Hampton Roads 
 Employment News

from Reliance Staffing & Recruiting
Volume 66           
September 2013 
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In this Issue
Injuries to an employee who works from home
Risk Management: Prevention vs. Cure
Where's the Fire Drill?
August 2013 Legal Roundup
National Staffing Employee Week
Help Us Support the March of Dimes
Safety Tips of the Month: Mold in Buildings
Unemployment Rates
 
 Aug 13Jul 13Aug 12
VA5.6%5.8%6.0%
 5.8%*5.7%*5.9%*
*seasonally adjusted
 Aug 13Jul 13Aug 12
US7.3%7.7%8.2%
 7.3%*7.4%*8.1%*
*seasonally adjusted
 
Injuries to an employee who works from home

  

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Q. If employees are allowed to work from home and they get hurt while they're working, are they covered by workers' compensation insurance?

 

A. Generally, employees who work from home are covered by workers' compensation for job-related injuries that occur in the course and scope of employment. Job-related accidents are compensable whether they occur on the employer's premises or in the employee's home. Thus, an employee working at home who sustains an injury in the course and scope of employment is likely to be covered under workers' compensation insurance. Conversely, if an injury occurs in an employee's home and is not job related, the injury is not likely to be covered under workers' compensation insurance.

 

From BLR.com

Reliance in Our Communities
 

Christina Merry, our Newport News Branch Manager, is volunteering and donating supplies to the fall events of Colonial Coast Girl Scout Troop 1900. You can learn more about those activities here.

 

Lynn Connor, our VP of Sales, donated men's clothing to Oasis Social Ministry.

Risk Management: Prevention vs. Cure
Results matter most in business, but it's important not to lose sight of the risks that could take away all those hard-won results. Sharon Maynard, our Risk Management Specialist, busts some common myths about risk and offers suggestions for empowering yourself and your business against risk.
 
Where's the Fire Drill?
Sherry Sale reaffirms the importance of the fire drill, and offers some tips for training.
August 2013 Legal Roundup
Background checks are in the news again, plus the FLSA, FMLA and the ol' FB (Facebook). 
National Staffing Employee Wk.
We honor and appreciate all our associates every week, but mid-September is special. 
Help Us Support the March of Dimes 
Our own Margie Minnix, one of our Placement Specialists in Chesapeake, is participating in the March of Dimes' March for Babies. 
 
This year's event takes place on November 2, at the Chesapeake Municipal Center (306 Cedar Road,
Chesapeake, VA 23322). 
 
To learn more about the event, including how to support Margie or how to participate yourself, click here.
Safety Tips of the Month: Mold in Buildings
In general, the only fungi most people want in their workplace is Wayne from the mail room. (Get it? Fungi, fun... guy... sorry.) Besides looking and smelling majorly gross, mold can trigger allergic reactions in many people. Plus, if someone already has a health problem, mold can make it worse by attacking the body's immune system.

The humidity in Hampton Roads gives mold an added edge, so we've got to be on guard against it. Here are some of the best ways to prevent mold:

 

  • Check the envelope: Conduct regular checks of the building's envelope (the physical separation between a building's interior and exterior) and drainage systems to make sure they are in working order. 
  • Visual inspection: Check your building routinely for water leaks, problem seals around doors and windows and visible mold in moist or damp areas. 
  • Dry it out: Wet or damp spots and materials should be cleaned and dried as soon as possible, ideally within the first 48 hours. 
  • Fight condensation: You can increase the surface temperature of the material where condensation is occurring, or reduce the overall humidity in the air. Indoor relative humidity should stay below 70%, and the sweet spot is 25-60%. 
  • Vent: Moisture-generating appliances like dryers should be ventilated to the outside where possible. Kitchens/cooking areas and bathrooms have their own local code requirements for ventilation, so be sure those are followed. 
  • Clean your ducts: Ventilation systems and air ducts should be checked regularly, particularly for damp filters and overall cleanliness. Contact your equipment supplier or manufacturer for recommended maintenance schedules.

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has a whole booklet about preventing, identifying & removing mold available for free.

Not sure what to do about on-the-job injuries after regular work hours?

 

Don't worry; we've already thought about that. Reliance contracts with Medcor to provide a 24-hour, staffed-with-a-real-human nurse line that can help injured workers determine what can be self-treated, what needs a trip to the doctor and what needs a trip to the ER.

 

To learn more about how this system works and how it can save your business money and missed work time, click here.

  

Client Comments

 
"Just wanted to thank you and let you know that the staff did a wonderful job on our event yesterday. It wasn't the easiest or most normal way of doing dinner service but everyone paid attention during the rehearsal and executed their roles flawlessly during the event. We truly couldn't have done it without them."
  

 

Christine Mellish, Christopher Newport University