Ohio Administrative Code › Title 4123 - Bureau of Workers' Compensation › Chapter 4123-17 - General Rating for the State Insurance Fund › Section 4123-17-68 - Group experience and group retrospective safety program requirements

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
(A) The purpose of
			 this rule is to establish minimum safety requirements for group experience and
			 group retrospective rating as provided by section
			 4123.29 of the Revised
			 Code.
(B) The bureau safety and
			 hygiene division, upon the request of the sponsoring organization, shall
			 provide assistance with implementing all of the provisions of this
			 rule.
(C) The primary or affiliated
			 sponsoring organization of a group experience or group retrospective plan shall
			 document its program to improve accident prevention and claims handling for the
			 members in the group with the group application, and, for an existing group
			 reapplying for group coverage annually, shall document the effectiveness of
			 prior programs and any proposed improvements to these programs. This analysis
			 shall include identification of the most common injuries among group members
			 and strategies aimed at increasing awareness and prevention of these injuries.
(1) A bureau division of safety and hygiene
			 loss prevention representative shall review the sponsor's safety requirements
			 annual report within sixty days of receipt. The safety and hygiene
			 representative shall contact the primary or affiliated group sponsor or its
			 authorized representative to assist in further developing appropriate safety
			 strategies if there are deficiencies in the report. All primary and affiliated
			 sponsoring organizations shall be required to sponsor a minimum of eight hours
			 of safety training during the rating year for members of their group. Training
			 shall be hosted by the sponsor or the sponsor's third party administrator.
			 Training should be designed in increments of at least two hours. Training
			 should be industry specific where possible. Webinars and online training hosted
			 by the sponsor will qualify to fulfill this requirement. The sponsor must
			 document the number of employers in attendance at safety training with a goal
			 of at least fifty per cent membership attendance. If the same agenda is offered
			 repeatedly in different regional sites, hour to hour credit will be granted. A
			 bureau representative may attend training to ensure the requirement is being
			 met.
(2) If an employer that
			 participates in group rating or group retrospective rating plan sustains a
			 claim within the 
									"green period," the employer shall complete
			 either of the following:
(a) The bureau's
			 online accident analysis form and the bureau's associated online safety class,
			 or
(b) Two hours of safety training
			 approved by the bureau. Such training can be offered by the sponsoring
			 organization, the sponsoring organization's third party administrator, or the
			 bureau.
The sponsor will notify members of this requirement and
				maintain recordkeeping to track completion of this requirement. The sponsor
				will submit to the bureau a list of members completing the training required by
				this rule. The bureau shall reserve the right to request additional information
				from the sponsor to ensure compliance.
(3) The bureau safety and hygiene division
			 shall make a recommendation to the bureau employer programs unit on whether the
			 group's safety requirements annual report is acceptable for the following
			 policy year. A copy of the recommendations and findings of the safety and
			 hygiene division shall be communicated to the sponsoring organization or its
			 authorized representative at the same time. The employer programs unit shall
			 consider this recommendation in making its decision whether to approve the
			 group rating application and at the time of sponsor recertification.
(4) The bureau safety and hygiene division
			 shall evaluate the sponsor's safety requirements annual report at the
			 sponsoring organization level and not at the individual member level. The
			 bureau safety and hygiene safety representative may conduct member visits to
			 confirm the sponsoring organization requirements are met.
(5) If the bureau's employer programs unit
			 does not approve a group for group rating based upon the sponsor's safety
			 activities, the sponsoring organization may request a hearing before the
			 adjudicating committee pursuant to rule
			 4123-14-06
			 of the Administrative Code.
(6)
			 Primary and affiliated sponsoring organizations shall publish in the first
			 quarter of the rating year, for the knowledge of the members in their group, a
			 safety accountability letter outlining the group rating safety requirements and
			 responsibilities of all associated parties.