Safety Council Discount Program
Eligibility Requirements FY09
Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation

Enroll in local safety council by July 31, 2008
• Find a list of Ohio safety councils at ohiobwc.com.

Attend 10 meetings or events between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2009
• At least eight of the 10 meetings must be safety council meetings. Up to two of
the 10 can be external educational options outlined below, but all 10 can be safety
council meetings.
• A person can represent only one policy number with their attendance at a meeting.
• Employer has the option to gain credit for up to two meetings through attendance at
Workers’ Compensation University, Ohio Safety Congress & Expo, BWC’s Division of
Safety & Hygiene (DSH) safety training courses or industry-specific training.
• DSH safety training credit is available for training conducted at the Ohio Center for
Occupational Safety and Health (OCOSH) in Pickerington or one of its branches.
• No matter the duration of the training or special event, attendance applies toward only
one meeting credit.
• Safety training conducted at the employers’ workplace, online or required Drug-Free
Workplace training does not qualify for the safety council discount program eligibility.
• It is the employer’s responsibility to submit documentation to his or her safety council
by June 30, 2009, for attendance at non-safety council training or events to qualify.
• Documentation must be an official certificate of attendance or transcript.

CEO must attend any one safety council sponsored function or meeting
• CEO attendance counts as credit toward one of the 10 required meetings.
• If a CEO is representing multiple policy numbers, his/her attendance fulfills the
CEO attendance requirement for all policies, but counts as meeting credit for only
one policy number.

Submit semiannual reports for the 2008 calendar year

2-percent premium discount
• Employers meeting these participation eligibility requirements will receive a refund of
2 percent of their annual premium.
• The discount offer excludes self-insuring employers and state agencies.
• Employers must have active coverage status and no outstanding BWC balance to qualify.
• Employers who meet the participation requirements will be eligible for a 2-percent
performance bonus.
• BWC will calculate the performance bonus based on claims data.

2-percent performance bonus
• Employers who reduce their frequency or severity by 10 percent or more below the
previous year’s frequency or severity, or employers who maintain both frequency and
severity at zero will receive an additional 2-percent refund of their annual premium.

Frequency = claims per $million of payroll
• BWC calculates frequency by multiplying the total number of claims reported in the
measurement year by 1 million and dividing by the employer’s total reported payroll
for that year.
• The entry date, i.e. the date on which a BWC staffer enters the claim into BWC’s claim
management system, determines the year in which the employer reports claims.
• BWC excludes claims combined into other claims, as well as claims in a disallowed,
disallowed/appeal or dismissed status as of the date on which it measures frequency.
• BWC will count each claim only once. Additional allowances on existing claims do not
constitute new claims. BWC treats medical-only and lost-time claims equally — a claim
is a claim regardless of its type or severity.
• The employer’s payroll helps create equity — a large employer with many claims may
actually have a lower frequency than a smaller employer with fewer claims.
• Likewise, if an employer’s payroll increases while the number of claims reported remains
constant, frequency will decrease.
• An employer having no claims in the year in which his or her baseline frequency is
established and no claims in its measurement year will receive the 2-percent premium
refund for frequency reduction because it is impossible to reduce zero by 10 percent.

Severity = days absent per $million of payroll
• BWC calculates severity by multiplying the total number of days absent during the
measurement year by 1 million and dividing by the employer’s total reported payroll
for that year.
• BWC will calculate the total number of days absent in the measurement year using
those claims reported in the measurement year, plus claims with injury dates in any
of the four previous years.
• BWC charges no days to the employer’s severity if the claim incurring the days absent
during the measurement year is outside this five-year period.

Example
A claim with an injury date in 2002 would be included in measurement years 2002,
2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 only. For that claim, BWC would ignore any absent days
occurring for measurement in year 2007.
• BWC excludes combined claims, as well as claims in a disallowed, disallowed/appeal,
or dismissed status as of the date on which severity is measured.
• BWC calculates days absent as the days between the last day worked and the return
to work date. BWC does not count the last day worked nor the return-to-work date as
a day absent.
• BWC assumes the date of injury is the last day the employee worked unless the
employer specifies a different last day worked.
• BWC assumes the return-to-work date is beyond the end of the measurement year
unless the employer specifies an actual return-to-work date.
Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation
• BWC assesses medical-only claims no more than seven days absent.
• BWC assesses lost-time claims as days absent from the last day worked (or date of injury
if no last day worked exists) until the earliest of:
    -The end of the measurement year;
    -Actual return to work;
    -Claim settlement;
    -Injured worker’s death (except death claims, defined below).
• If a claim experiences several periods of disability (time off work), BWC evaluates each
period separately, and only those days absent occurring in the measurement year are
counted.
• There are two specific exceptions to the rules governing the calculation of days absent
and both apply to lost-time claims where there is no record of a last day worked. Normally,
BWC would assess these claims days absent beginning on the day after injury and
continuing forever, for a maximum of 365 days in each of the measurement years.
However:
    -BWC will assess zero days absent for occupational disease claims (i.e. accident
type equals occupational disease) classified as lost time but having no last day
worked;
    -BWC will assess zero days absent for lost-time claims having no last day worked
and no pay plan other than percent permanent partial.
• An employer having no days absent in the year in which his or her baseline severity is
established and no days absent in its measurement year will receive the 2-percent premium
refund for severity reduction because it is impossible to reduce zero by 10 percent.

Death claims
• A death claim is one where the accident type is specified as death, rather than accident
or occupational disease.
• BWC assesses death claims, due to their social and financial severity, 365 additional days
absent after the date of death.
• For frequency purposes, BWC will count death claims only once.
• For severity purposes, death claims will incur days absent over at least two measurement
years.

Example
• A worker suffers a seriously injury on May 11, 2001.
• He remains in a coma until he dies on Nov. 13, 2002.
• The claim incurs days absent from May 12, 2001, through Nov. 13, 2003, or 234 days
absent in 2001, 365 days in 2002 and 317 days in 2003.

Frequency/severity timelines

State fund
• BWC will calculate frequency using claims and payroll reported between July 1, 2008,
and June 30, 2009 (policy year 2008). BWC will compare this frequency to the baseline
frequency, which it calculates using claims and payroll reported the previous year
July 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008 (policy year 2007).

Public employers
• BWC will calculate frequency using claims and payroll reported between Jan. 1, 2008,
and Dec. 31, 2008 (policy year 2008). BWC will compare this frequency to the baseline
frequency, which it calculates using claims and payroll reported the previous year
Jan. 1, 2007, and Dec 31, 2007 (policy year 2007).