What is Code Rule 60?
What are the Workplace Safety Incentive Programs?
The Workplace Safety Incentive Programs are part of workers’ compensation reforms passed in New York State in 2007.The intent of this program is to reduce occupational injuries and illnesses in the workplace, return injured or ill employees to work with medical clearance, reduce workers’ compensation costs for employers and reward employers that have implemented an approved Workplace Safety and Loss Prevention Incentive Program. Also known as WSLPIP or Industrial Code Rule 60 (ICR60), it has three components: the Safety and Loss Prevention Program, the Drug and Alcohol Prevention Program, and the Return to Work Program. A voluntary, incentive based program that rewards successful participants with credits on their workers’ compensation premium, Code Rule 60 complements Code Rule 59, the mandatory, penalty-based program that was part of the 1996 workers’ compensation reforms.
WSLPIP allows employers who have an annual workers’ compensation premium of at least $5,000 and who are experience modified with the most recent experience rating under 1.30 to voluntarily choose to participate in any or all of the programs. NYSIF policyholders in a recognized safety group are not eligible to participate in the Code Rule 60 program. Employers who were required to participate in Code Rule 59 are not eligible for Code Rule 60 unless they have fully complied with the provisions of the Code Rule 59 standard.
The law defines a Workplace Safety and Loss Prevention Program as, “A program that meets the requirements of any one or more of the following:
- a Safety Incentive Program,
- a Drug and Alcohol Prevention Program and/or
- a Return to Work Program.”
A Safety Incentive Program seeks to prevent occupational illnesses and injuries by identifying, preventing, evaluating and controlling workplace hazards.
A Drug and Alcohol Prevention Program informs employees of the dangers, to themselves and to others, of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the workplace. The program employs cost effective, confidential, early intervention strategies designed to prevent alcohol and drug related accidents on the job and help employees with drug and alcohol problems that interfere with their ability to function on the job in a safe and effective manner.
An acceptable Return to Work Program facilitates an employee’s return to work as soon as medically possible after a job-related injury or illness. A Return to Work Program provides fair and consistent practices for accommodating the needs of employees who have become ill or injured on the job, or have sustained a temporary or permanent partial disability covered by the Workers’ Compensation Law, in order for such employees to make a timely and safe return to work.
The entire law can be viewed online at:
http://www.labor.ny.gov/formsdocs/wp/cr60.pdf