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Prevention is the Best Medicine:
Tips for a Hiring a Healthy Workforce
Contractors should apply tough, consistent pre-screening techniques to all prospective employees that include a pre-employment medical examination
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Laura Braue
Human Resource Manager
C&H Agency
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avvy contractors value com- prehensive safety programs and launch initiatives to promote good health among employees, but few consider that keeping employees safe and healthy begins long before they step onto the jobsite—with the hiring process.
Thorough and consistent pre-screening techniques are vital to preventing employers from unwittingly hiring individuals with serious preexisting medical conditions and placing them into positions virtually guaranteed to injure them and potentially harm others.
An individual with chronic and debilitating back problems, for example, is not a suitable candidate for work that depends upon the safe and reliable execution of extensive heavy lifting. Under those circumstances, the probability of accidents resulting in injury to the new hire and to others working nearby increases exponentially.
Yet ill-fitting hires of this type proceed with surprising frequency, leaving business owners and hiring managers bewildered by their promising new employee’s immediate incapacitation and without recourse for the staggering increases in workers’ compensation premiums that follow an unfavorable loss history.
Fortunately, responsible employers can proactively construct hiring processes that identify inappropriate matches, provided they do not discriminate against protected classes and maintain strict compliance with HIPAA, union and labor regulations. Structuring a legally sound, preventative hiring process is best accomplished with the input of a qualified employment attorney, and includes:
Laying the groundwork for a pre-employment medical examination to be conducted only after a formal offer of employment is made. Ask your insurance agent to solicit several recommended physicians from your workers’ compensation carrier to perform the exams.
The insurers’ own vested interest in claims prevention increases the likelihood of receiving qualified contacts from them, and their third-party status makes them an unbiased referral-source. In addition, establishing ongoing relationships with particular physicians or medical groups may afford some leverage in negotiating the cost of exams, which is to be assumed by the employer.
Posting a complete job description upfront that clearly outlines physical requirements for manual labor such as lifting, operation of heavy machinery and other strenuous activities. Routinely review a copy with each applicant at the first interview, even if they have already seen it.
Conscientious owners of
contracting firms can turn
an ounce of prevention into a pound of cure for an ailing loss ratio.
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Often, merely communicating expectations is enough to flush out candidates who are aware of their limitations but may shy away from bringing them forward if a conflict with their job responsibilities is discovered only after employment has begun.
Calling references and inquiring whether or not a candidate’s absenteeism record was satisfactory and whether a significant loss of time due to a workers’ compensation claim occurred during a previous employment.
Though a prior claim is certainly not reason enough by itself to turn a candidate away, it can serve as a cue to emphasize the position’s physical requirements in the interviewing process, and any pattern of such incidents is indeed worth discussing.
Ordering background checks from a reputable provider authorized to supply them for employment purposes is a best practice for evaluating personal character for all job classifications company wide.
Discrepancies between search results and information included on resumes and disclosed in interviews may indicate misrepresentation and should be immediately addressed with the candidate for clarification.
Often, reports in relevant areas like motor vehicle records, pre-employment credit, education verification, and criminal background search can be bundled at a cost savings over ordering them separately.
Making the start of work contingent upon a satisfactory medical examination conducted by an insurer-recommended physician and paid for by the employer as a regular hiring cost. In consideration of HIPAA law, all medical records should be sent directly to the physician performing the examination, never to or through the employer.
Also, the acting physician’s evaluation of a prospective hire should be limited to a simple “qualified” or “unqualified” to preclude the employer from liability for unlawful transfer of medical information.
Union firms whose collective bargaining agreements lack a specific provision pertaining to pre-employment medical exams must first discuss the issue with the appropriate union representatives, and may have to wait until the CBA undergoes renegotiation in order to incorporate it.
Offering another available position as a reasonable alternative if a high-quality candidate is found to have a preexisting condition that exempts him/her from the desired position but leaves them eligible for other work. (This applies to promotions and advancement of existing employees, as well.)
Consistently applying standards, requirements and hiring procedures to all candidates under consideration for a particular position and meticulously documenting all hiring decisions to be used as evidence in the event of a discrimination charge.
Once hired, protecting an organization’s greatest investment and most valuable asset—its workforce—becomes equally important.
The probability of accidents resulting in injury to the new hire and to others working nearby increases exponentially.
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Compromised employees endanger themselves and others, so making responsibility for one’s health a part of corporate culture is essential. Firms must encourage employees to vocalize physical limitations to their superiors and remind them to bring information about faulty equipment or unsafe practices forward. This type of proactive behavior forms the intangible cornerstone for a successful safety and health program.
Allocating time and resources to the development of a preventative pre-screening process and incorporating it into an inclusive safety and health plan is extremely important.
Over time, conscientious owners of contracting firms can turn an ounce of prevention into a pound of cure for an ailing loss ratio and realize a significant financial return in reduced workers’ compensation premiums for their proactive efforts.
C&H Agency, Totowa, N.J., is an insurance and surety agency dedicated solely to the construction industry within the tri-state area. Braue can be reached at 973-890-0900 or via email at lbraue@chagency.com. Web site: www.chagency.com.
This article provides information about the law designed to help readers safely cope with their own legal needs. However, legal information is not the same as legal advice. Although C&H Agency, Laura Braue, and Michael Culnen have made sure that their information is accurate and useful, C&H Agency, Laura Braue, and Michael Culnen are not attorneys and recommend that any reader consult with an attorney if they want professional assurance that our information, and any readers’ interpretation of it, is appropriate to their particular circumstances.
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