Good morning & happy Wednesday! In this week's Big I Buzz, we are discussing the free for members report you must see, why you need to register for an upcoming webinar and a look at OSHA's top 10 safety violations.

Are you taking advantage of the Trusted Choice content library? 

As we move into a new season, don't forget to access the new content to share from Trusted Choice. They have a variety of graphics for you to share with your customers (or potential customers) on your social media pages with everything from summer safety tips, holiday graphics and good reminders for your clients to see. If you didn't know that Trusted Choice had a content library for you to use on your social media pages, this is a great time to register for the Intro to Trusted Choice Webinar at 1 p.m. on June 14th. Trusted Choice has much more than just social media posts. They also have a marketing reimbursement plan, they offer free digital reviews and so much more. Make sure you're accessing all of your IIAW benefits and take full advantage of all that Trusted Choice has to offer. 

NEW! The 2021 WI P-C Marketplace Report is Here

IIAW members can access our annual 2021 WI P-C Marketplace Report for FREE (a $399 value). 

A Look at OSHA's Top 10 Safety Violations

Each fiscal year OSHA lists the top 10 workplace safety standards violations that employers should pay attention to. Share this list with your workers' compensation policyholders to better their workplace safety. According to OSHA as published in the National Safety's Council's Safety + Health Magazine here are the top 10 most common violations: 

1. Fall protection - this issue is back at the top of the list for the 11th year in a row. According to Insurance Journal, "Some 5,271 violations were issued to framing contractors, roofing contractors, masonry firms and housing construction contractors. The main cause for citations was a lack of protection near unprotected edges or sides and on steep roofs or lesser-sloped surfaces."

2. Respiratory protection. Insurance Journal reports that, "The chief culprits were auto body refinishing companies, painting contractors, wall covering contractors and masonry contractors. They were cited for absence of a protection program, failure to perform required fit testing and/or lack of medical evaluations."

3. Ladders. "Violations included structurally deficient ladders, a lack of siderails extending three feet beyond a landing surface and the use of ladders for purposes which they're not designed. Another issue: allowing workers to use the top step of a ladder.

4. Scaffolds. "The causes included proper or inadequate decking, failure to provide adequate scaffold support on a solid foundation and lack of safety guardrails," as reported by Insurance Journal. 

5. Hazard communication. According to Insurance Journal, "The main causes were lack of a written hazard communication program as well as inadequate training and/or failure to develop and maintain data safety sheets."

6. Lockout/tagout. This is a category of safety related to the control of hazardous energy. Violations for this category included failure to conduct procedure evals, a lack of established energy control procedures and not providing adequate training. 

7. Fall protection training requirements. This is a separate category from #1, as the failure to give required fall protection training and failure to certify fall protection safety were the main causes of 1,660 violations, according to Insurance Journal.

8. Eye and face protection, in the category of personal protective and lifesaving equipment. 

9. Powered industrial trucks, including forklifts and motorized hand trucks. "Main causes were failure to operate safely, lack of refresher training and evaluation, absence of certification of training and evaluation and failure to examine equipment for adverse conditions."

10. Machine guarding standards, which covers guarding of machinery to protect operators and other workers from hazards. "Main causes were violations of the types of required guards, lack of guarding at point of operation, not properly anchoring machinery, a lack of secure attachment of guards to machinery and improper guarding of fan blades." Read more here. 

For more news, check out the Action News section of our weekly e-newsletter, Big I Buzz. If you aren’t subscribed, click here to add your email to our emailing list.