01/29/2025
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Employee-based workplace safety committees may not be perceived as the “coolest” employee groups in a workplace, but their duties are worth respecting. With a workplace safety committee that includes employees, you as a manager can encourage your staff to be active participants in their personal safety and health at work.
01/23/2025
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If you’ve performed a survey and uncovered materials containing asbestos in your property, it’s essential to take appropriate action. Addressing the situation promptly ensures the safety and well-being of everyone in the building while keeping your property compliant with regulations. Mishandling these materials can lead to serious health risks and costly penalties.
Read on to learn about the hazards of asbestos and how to deal with any you may find during any renovation or demolition projects.
01/16/2025
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The Healing Power of Laughter: Why a Good Laugh is Good for You
Did you know that laughter is one of the simplest and most effective ways to boost your overall health and well-being? That’s right—something as simple as a hearty laugh can have profound effects on both your physical and emotional health. Let’s dive into the remarkable benefits of humor and how it can transform your life!
Ever noticed how refreshed you feel after a good laugh? Laughter acts as a natural workout for your body. It stretches your muscles, increases your heart rate, boosts blood pressure, and sends oxygen-rich blood flowing to your tissues.
Research shows that laughter can:
The next time you’re feeling tense, consider watching a comedy special or sharing a joke with a friend—your body will thank you.
Laughter is a natural stress reliever. When you laugh, your brain releases endorphins—those magical feel-good chemicals that can:
So, if you’re having a rough day, take a moment to find something funny. Your mind will feel lighter, and your spirits will lift.
Sharing laughter with others strengthens bonds and creates lasting memories. When you laugh with someone, it fosters a sense of connection and deepens relationships. This social aspect of humor can:
The next time you’re feeling isolated or overwhelmed, reach out to a loved one for some light-hearted fun.
Happiness and health are closely intertwined, and laughter plays a crucial role in this relationship. Studies show that laughing regularly can:
While laughter isn’t a cure-all, it’s a powerful tool to help you navigate life’s challenges with grace and joy. Embrace humor in your daily routine—whether it’s through funny videos, amusing stories, or finding the lighter side of life—and watch how it transforms your health and happiness.
01/08/2025
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Winter Safety Tips: Protecting Your Workforce from Slips, Falls, and Injuries
Winter in New Hampshire brings its own unique beauty, but it also presents challenges, especially in the workplace. Snow and ice create hazardous conditions that can result in injuries, many of which impact both personal and professional lives. To reduce the risk of workplace injuries during the winter months, it is essential to take proactive steps to ensure safety for your employees. As Benjamin Franklin wisely said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Here are several effective strategies to help minimize risks and prevent winter weather-related injuries:
Increase employee awareness by using clear and visible safety reminders:
Remind employees to wear slip-resistant footwear with good treads during wet, icy, or snowy conditions. Encourage employees to change into dry indoor shoes once they enter the building to maintain comfort and safety.
Since lack of traction is a primary cause of slips and falls, we recommend participating in your Trust’s Ice Cleat Reimbursement Program. The Program offers a 50% reimbursement per pair of ice cleats. The use of ice cleats can significantly reduce the risk of serious injuries such as fractures and sprains. Offering a range of cleat options will increase compliance and comfort, helping employees stay safe when navigating slippery surfaces. It is recommended that an Ice Cleat Policy is implemented and shared with employees to provide clear expectations.
Identify employees who perform outdoor tasks (e.g., sanding/salting walkways, and traveling between buildings or vehicles) and ensure they are equipped with proper footwear and ice cleats. Common tasks, such as walking to a vehicle or throwing trash into a dumpster, can be dangerous without proper footwear. By providing and requiring the use of ice cleats, you reduce the risk of serious injury from falls.
Having an adequate supply of salt, sand, and ice melt is critical for preventing slips and falls around entrances, walkways, parking lots, and stairs. Ensure there is a backup supply of these materials so that employees can spread them when needed, especially in high-traffic areas. You might also consider providing personal containers filled with salt or sand for employees to carry while accessing their vehicles during inclement weather.
Ensure there is adequate lighting in all areas where employees walk or work, including parking lots, doorways, and around dumpsters. This can help employees see icy or wet spots before they slip. Having a comprehensive Snow and Ice Management Plan Snow and Ice Management Plan in place will help you minimize risks associated with winter weather.
By taking these proactive measures, you can significantly reduce the risk of winter-related workplace injuries. Stay ahead of the season and encourage your workforce to remain vigilant about their safety.
