Each month, Blomquist Hale Consulting, Resource Management's Employee Assistance Provider (EAP), provides us with a newsletter entitled "Life Assistance News – Wellness & Proactive Life Tips." We want to begin sharing this monthly newsletter with our clients and employees because we think that there are some great tips included in each month's edition.

The June 2011 newsletter has just been published and includes the following short, but informative, articles:

• Work Life Tips
• Men and Women and Communication
• Helping Your Teenager Find a Summer Job
• New Research shows Nutrition Has Effect on Bipolar Disorder
• How to Feel Empowered at Your Workplace
• Overcoming Fear of Doctors

Please click on this link to download the complete newsletter. We hope that you will share each month's newsletter with your employees.

As a reminder, RMI's Employee Assistance Program is available to employees and their family members who are currently enrolled on the Resource Management Employee Health Plan. The EAP can help in the following areas:

• Alcohol/drug abuse
• Marital matters
• Personal problems
• Mental health
• Financial issues
• Legal difficulties
• Stress/anxiety

Blomquist Hale can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When contacting Blomquist Hale, employees need to be sure to identify themselves as an employee of Resource Management and have their gold medical ID card handy. For those employees who have a health insurance plan outside of the RMI Medical Plan, they will want to check with their insurance carrier to find out what services are available to them. In Washington State, GroupHealth participants have access to some great resources on the GroupHealth website: www.ghc.org. Employees not enrolled on the RMI Medical Plan can access the EAP through Blomquist Hale for a fee. Please contact RMI's Benefits Department at (888) 764-0200 with any questions concerning the monthly EAP newsletter or the EAP service.

RMI has created a report within the RMI Payroll Login called "Annual Salary." The Annual Salary report will show you the following:

• Last Name
• First Name
• Hourly/Salary/Commission Status
• Hourly Rate
• Salary Per Pay Period
• Annual Salary

Please take a moment to run this report and make sure all employee wages are listed in our system correctly. To run this report, go to Reports/Custom Export. This report is designed to run for those that have access to view pay information for all employees within a company. If your web access is limited to certain employees within the company, you will not be able to run this custom report on-line. If you cannot run this report on-line but you'd still like to review this information, please contact your RMI Payroll Manager.

If an employee is injured, please complete an Employee Injury Report and submit it to RMI within twenty-four hours of the occurrence. Delays in reporting injuries can result in problems in filing a worker's compensation claim, increased costs on the claim, and possible delays in recovery. Please always submit an Employee Injury Report even if the employee does not initially seek medical treatment: having a report on file is important if they need to seek treatment at a later time. Be sure to indicate if the employee has missed any time from work as a result of their injury.

You may download the form from our website and send the completed Employee Injury Report to your RMI HR Representative.

With high school, college, and university students beginning summer vacation, some of those students may be looking for summer internship opportunities. If your company will be providing an internship opportunity, please consider the following advice from Michael Patrick O'Brien, Employment Attorney with Jones Waldo, in a Utah SHRM Legal-mail no. 2011-8:

"As the temperatures climb, it is time once again to think of such things as warm weather vacations, baseball and the risk of employing unpaid summer interns. Click here for a fact sheet from the United States Department of Labor (DOL) on how to manage this issue.

In a nutshell, interns will be considered employees who must be paid unless: (1) The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment; (2) The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern; (3) The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff; (4) The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded; (5) The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and (6) The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship."

For more information or questions about internships, please contact your RMI HR Representative.

Disclosure: This article is not intended to be legal advice. Receipt of this information does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Don't relax your defensive driving skills when you pull into a parking lot. A low speed accident in a parking lot can still cause death or serious injuries, not to mention plenty of property damage.

