Safety and wellness brief

Minimize your risks and decrease potential losses based on learnings from our Workers Compensation Safety Council participants, The Hartford, and CUNA Mutual Group.

Program highlights

Key risk insights

Did you know?

• With the pandemic, many employees are doing “double duty” or “job duties as assigned” such as moving carpets, handling trash, cleaning & sanitizing, etc. Unfortunately, some of these tasks have generated unexpected claims.
• Losses associated with vehicle use — such as negligent entrustment due to not conducting Motor Vehicle Report checks — are on the rise in both severity and frequency.
• Research shows that the sooner a claim is reported, the lower the cost of the claim and the sooner the employee returns to work. In fact, The Hartford conducted a study associated with claim severity and reporting lag time and found:
• 1 week = 9% claim cost increase²
• 2 weeks = 21% claim cost increase²
• 3 & 4 weeks = 24% claim cost increase²
• 1 month or later = 39% claim cost increase²

Employee wellness

Each employee has their own way of dealing with the uncertainty of hard times. Don’t underestimate the importance of caring for employee mental health and wellness.

7 ways to take care of mental wellness

1. Create and abide by work-life boundaries.
2. Exercise in a way you enjoy every day.
3. Keep a journal — writing down your thoughts and feelings.
4. Resist the temptation to “compare and despair” in online networks — most is not full reality.
5. Take a walk in a natural setting — outside and away from everything.
6. Spend time with good friends and family.
7. Find ways to stay productive and tick items off your to-do list.

7 tips for leaders during trying times

1. Provide clear direction for your employees.
2. Encourage your team.
3. Communicate through a variety of channels.
4. Embrace change as sometimes you need to reinvent yourself, even if it’s temporary.
5. Celebrate the small wins.
6. Stay in contact with your credit union membership to maintain loyalty.
7. Evaluate and monitor your expectations.

They said it

"The two biggest risk factors are ‘lone working’ and office ergonomics. Assuming workers are going from a space with a desk in the office — possibly with an adjustable workstation and padded office chair with arms to a kitchen table…office ergonomics can be a significant concern. The other risk factor, which is difficult to control, in general, is just the nature of unknowns with remote workers."

Brian Walker, CSP, ARM
Sr. Risk Engineering Consultant
The Hartford

"All credit unions have responsibility to protect employees, members, and visitors by taking measures to detect potential incidents and mitigate the consequences. Think about what the safety and wellness risks are and identify how to reduce that risk, because obviously you can’t take risk to zero."

Michael Petrone, CFE, CFSA, CUSFE, ACI
Risk Consultant
CUNA Mutual Group

Resources you can use...

Review these resources to enhance your focus on emerging risks related to workplace/employee safety.

• Ergonomic workstations self assessment checklist
• Flexible workplace checklist
• Negligent entrustment risk overview
• Reassuring employees during the pandemic
• What to do if your employee is injured on the job

Additional resources

For additional employee safety, wellness, or workers compensation tools and resources, check out the Workplace Safety/Wellness page within the Protection Resource Center.

For questions on risks, contact a risk consultant at 800.637.2676.