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“Ban the box.” It’s not just a catchy phrase, but represents a law that restricts employers from asking a job applicant about his or her criminal history during the initial employment application. The ban-the-box law — a state, county and city mandate that requires employers to remove the criminal record disclosure box from job applications […]
The medical cases that are bad news to self-funded plans are also bad news to stop-loss insurers. So the latest report by stop-loss insurer Sun Life Financial on the top 10 catastrophic health conditions it sees is instructive for self-funded plans. Two categories of cancer, end-stage renal disease and two categories complications related to newborns […]
A study by Fidelity Investments of 13 million 401(k) investors across U.S. metropolitan regions pinpointed the cities where plan loans are most heavily used. The analysis found the greatest percentage of participants with outstanding plan loans, at 33 percent, in the McAllen, Texas, area. The second-largest proportions of borrowers were in the Riverside and Bakersfield, […]
Owens Corning is the 2014 recipient of the National Safety Council’s (NSC) Green Cross for Safety medal. The prestigious Green Cross award is presented annually to an organization with outstanding safety performance and a commitment to improving the quality of life in the communities where employees work and live. Over the past 12 years, Owens […]
In a recent issue of the Advisor, BLR CEO Dan Oswald wrote of the moving experience of seeing World War II veterans being honored at the Austin, Texas, airport. The article moved many, as evidenced by the following comments.
Here are some workplace violence prevention tips from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management—which has had to deal with its share of workplace violence over the years.
In Leading with Honor: Leadership Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton, Ellis shares what he learned about leadership from his time as a POW. It’s a powerful read, as Ellis relays stories from his days in the Hanoi Hilton and how the leadership demonstrated by his fellow prisoners often meant the difference between life and death. […]
There’s certainly nothing funny about the consequences of a lockout/tagout failure or a hazardous spill. But if humor can help employees learn and use strategies to prevent a potential tragedy, go for it, Dennis suggests. “Humor can be a double-edged sword,” he advises. “It can make you seem very personable, but you have to be […]
Yesterday, attorney Tracy Moon outlined some of HR’s responsibilities relating to emergency management preparedness. But what happens when the disruption morphs from “immediate crisis” to “long-term state of affairs”?
To find out more about effective safety training, BLR® talked with Jeffrey Dennis, a certified safety professional and president of Industrial Safety Solutions, Inc., a safety, environmental, and industrial hygiene consulting firm located in Birmingham, Alabama. Technology has enhanced many aspects of safety training, says Dennis. Both external and in-house trainers use a variety of […]