A workers’ comp claim can cost your business more than what the policy pays. There’s the time an injured person is away, the work that slips and the cost of training someone to fill in. A few written programs can help keep injuries from happening and keep small ones small.

This guide covers four of them: return to work, drug-free workplace, safety programs and OSHA injury records. It’s written for Florida business owners and managers, including contractors, property owners, restaurants, stores and wholesalers.

It works hand in hand with our experience mod guide, which explains how claims change what you pay.

This is general information, not legal advice. Several of these programs touch employment law. Talk with an employment attorney before you adopt or change a policy.

Why these programs matter for workers’ comp

Your experience mod gives the most weight to how often injuries happen, not just how much they cost. So fewer claims, and claims that stay small, can matter more than one big claim. The mod guide shows the math with made-up numbers.

Each program here does something a little different:

  • Safety programs help prevent injuries in the first place.
  • Return to work helps keep a claim from growing once someone is hurt.
  • Drug-free workplace programs are set by Florida law and can qualify you for a premium credit.
  • OSHA records are required for many employers. They also show you where injuries happen.

None of these is a promise of a lower premium. Your mod and price depend on your own payroll, claims and insurance company. But each one is something you control.

Return to work: bringing people back safely

Why it matters

In Florida, wage benefits for a work injury generally aren’t paid for the first 7 days of disability. If the disability lasts more than 21 days, those first 7 days are paid back.

When an injured worker can come back to suitable work that fits their doctor’s restrictions, at their regular pay, the claim may stay medical-only. Where NCCI’s Experience Rating Adjustment applies, medical-only claims count at a reduced value in the mod. If modified work pays less than before, partial wage benefits may be owed. The mod guide explains this in more detail.

There’s a people side too. When injured workers stay connected to the job, your team knows what to expect.

Steps to set up a return to work program

  1. Put it in writing. Say who the program covers, who runs it and how it works. Share it with every employee, not just after an injury.
  2. Write down job duties. List the physical demands of each job. That helps a doctor decide what someone can do.
  3. Make a list of modified tasks before anyone gets hurt. Think about real work: inventory, training, inspections, paperwork, light setup, answering phones. For a contractor, that might be site paperwork, tool room work or safety walks.
  4. Talk with the doctor and the insurance company. Share the modified tasks with the treating doctor and the adjuster. Keep the work inside the written restrictions.
  5. Make the offer in writing. Put the tasks, hours, pay, start date and restrictions in a letter. Keep a signed copy.
  6. Check in often. Restrictions change after follow-up visits. Adjust the work as the doctor updates them.
  7. Plan for it to be temporary. The usual goal is a return to the regular job when the doctor says so. If a worker can’t get back to every part of the old job, disability law may require you to consider an accommodation, so talk with your employment attorney before any job decision.
  8. Keep records. Date of injury, doctor visits, status reports, offers and responses. Store medical information separately from the regular personnel file.

A few cautions

  • Other laws apply. Federal laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act, along with Florida law, can apply to injured or ill workers. They have their own rules about accommodations and leave. An employment attorney can help you fit your program to them.
  • Refusing suitable work can affect benefits. Florida law says an injured worker who refuses suitable work that’s offered to them generally isn’t entitled to compensation (the money benefits, not medical care) for as long as they refuse, unless a judge of compensation claims decides the refusal is justified. Let the adjuster handle that question. Don’t make the call yourself.
  • Report every injury. Florida requires you to report an injury to your insurance company within 7 days of learning about it. A return to work program works alongside the claim, not in place of it.

Florida’s drug-free workplace program

Florida law sets out a specific drug-free workplace program in s. 440.102, Florida Statutes. Florida law directs the Office of Insurance Regulation to approve rating plans that give specific consideration to employers that follow it. Insurance companies offering those plans must tell you about the premium discount when they first quote and at each renewal.

To qualify, the program has to follow the law’s standards and procedures. In general that includes:

  • A written policy statement, given one time to all employees and job applicants before testing begins. The law lists what it must include, such as the types of tests, what happens after a confirmed positive test, confidentiality, how to report medications to a medical review officer, a list of the drugs tested for and contact information for employee assistance and local treatment programs.
  • Notice before testing starts. An employer starting a new testing program generally has to give at least 60 days’ notice before testing begins. Notice also goes on job postings for positions that require testing, and the policy is posted where employees can see it.
  • Required types of tests: job applicant, reasonable suspicion, routine fitness for duty (where that’s part of your established exams) and follow-up testing after a drug-related treatment program in certain cases.
  • Testing procedures that follow the law’s rules for collecting samples, confirming results, using approved labs and keeping results confidential.
  • Applying it equally to all employee classifications covered by workers’ comp.

Florida law also presumes an injury was caused mainly by drugs or alcohol when an employee tests positive at the time of the injury, and that can affect benefits. With a qualifying drug-free workplace program in place, that presumption is harder to overcome. Ask your insurance company and an employment attorney how this would apply to you.

The size of the credit and the paperwork your insurance company needs depend on its approved rating plan. Ask what it requires before you start, and keep proof that you meet each step.

