Workplace Postings - California

In California, all employers must meet workplace posting obligations. Workplace postings are usually available at no cost from the requiring agency. The Department of Industrial Relations requires employers to post information related to wages, hours and working conditions in an area frequented by employees where it may be easily read during the workday. Additional posting requirements apply to some workplaces. For a list of available safety and health postings, visit the Cal/OSHA publications page.

Preventing and Reducing Costly Injuries and Illnesses

An effective IIPP can reduce or prevent costly injuries and illness in your workplace. Besides the trauma to the workplace of experiencing an employee injury or illness there are effects on the injured employee(s) and their families. Injured employees may experience pain and suffering, loose their salary, and miss opportunities for future job advancement.

Also, injuries and illness increase the cost of doing business. These direct costs to the workplace can include medical treatment, higher worker’s compensation insurance premiums, indemnity, and litigation.
On average, costs per injury can add up to more than $50,000.00 for a back injury, $62,000.00 for a slip and fall injury, and $40,000.00 for a Carpal Tunnel or Repetitive Motion Injury. These costs do not include additional indirect costs associated with injuries and illnesses such as lost productivity, re-training, hiring new employees, administrative time, repair and replacement of equipment, etc.

Cost data cited is from the WCIRB in 2008
(https://wcirbonline.org/wcirb/resources/data_reports/pdf/2008_loss_and_expenses.pdf)

Additional references for injury and illness cost data provided by:
J. Paul Leigh, Ph.D.
Department of Public Health Sciences
University of California, Davis
Davis, California

Employment Law Guide: Laws, Regulations, and Technical Assistance Services

Prepared by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy

This Guide describes the major statutes and regulations administered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that affect businesses and workers. The Guide is designed mainly for those needing "hands-on" information to develop wage, benefit, safety and health, and nondiscrimination policies for businesses.
Statutory and regulatory changes will occur over time, which may affect the information in this Guide.  For the latest information on all laws check this site periodically.

Click here access the online guide

New Drug-Use Screening Tool Available for Physicians

In 2007, an estimated 19.9 million Americans aged 12 or older (around 8 percent of the population) were current (past month) users of illegal drugs--nearly 1 in 5 of those 18 to 25 years old--and many more are current tobacco or binge alcohol users. The consequences of this drug use can be far-reaching--playing a role in the cause and progression of many medical disorders, including addiction. Yet only a fraction of people who need addiction treatment receive it. 

To address this need, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) recently unveiled its first comprehensive Physicians’ Outreach Initiative, NIDAMED, a tool that gives medical professionals tools and resources to screen their patients for tobacco, alcohol, illicit and non-medical prescription drug use.  The NIDAMED resources include an online screening tool, a companion quick reference guide and a comprehensive resource guide for clinicians. The outreach initiative stresses the importance of the patient-doctor relationship in identifying unhealthy behaviors before they evolve into life-threatening medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, stroke or HIV/AIDS, or result in other adverse consequences such as personal relationship, financial or legal problems or job loss.

NIDAMED tools were developed because doctors are in a unique position to discuss drug-taking behaviors with their patients before they lead to serious medical problems or effect workplace productivity and safety problems. Research shows that screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment by clinicians in general medical settings, can promote significant reductions in alcohol and tobacco use.   The tools also put physicians in a unique situation for identifying patients who are misusing prescription medications. 

The NIDAMED online screening tool provides physicians the ability to confidentially screen a patient to determine whether they may have a substance abuse problem.  It is an interactive Web site that guides clinicians through a short series of questions and, based on the patient's responses, generates a substance involvement score that suggests the level of intervention needed. A physician can use this interactive tool during routine office visits.  NIDAMED also includes an online resource guide with detailed instructions on how to implement the screening tool, discuss screening results, offer a brief intervention and make necessary referrals. In addition, a quick reference guide has been developed to serve as a prompt to medical professionals to initiate screening.

Employers should take note of this new NIDA initiative because early interventions like this, whether performed by doctors or workplace-based employee assistance professionals, also can help reduce the adverse consequences of substance use.  According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), seventy-six percent of people with drug and alcohol problems are employed and workplace substance abuse negatively impacts productivity, safety and absenteeism and increases healthcare spending.  In addition, employers stand to gain from early intervention efforts with employees who may not necessarily be addicted, since light and moderate alcohol users--higher in number than alcoholics--cause 60 percent of alcohol-related absenteeism, tardiness and poor work quality.¹

More information on all NIDAMED products can be found at www.drugabuse.gov/nidamed.  Additional information about substance use and prevention in the workplace can be found at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Working Partners Web site.

Drug Free Workplace - Partners in Prevention Booklet & PowerPoint Kit

Drugs can be dangerous, even prescription medications if they are misused! Don't let your company become a victim of employee substance abuse and risk the high cost of low productivity, lost work time and even life-threatening accidents.

 

Make sure your employees understand

• Dangers of prescription and over the counter medications
• How alcohol affects performance even "the day after"
• Where to get help
• Strict controls of illegal substances

This easy-to-use kit makes training convenient, fast and thorough.

It includes everything you need:

• Fully customizable 30-slide PowerPoint presentation with comprehensive speakers notes
• 20 employee booklets and a voucher to purchase unlimited copies at an additional 10% savings
• Training certificate that you can personalize, print, and customize with your company's specific requirements

To learn more about this program visit SafetyTrainingMedia.com

Food Service Safety and Sanitation Training

Whether it’s a cafeteria, group picnic or any activity involving food, this is a “must see” training program. This program explains bacteria, the difference between cleaning and sanitizing, how to properly kill bacteria, hot and cold temperatures required for food safety, contamination of foods and cross contamination of different types of food and more. This is an excellent training program for anyone handling, cooking, preparing or serving food.

Runtime: 20 Min.

Free Online Preview

To purchase this program, visit SafetyTrainingMedia.com

HIPAA Privacy Compliance Training

This brand-new video training program will help you comply with HIPAA's Privacy Rule the first comprehensive federal protection guidelines for the privacy of health information. Your staff will learn the importance of protecting patient privacy and confidentiality under HIPAA's Privacy Rule.

• What is Protected Health Information
• Use and disclosure of protected health information
• Consent and authorization
• Patient rights
• Compliance
• Developing a HIPAA attitude.

Added features and benefits of DVD training include:

• English and Spanish versions many also include Portuguese
• A Customizable PowerPoint Presentation makes training site-specific; excellent for training different personnel and departments
• Training Points outlines key learning points of your training; reinforces important safety points to your employees.
• Chapterized Content - video-enriched training organized by learning objectives that facilitates classroom discussion; ideal for refresher training, specific training points and navigating through the course.
• Expanded Leader's Guide excellent resource to help plan and implement your presentation. A quiz is provided that can serve as a pre and/or post evaluative tool.
• Portable Convenience perfect for those who train and travel! Includes ten employee handbooks.

For more detail and to purchase this program, vist SafetyTrainingMedia.com