Arkansas Administrative Code › Agency 099 - Arkansas Workman's Compensation › Rule 099.00.97-004 - Amended Rule 32: Hazardous Employer Program

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, June, 2024
I.
Criteria for Identifying
		  Hazardous Employers
A. The
		  Health and Safety Division (HSD) of the Arkansas Workers' Compensation
		  Commission (the Commission) pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. §
								11-9-409(c)
		  shall identify hazardous employers based on criteria established by the
		  Commission, in this rule. Each employer identified, continued, or monitored
		  shall have the right to verify employment, illness, and injury data used by the
		  HSD, obtain a review of the findings of the HSD by the Chief Executive Officer
		  (C.E.O.) of the Commission, and request a hearing before the Full Commission to
		  contest the findings of the C.E.O.
A request for review by the C.E.O. or hearing before the Full
			 Commission shall be in writing, setting out the grounds therefor, and shall be
			 filed within fifteen (15) days of the action from which the request is made.
			 The C.E.O. or the Full Commission, as applicable, shall decide the issues
			 within fifteen (15) days of receipt of the request for review or
			 hearing.
DEFINITIONS
:
1. Number of Employees - Number of employees
		  reported to the Employment Security Department. Volunteers, elected officials,
		  and board members of public entities shall not be counted.
2. incident - A work-related illness or
		  injury for which compensation is paid, as set out in Ark. Code Ann. §
									11-9-501.
		  For an illness or injury to be compensable, the affected employee must miss
		  eight (8) or more calendar days Of work. Each illness or injury which results
		  in permanent partial disability without lost time, shall also be deemed
		  incident for purposes of this rule. Illness or injuries to volunteers, elected
		  officials, or board members of public entities shall not be counted.
3 . Number of Incidents - The total number of
		  incidents reported per employer during a calendar year. The number of incidents
		  will be tabulated on a site-specific basis unless reported by the employer in a
		  different manner.
4. Expected
		  Incidence Rate - The benchmark illness and injury rate for each SIC code. The
		  Expected incident Rate is obtained from data compiled from national statistics
		  as reported to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and
		  published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Lost work day cases are
		  defined by OSHA/BLS as those illness and injury cases which result in one or
		  more days away from work. Lost work day cases do not include cases where the
		  employee works in restricted or light duty. If data is not available from the
		  BLS publication, other suitable sources are used to determine the Expected
		  Incident Rate.
5 . Employer
		  Incidence Rate - Derived for each employer according to the following formula:
(Number of Incidents/Number of Employees) x 100
Site-specific computations will be made only if data is reported
			 to the Commission by individual location.
6. Hazard Index - Derived annually and based
		  on the preceding year's incidence rates for each employer according to the
		  following formula:
Employer Incidence Rate/Expected Incidence Rate
Site-specific computations will be made only if data is reported
			 to the Commission by individual location.
7. Hazardous Employer - Any employer whose
		  Hazard Index is 1.0 or greater may be identified as a Hazardous Employer. A
		  Hazard Index of 1.0 or greater indicates an Employer Incidence Rate which
		  substantially exceeds the Expected Incidence Rate since Employer Incidence
		  Rates are based on cases which result in eight (8) or more days away from work
		  while Expected Incidence Rates are based on cases which result in one or more
		  days away from work.