Workplace safety programs

Florida law also directs that rating plans give specific consideration to employers with a qualifying workplace safety program. At a minimum, the program has to include:

  • A written safety policy and safety rules
  • Safety inspections
  • Preventive maintenance
  • Safety training
  • First aid
  • Accident investigation
  • Recordkeeping

A credit isn’t the only reason to have one. A program built around your own injuries does the most good. Start with your loss runs, the report of past claims your insurance company keeps, and look at where injuries actually happen:

  • Construction: falls (including ladders), struck-by and caught-in hazards such as trenching, electrical hazards and heat
  • Apartments and property management: lifting, ladders and slips for maintenance staff
  • Restaurants: burns, cuts and slips on wet floors
  • Stores and wholesalers: lifting, stocking, ladders and forklifts

For outside help, OSHA’s On-Site Consultation Program gives small and medium-sized businesses confidential safety and health advice. It’s separate from OSHA enforcement. In Florida, the program is run by the University of South Florida’s SafetyFlorida Consultation Program.

OSHA injury and illness records

Private employers in Florida fall under federal OSHA. Many have to keep a record of work-related injuries and illnesses. Here are the basics of OSHA’s recordkeeping rule. Check the rule itself for the details.

Who has to keep records

  • Size. If your whole company had 10 or fewer employees at all times during the last calendar year, you’re generally exempt from keeping the records, unless OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics tells you in writing to keep them.
  • Industry. Some lower-hazard industries are partially exempt. The list includes full-service restaurants and limited-service eating places, along with many office-type businesses. Construction is not on the list.

The three forms

  • OSHA 300: the log of work-related injuries and illnesses
  • OSHA 301: the incident report for each recordable case. Some employers use an equivalent form, such as an insurance claim form, if it has the same information.
  • OSHA 300A: the yearly summary

Key dates and deadlines

  • Record each recordable case on the 300 log and a 301 report within 7 calendar days of learning about it.
  • At year end, review the log, complete the 300A summary and have a company executive certify it.
  • Post the 300A where employee notices are usually posted from February 1 to April 30.
  • Keep the 300 log, 300A and 301 forms for 5 years after the end of the year they cover.
  • Some establishments must also submit their data to OSHA online each year by March 2. That includes those with 20 to 249 employees in certain industries, those with 250 or more employees and those with 100 or more employees in certain high-hazard industries.

Severe injuries: report to OSHA

Every employer covered by OSHA, including those exempt from keeping records, must report to OSHA:

  • A work-related death within 8 hours
  • A work-related in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours

You can report by phone to the nearest OSHA area office, through OSHA’s national phone line or online. This is separate from reporting the injury to your workers’ comp insurance company.

How OSHA records connect to insurance

OSHA records and workers’ comp claims aren’t the same thing. A case can be recordable for OSHA and still be a small medical-only claim, or the other way around. But some general contractors and owners ask for your injury rates when you bid, along with your mod. Clean, accurate records help you answer those questions.

Putting it together

  • Write a safety program around your real injuries, and train on it.
  • Have modified tasks ready before anyone gets hurt.
  • Report every injury to your insurance company within 7 days. Same day is better.
  • If you’re thinking about a drug-free workplace program, ask your insurance company what it needs and talk with an employment attorney first.
  • Keep OSHA records if the rule applies to you, and post the 300A each February.
  • Review your loss runs and mod worksheet with us before renewal.

Frequently asked questions

Will these programs lower my premium?

They can affect it, but there’s no promise. Fewer and smaller claims can help your mod over time, and Florida rating plans give consideration to qualifying drug-free workplace and safety programs. The amount depends on your insurance company’s approved rating plan and your own claims.

Do I need a drug-free workplace program to test employees?

No. But to qualify for the drug-free workplace discount and the related claim rules, your program has to follow Florida’s drug-free workplace law. Talk with an employment attorney about which approach fits your business.

Is light duty the same as paying someone to stay home?

No. Modified duty means real work that fits the doctor’s restrictions. Talk with your insurance company before making other arrangements.

We have 12 employees. Do we have to keep an OSHA 300 log?

Probably, unless your industry is on OSHA’s partially exempt list. The size exemption only applies if your whole company had 10 or fewer employees at all times last year.

Does an OSHA-recordable injury always become a workers’ comp claim?

They’re two separate systems with separate rules. Report every work injury to your insurance company, and decide whether it’s OSHA-recordable using OSHA’s criteria.

Sources

This is general educational information, not legal advice. McGriff-Williams Insurance does not provide legal services. Statute references are to the 2026 Florida Statutes, and OSHA references are to 29 CFR Part 1904 as posted by OSHA. Rules change, so check the current versions. No particular premium reduction is promised. Your actual mod and premium depend on your own payroll and loss history, your insurance company’s rates and rating plan, and your coverage.

Questions? A licensed member of our team can talk it through with you. McGriff-Williams Insurance is an independent insurance agency in Gainesville, in business since 1983 and licensed in Florida. We’re at 3501 W University Ave, Gainesville, FL 32607. Call (352) 371-7977, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where confidence grows.

Last updated October 31, 2026