(a) Any insurer desiring to write workers’ compensation insurance shall maintain or provide occupational safety and health loss control consultation services. The insurer may employ qualified personnel to provide these services or provide the services through another entity.
(b) The program of an insurer for furnishing loss control consultation services shall be adequate to meet minimum standards prescribed by this section. Required loss control consultation services shall be adequate to identify the hazards exposing the insured to, or causing the insured, significant workers’ compensation losses, and to advise the insured of steps needed to mitigate the identified workers’ compensation losses or exposures. The program of an insurer for furnishing loss control consultation services shall provide all of the following:
(1) A workplace survey, including discussions with management and, where appropriate, nonmanagement personnel with permission of the employer.
(2) A review of injury records with appropriate personnel.
(3) The development of a plan to improve the employer’s health and safety loss control experience, which shall include, where appropriate, modifications to the employer’s injury and illness prevention program established pursuant to Section 6401.7. At the time that an insurance policy is issued and annually thereafter, and again when notified by Cal-OSHA that an insured employer has been identified as a targeted employer pursuant to Section 6314.1, the insurer shall provide each insured employer with a written description of the consultation services together with a notice that the services are available at no additional charge to the employer. These notices to the employer shall appear in at least 10-point bold type.
(c) The insurer shall not charge any fee in addition to the insurance premium for safety and health loss control consultation services.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require insurers to provide loss control services to places of employment that do not pose significant preventable hazards to workers.
(e) The director shall establish an insurance loss control services coordinator position in the Department of Industrial Relations. The coordinator shall provide information to employers about the availability of loss control consultation services and respond to employers’ questions and complaints about loss control consultation services provided by their insurer. The coordinator shall notify the insurer of every complaint concerning loss control consultation services. If the employer and the insurer are unable to agree on a mutually satisfactory solution to the complaint, the coordinator shall investigate the complaint. Whenever the coordinator determines that the loss control consultation services provided by the insurer are inadequate or inappropriate, he or she shall recommend to the employer and the insurer the actions required to bring the loss control program into compliance. If the employer and the insurer are unable to agree on a mutually satisfactory solution to the complaint, the coordinator shall forward his or her recommendations to the director. The cost of providing the coordinator services shall be paid out of the Workers’ Occupational Safety and Health Education Fund created by subdivision (a) of Section 6354.7. However, no more than 20 percent of that fund may be expended for this purpose each year.
(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 6, Sec. 83. Effective January 1, 2003.)