Society Insurance Offers Six Tips for Workers' Compensation

Workers' compensation coverage has it's own unique set of qualities and characteristics that set it apart from other lines of insurance coverage.  Many carriers have been formed to specifically address only that line of coverage.  Society Insurance is one of those carriers, though they have now expanded into many other lines of insurance.

Their VP of Workers' Compensation Claims wrote a nice article on how to improve your experience with this line of coverage.  Even though insurance is purchased, employers should be taking steps to reduce accident frequency and severity.  This article gives some good advice for employers to consider.

Three of these tips are preventative measures designed to minimize accidents or reduce the severity.  Two of the tips involve post accident steps.  The last tip, light duty, is both.  It requires some pre planning but is then instituted on a case by case basis after the accident.

When I think about these steps, and why a company would want to help reduce accidents that the insurance company is going to pay for, it takes me back to my basic risk management strategies.  After we identify risks, we then decide how we treat each risk.

Our options include

1. Risk Aceptance
2. Risk Control
3. Risk Transfer
4. Risk Avoidance

With workers' compensation there is no avoidance.  If we have employees we have the risk.  Accepting risk means being okay with the potential loss happening and paying the cost of it.  We can only accept the risk if we qualify for self funding, or maybe use a deductible on a traditional policy.  Risk Transfer is obtained through the purchase of insurance, but the cost of that will be dependent on your risk control efforts.

Most employers know full well their loss experience directly impacts their experience modification and therefore their premium.  It is important to stress that there are efforts that can be made, and they take planning, in order to help control those losses.

Above we addressed workers' compensation as a whole.  The next step in the risk management strategy would be to identify specific causes of injury to employees, and apply the same four treatment options.  There are certainly risk behaviors that can be avoided by employees and those should be identified and prohibited.  From there, you continue to make decisions for your business about how to address each situation that could lead to injury.

Medical Costs Rise In Indiana

I found this twitter post and it reminded me of the good old days.  In the good old days, Indiana battled Virginia for the title of lowest cost of workers' compensation.  I started my career in Indiana and thought we had a pretty good system.

In recent years I have talked with carriers about bringing their program into Indiana.  In all cases I was met with resistance based on the low rates.  I countered that we had a low benefit system.  The Work Comp Wire article shows exactly the reasons they didn't want to come into the state.

With 8% growth per year, for five years, it is no wonder they were hesitant. Thankfully, the medical cost reforms of HEA 1320 will go into effect July 1st.  It would be nice to get back to the good old days, where Indiana can offer low rates to employers, and carriers can make money at those rates.

As an individual employer, you can help in controlling medical costs by identifying a company doctor. In Indiana the employer has the choice of sending the injured employee to any doctor they want.  The employee must pay their own costs to see their personal physician.

Healthcare and the costs associated continue to change and evolve.  Our workers' compensation system and practices need to do the same unless we are comfortable with increasing rates.

Leave The Chainsaw In His Neck

Did you see the CNN story about a man with a chainsaw in his neck?  While a lot of luck was involved in his good fortune, his fellow employees get some credit.  They removed the motor and left the blade in his neck, which kept the bleeding to a minimum until he was transported to the hospital.

I know a company here in Indiana that had a traumatic injury where the employee had his arm caught in a machine.  In that case, the other employees left him trapped until the EMT arrived.  The machine acted like a tourniquet on the trapped arm preventing blood loss while waiting for the medical professionals to arrive.

In both of these cases the decision of the fellow employees played a vital role in the immediate medical care of the injured employee.  Would that be the case at your workplace?  In a recent post we talked about the hidden costs of injury, specifically the distraction of fellow employees.  In the immediate aftermath of an injury, we need that distraction in the form of first aid.

Every company, including an office (read my office injury post) needs to have employees trained as first responders.  I have been through CPR training, and while it is a good course and important training to have, it doesn't completely prepare me to respond.  A committee should be formed to review possible injuries and how immediate responders should react.

Unfortunately, some of the more severe claims need to be considered.  While they are less likely, the impact on both cost and the severity of the health impact to the employee make it worth the time to review the "what ifs" of those claims.

If your safety committee is only looking at past accidents and asking how to prevent them, shift their focus to possible accidents and preparing for the unfortunate day they do happen.