Contact your Loss Control Consultant with any questions about winter safety.
01/08/2025
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Are you getting the most out of your wellness program? Winter can be a challenging season for both employees and employers. During this time, we often see an increase in absenteeism and a general sense of malaise among our workforce. This season often brings physical stressors associated with cold and flu, financial pressures related to the holidays, and emotional discomforts caused by shorter days. However, we can change our perspective on winter! Instead of concentrating solely on dark days, overeating, and bad weather, let’s create a season of wellness. We can use this time to focus on developing healthier habits and setting goals for the new year. See what The Lawson Group has to offer for wellness services.
Empower your employees by providing them with knowledge about their biometric health metrics. Biometric health screenings offer a quick and convenient opportunity for employees to meet with a Health Coach and learn more about their cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure, and BMI, as well as how these factors impact their overall health.
Additionally, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends that every workplace have one or more employees trained and certified in first aid, including CPR. Knowing CPR and basic first aid are crucial life-saving skills that can make a significant difference in emergencies. We offer onsite and in-house training for anyone interested in learning about basic first aid, adult and pediatric CPR, and the use of AEDs. Upon completing this course, participants will earn a valid 2-year certification through the American Heart Association.
The “Freedom from Smoking” program consists of eight weekly on-site sessions, each lasting between 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the employer’s preference. The clinics include interactive and engaging activities and offer time for group support. All sessions are led by facilitators trained by the American Lung Association.
Are you interested in creating an Employee Wellness Platform where all aspects of wellness are centralized? We can bring this vision to life with our fully customizable wellness portal and app. Our platform offers over 400 wellness challenges for your employees, access to 100 educational videos, fitness tracking, health risk assessments, and real-time aggregate data. If you’re interested in developing a wellness platform, please let us know today.
So let us flip the script on winter and view it as an opportunity to reset and redefine our wellbeing for the new year. If you are interested in learning more about our wellness program offerings please reach out to the wellness department at [email protected].
01/07/2025
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With the winter weather can come icy and snowy conditions, and that means potential for slips and falls, one of the leading causes of on-the-job accidents. And the more ice and snow, the more chances there are for more slips and falls that can cost a lot! Be sure to talk to your Loss Control Consultant about our Snow and Ice Management Plan ideas that can help you manage “plowing, sanding, and salting” to keep your parking lots, sidewalks, and stairs free of ice and snow this winter. Also, talk to them about “ice cleats,” which are a great way to keep your workers who are out in the bad weather from slipping and falling at job and customer sites.
To that point, the better job we all do at minimizing and eliminating hazards and working with our folks to educate them on safe work practices, the less of your premium dollars go to pay Workers’ Comp claims. The less we spend to compensate for claims on the job means the better chance that all our groups can develop a financial surplus, which can result in a distribution—premium money going back to our member companies as we do not need to hold onto that much to pay claims.
In most years, we have been able to “give back” distributions to one, two, or all three of the groups that we manage. Sometimes it is a little and sometimes a lot. This year at the annual meetings in November, we were thrilled to give back a total of $1,550,000 to all three groups!!!! This is a really big deal and we should all feel good about our group effort to help ensure that our workers go home from work every day “with all of their fingers and toes” as that is pretty much the goal.
We couldn’t do it without all your help and cooperation and we thank you for that!!! Keep up the good work.
A much bigger piece of news is that we are in the final stages of completely replacing the software we use to run the Workers’ Comp aspect of our business. We had simply outgrown the software we have been using for well over a decade, almost two, and was bought when we were managing about 50 companies in one self-insured group. We now manage three different self-insured groups with well over 400 companies that employ over 35,000 workers. We also manage four New Hampshire companies that are self-insured and we do some Third Party Administrator work for a commercial insurance company. It was time, actually, it was way overdue.
We’re excited to share that after investing over $1 million and dedicating countless hours of hard work from our amazing team, we’re now starting to “go live” with various parts of our new software system. By the time you’re reading this, we’re hopeful that all those efforts will be behind us, and we’ll be reaping the rewards of significant efficiencies and powerful data access that weren’t possible before. This is a big step forward for us, and we can’t wait to see the positive impact it will have!
Of course, as with any big transition, there may be some hiccups along the way. If you encounter any issues, please don’t hesitate to reach out so we can address them promptly and ensure everything runs smoothly. Your feedback is invaluable as we make this leap. Thank you for your patience and support throughout this journey—we believe the results will be well worth it!
