Workers' Comp Discount Plan Open for Enrollment
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Enrollment is under way for Destination: Excellence, a workers' compensation discount plan that rewards Ohio employers for helping prevent injuries in the workplace and getting injured employees back to work. The plan was introduced by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation last year.
More than 100,000 employers have chosen to participate in at least one of the seven programs that are part of the cafeteria-style plan, and they are expected to achieve an aggregate savings of $28 million to $41 million, said Steve Buehrer, bureau administrator/CEO.
“In addition to our focus on low and stable rates, we have emphasized prevention and care to highlight the importance of workplace safety, and achieving the best possible outcomes for Ohioans who are injured on the job,” Buehrer said in a prepared statement. “Destination: Excellence recognizes the importance of both objectives by offering employers the opportunity to customize a risk management plan that helps them protect the health and well-being of their workers with safer workplaces and strong return-to-work programs.”
Destination: Excellence is designed to help Ohio employers focus on safety, accident prevention and return-to-work opportunities to bring injured workers back to work sooner. The plan offers a package of BWC programs that allow employers to customize their own risk-management plan and rewards their investments in accident prevention, cost control, and policy management, the bureau says.
Among the BWC programs offered as part of Destination: Excellence:
- Industry-Specific Safety Program: Helps employers improve workplace safety through the use of complimentary BWC safety training and consulting activities that focus on risks associated with specific industry types.
- Drug-Free Safety Program: Promotes a work environment free of drugs and alcohol.
- Safety councils: Ohio's 80 safety councils work to increase safety awareness in the workplace and educate businesses on occupational safety and health issues.
- Transitional work bonus program: Incentivizes employers for successfully using transitional work to transition injured workers with restrictions back to the workplace in a safe, timely manner.
- Vocational rehabilitation: The bureau partners with employers and health-care providers to develop vocational rehabilitation plans to return seriously injured workers back to the workplace.
- Go-green discount: Employers can reduce paperwork and receive a premium discount for receiving their payroll report electronically, reporting their payroll and paying premiums in full on ohiobwc.com.
- Lapse-free discount: Employers that have had no lapses in coverage during the past 60 months can receive a premium discount.
Deadline to apply for several components of the program is April 30 and the effective date is July 1.
Employers can learn more by watching a brief presentation at www.ohiobwc.com.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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