Parking lots are typically crowded with drivers and pedestrians moving in many directions and not paying much attention to the traffic around them. Some are unsure who has the right-of-way, most are thinking about something else, and everyone is trying to get the best parking spot. It is up to you to watch what is going on around you to avoid collisions. The following suggestions will help you safely use parking areas:

• To enter a parking lot, check traffic movement around you and wait for a clear space to make your turn. If you cross a sidewalk to enter the lot, watch for pedestrians.
• Choose the correct lane for your direction of travel. It may be difficult to tell if a lane is one-way or two-way, so watch for signs and pavement markings.
• Travel at the posted speed limit for the lot and adjust your speed downward for crowded conditions, poor visibility and winter conditions.
• Use your directional signal lights to indicate turns. Use hand or light signals when maneuvering into a space.
• There may be a system of color designations for different types of parking. For example, red may mean no stopping, standing or parking. Yellow may mean stopping only for loading and unloading. Green may indicate limited time parking.
• Park only in designated parking stalls appropriate for the size and type of your vehicle. When snow is piled up in winter, keep in mind parking stalls and lanes will be narrower than usual.
• If possible, pull through to the stall in front of you so you can depart without backing up.
• Do not block traffic lanes, fire hydrant or emergency vehicle areas.
• To reduce your chances of vehicle damage, center your vehicle between the lines in the parking stall. Do not overlap into a second space. Do not park at the end of aisles. Stay away from popular parking spots where vehicles will be fighting for position.
• Look both ways before opening your door to get out because another vehicle may be pulling into the empty spot beside you. Pedestrians must also look out for their own safety in parking lots and parking garages. Be aware all the time of vehicles that are moving or about to move.
• When leaving your vehicle, watch for turn signals and brake lights on vehicles. Stick to pedestrian traffic lanes and sidewalks whenever possible. Do not walk too closely to parked cars. Do not assume drivers see you, and do not expect them to stop for you.
• Slow down and pay attention as you maneuver your vehicle through a parking area.

For additional information about safe driving, please contact your RMI HR Representative.

Unexpected emergencies occur in workplaces every day in factories, plants, offices and warehouses, as well as construction sites and on the road. It could be a fire, fatal injury, flood, earthquake, shooting, tornado, chemical spill or another kind of crisis. It's important that companies have an emergency response plan to cover expected and unexpected disasters. For this plan to be effective, all employees must be trained in the roles they will play in an emergency.

WHAT'S THE DANGER
If you've never experienced an emergency in your workplace, you might find it hard to imagine such a thing could happen; however, every day in job settings just like yours, something goes seriously wrong. Whether your employees escape injury or fatality often depends on how well they are prepared for an emergency.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR WORKFORCE
Confusion and panic are often the first obstacles when an unplanned event presents a serious risk to life or limb. That's why an organized approach is the essential ingredient of an emergency response plan. Knowing what to do in case of an emergency can prevent panic and it can save lives. Here are four ways to prepare:

1. Possible Hazards. You need to know what can go wrong. Are hazardous chemicals stored or transported near your workplace? Is your workplace an essential service or a high-profile setting that could be targeted by terrorists? Are you located in a tornado zone or a natural floodplain?
2. Evacuation Procedures. Everyone must know how to get out of the building and reach safety. Right now, can you point out two exits from your work area? Do your employees know where everyone is expected to assemble after an evacuation of the building? This is an important aspect of the emergency procedure because if someone doesn't show up there, an emergency crew might have to risk injury looking for him or her.
3. Your Duties. Do you know what duties you're expected to perform in an emergency, such as shutting down equipment or checking for stragglers before you leave? Do you know how to call for help and who to call? Emergency phone numbers should be posted at each telephone in your workplace, along with your worksite's address and directions to your work area.
4. The alarm systems. Employees should also be familiar with the various alarm sounds and lights in your workplace. Alarm systems typically have different signals for fire and intruder emergencies. There may also be specific alarms related to hazardous equipment, chemicals, gases and other hazards.

Preparation is the best to plan for protecting your workforce in unexpected or worst case emergencies. For more information on emergency response plans, please contact your RMI HR Representative.