Updated insurance costs for small businesses
- Insurance for small business insurance can cost between $14 to $124 a month, depending on the purchase of workers’ compensation, general liability, commercial property, etc.
- If a small business purchases a wide range of coverage, costs could exceed $340 a month.
- The average monthly cost for workers’ compensation insurance is $70 per month, and the average annual cost is $840 for businesses with less than $300,000 in payroll costs.
- Most states, with the exception of Texas and Wyoming, require workers’ compensation if a business has at least one employee, but the laws vary.
Father and son fined heavily for workers comp scheme
- The father-and-son owners of two construction firms in Jacksonville, Fla., pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.
- Raul Solis, 52, and Raul Solis-Martinez, 32, who owned and operated Solis Brothers Company LLC and Duval Framing LLC. both admitted to employing workers who were not legal in the U.S.
- To keep labor costs down, both father and son collaborated with each other and the owner of another contractor, H&S Framing LLC to pay their employees “off the books”.
- Both father and son agreed to pay back $5,613,082.38 in compensation to the IRS.
Wisconsin worker rescued from concrete drum
- Wisconsin firefighters rescued a maintenance worker who was trapped inside the drum of a concrete mixing truck.
- The man was performing maintenance when he fell into the drum, which did not contain any cement at the time, but it was in motion when he fell inside.
- Rescuers identified an access hatch, and Madison and Sun Prairie paramedics entered the drum to begin patient care.
- The access hatch was not large enough to allow the patient to be removed, so the workers used their plasma cutter to widen the opening. and he was transported to a hospital.
Worker fatigue leads to injuries
- Research estimates that 13% of workplace injuries can be attributed to fatigue, and 43% of American workers admit they may be too tired to function safely at work.
- Employers can reduce the risk of fatigue and assist employees by rotating shift schedules or frequent night shift schedules that face high risks for fatigue.
- Employers should void assigning permanent night-shift schedules if possible, avoid long shift lengths ± no longer than 12 hours — and provide adequate time to recover between shifts.
- Employees should be given more input into their schedules and given frequent breaks within shift obligations.