost, increased costs to secure new materials or replacement inventory or costs to operate at a temporary location.
  • Business Interruption Coverage: Business interruption coverage is designed to cover lost business income resulting from the total or partial suspension of operations due to covered property damage. Typically, this coverage does not apply until after a designated “waiting period”—usually defined in hours—which operates as a sort of “deductible.”
  • Orders of Civil Authority: Coverage may also be available when business income is lost as a result of government directives, issued because of property damage to other property, which prevent or restrict access to the insured property. These can include evacuation orders or curfews. These losses may be recoverable even if the company’s own property has not been damaged.
  • Ingress/Egress Coverage: Similarly, many policies cover losses when entry to or exit from a covered property is prevented or hindered by damage of the type insured under the policy, such as downed trees covering a road or a broken bridge. Importantly, the damage need not be to insured property so long as the damage prevents ingress to or egress from an insured location.
  • Service and Utility Interruptions: Some policies may also provide coverage for business interruption losses and extra expense caused by power, water, and telecom outages if those outages are the result of an insured event. This coverage is typically sublimited.
  • Contingent Business Interruption Coverage (CBI): Contingent business interruption insurance and contingent extra expense coverages provide reimbursement to the policyholder for lost income and extra expense resulting from property damage to a separate, non-insured property, often in the policyholder’s supply chain. The third party could be a supplier of critical materials or components; a transporter of goods, materials or resources; or a wholesaler, retailer, or customer who purchases or consumes the insured’s goods on a regular basis. Some policies may offer this coverage for “leader properties” or “attraction properties” within a specific mile radius of the insured property.
  • Extended Period of Indemnity: Policies may also provide for an extended period of indemnity, thus extending the time of covered business interruption losses from the time the property is repaired for several additional months. This coverage is designed to ensure coverage for any “ramp up” period the policyholder experiences to ensure coverage until business returns to normal.
  • Spoilage Coverage: Commercial property policies for food-service and hospitality industry insureds may also contain endorsements providing coverage for loss of perishable stock at the premises of the policyholder.
Have an Insurance Response Team in Place Before the Storm

Commercial policyholders should know who they are going to contact for emergency repairs and services. Having an emergency action plan in place, with cell phone contact numbers, will minimize downtime and maximize recovery efforts after the storm. Document or photograph your pre-loss inventory and other insured assets to provide to your insurer when adjusting your claim. They may not be able to reach your property immediately following the storm.

Following the storm, your team should set up a general ledger to capture all storm-related costs, expenses, and time, including costs incurred to mitigate storm losses. Designate a point person to liaise with the insurer’s adjuster and to submit storm-related invoices, quotes and contracts.  Document everything, including physical damage, evacuation orders, curfews, power outages, supply chain disruptions, and extra costs.

Present Your Claim As Soon As Practicable

Insurance companies require prompt notice of a loss. Once the claim is submitted, check your policy regarding the submission of a proof of loss, as is often required. These documents have deadlines, some of which are triggered without any request from the insurer. Request an extension if you need one to ensure timely submission. Use photographs, videos, or other documentation to substantiate your claim, and keep a log of all communications with your insurer and adjuster, including phone calls. An accurate timeline of communications will assist in any potential litigation regarding your claim.

In the event of a denial, delay, or recovery smaller than required to repair your business, experienced coverage counsel can help you analyze your policies, enforce your rights and hold your insurer to their contractual and statutory obligations.

RIMS ERM Conference Preview: Q&A with Keynote Dr. Andrea Bonime-Blanc

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This year’s RIMS ERM Conference will be held virtually on November 4 and 5, 2020, promising two days packed with informative sessions featuring global risk leaders. The conference kicks off November 4th with a live keynote delivered by Dr. Andrea Bonime-Blanc, founder of GEC Risk Advisory and the author of Gloom to Boom: How Leaders Transform Risk Into Resilience and Value. She will also answer questions from the audience during a live session on November 5th.

Andrea Bonime-Blanc

Dr. Bonime-Blanc recently appeared on RIMScast to discuss her upcoming keynote; the role technology has played in environmental, social and governance risks (ESG); and what risk practitioners must do to succeed today. Check out some highlights below, and download RIMScast episodes 100 and 101 for a deeper dive with Dr. Bonime-Blanc into topics such as diversity, strategic risk management and ways ERM practitioners can generate and retain value. If you’d like to watch her keynote and join RIMS for the rest of the ERM Conference 2020, registration is now open for all attendees.

How did you first begin using and implementing ERM in your career?

Dr. Andrea Bonime-Blanc: I was the general counsel of a startup within a much larger utility company, and we were the global division that was going all over the world in the mid- to late-1990s and early 2000s looking for electric power generation distribution opportunities. I became the risk manager because…[someone] needed to put the risk hat on. We ended up creating programs, policies, procedures to really perform risk management. Building power plants in the middle of the jungle of Colombia or negotiating a joint venture with a Chinese government corporation running a coal mine in northern China presents a number of risks.

When did you notice how vital it was to “wear the risk hat”? 

AB-B: I’ll give you the example of an environmental, health and safety risk: When I was at PSEG, we went into a lot of different countries, including at least six or seven major Latin American countries that were privatizing their electric assets. There were competitions to acquire those assets in the first place, which created a whole bunch of risks from a standpoint of fraud and government corruption. I supervised the legal teams, and also led audit and finance teams. We had utility folks who understood the environmental, health and safety aspects of the assets we were looking at. There were cross-functional and cross-disciplinary teams that would work with the legal department and the general counsel’s office to figure out the risks involved with acquiring those potential assets. It showed how ERM done properly provides that way of collating and collecting really important, strategic information that is necessary at the highest levels of an organization.

How can diversity—of people and perspective—influence ERM in an organization?

AB-B: ERM is a collaborative process. It requires many different minds. A good ERM program will draw upon the knowledge of other key people and functions within an organization. If it’s a standalone program, it won’t work. Drawing on the knowledge and expertise and experience of your colleagues in different parts of the organization is crucial. Likewise, ESG plus T is all about understanding your non-financial issues as well as the risks that will have a financial impact.

You noted the addition of “T,” which stands for “technology”—why is technology so integral to ERM now, and how does it tie into your keynote?

AB-B: The technology piece has become so overwhelming, so suffusing, so minute-by-minute for us in the world that we live in—whether it’s negative like cyberattacks, or positive things, and there are so many other issues in between. We’re just starting to scratch the surface of both the negative and the positive in these technology issues.

Risk professionals have a role to play in creating the information that reaches the management and the board, and building a risk savvy culture. This includes building ERM that is integrated with the strategy of understanding the ESG+T issues that are part of your business, and how you integrate with crisis management and business continuity, for example. These are all pieces of the resilience model that I will share at the end of the keynote. It is something that risk professionals really need to understand, because it not only liberates you from your silo—if you’re in a silo—but it also demonstrates your value to the rest of the organization.