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Hot Topics
Safety Pays believes that its service should not strictly be limited
to providing the nation's most cost-effective and easy-to-use incentive
program available. Because ultimately, the goal we all seek is both
the total elimination of on-the-job accidents and injuries while keeping
loss control costs to a minimum, we make it our obligation to pass
on to our customers any information we believe will be helpful in
achieving these goals. Therefore, through our CUSTOMER NEWSLETTERS,
the CUSTOMER SERVICE STAFF, and our INTERNET WEBSITE, we make available
information and topics which will hopefully contribute to a company's
overall risk management efforts. A few of the current topics we are
addressing include:
12 Ways to Reduce Workers' Comp Claims
Ways to Address Property & Casualty
Issues
Preventing Back Injuries
Eliminating Post-Termination Claims
For other examples of the special topics which are being addressed
by Safety Pays, see Newsletter Samples #2 and #3 in the Customer Newsletter
section under Value Added Services.
12 Ways to Reduce Workers Comp
Recently, Safety Pays was contacted by a business management columnist
based in New York. His articles, which have appeared in hundreds of
trade journals nationwide, are designed to assist company owners and
corporate managers with helpful approaches to overcoming problems
common to every business. His interest in speaking with Saftey Pays
was to learn more about the use of incentives and why they are needed
as an integral part of any company's loss control efforts. The resulting
article, which has been published in over a dozen national trade magazines,
provides a number of very helpful ideas any company can use to beat
the high cost of workers' comp. It also provides a valuable list of
risk management resources to assist with these suggestions. The following
12 steps fall into two categories:
WORKING WITH YOUR BROKER
1) Pay premiums only on straight time
2) Reclassify your employees
3) Pay small claims yourself
4) Find and correct clerical errors
5) Shop for the best carrier
6) Join drug-testing programs
7) Self-insure or join an association
WORKING WITH YOUR EMPLOYEES
8) Institute A Safety Program
9) Use Incentives
10) Explain the problem to employees
11) Respond quickly to accidents
12) Plan transitional (light-duty) work positions
Because workers' comp expense ranks second only to payroll on many
companies' balance sheets, it only makes sense to closely examine
this list to see what cost reduction steps you may have overlooked.
To not do so could be more expensive than you might think. To illustrate,
in the 1980's when the designer of Safety Pays joined a large west
coast seafood distributor as its Executive Vice President, he discovered
a number of employees who had moved out of operations and into administration
had never been reclassified. Because operations had a workers' comp
rate classification of $20 per $100 in payroll as opposed to $1 per
$100 for administration, the company had been overpaying its insurance
carrier literally tens of thousands of dollars. So it pays to make
sure all the bases are covered. Call us at (800)942-1022 or provide
your name and address in the "Free Video" section of our
web site, and we'll send you a copy of the complete article.
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Addressing Property & Casualty Issues
Prior to implementing Safety Pays, most of the company owners and
managers we work with generally considered workers' compensation to
be their highest insurance cost. But as Safety Pays succeeded in substantially
reducing, if not eliminating, on-the-job injuries, they began focusing
on other risk dollars they could control, especially those associated
with liability. Working with these customers, it didn't take us long
to adapt Safety Pays incentives to target not just on-the-job injuries,
but any type of accident which resulted in a loss. After all, our
motivational strategy is designed to increase worker safety awareness
and, it goes without saying, this should apply to everything they
do.
Without a doubt, one of the greatest liability expenses our customers
face is the cost of insuring company vehicles. All of us know what
happens to our auto premium any time we're involved in an accident,
or even when we get a ticket. So it's not hard to imagine the enormous
burden any company bears when it comes to covering their trucks; especially
those with an on-going accident problem. Thus, finding a way to motivate
long-haulers, routemen and delivery people to drive with care is critical
to keeping fleet liability costs in line. To assist companies with
this, Safety Pays offers a special "driver" incentive program
which has been customized to address vehicle accidents which result
in either injury or property damage.
We make a point to target "at fault" accidents since we
don't want to penalize someone who is clearly without blame. We therefore
define a non-preventable accident as one which occurs in spite of
the drivers 100% effort to drive safely, keeping in mind limitations
of any adverse conditions and making sure the driver reacted appropriately
to the incorrect actions of others. This would also include situations
where a vehicle is damaged while legally parked; damage resulting
from following the directions of a law enforcement officer; or damage
resulting from unavoidably striking an animal.
Beyond targeting vehicle accidents, this unique design incorporates
a series of bonuses and penalties for compliance with DOT requirements
and other fleet policies including:
1. Failure to report any equipment failure or damage
2. Failure to follow maintenance checklist procedures
3. A moving violation while driving a company vehicle
4. Failure to report an accident
5. Failure to obey a traffic signal -- whether ticketed or observed
6. Scratches ("fender bender" damage) to vehicle exceeding
$100
7. Failure to fasten a seat belt
Obviously, part of a successful driver incentive program is to not
only motivate a company's drivers to avoid accidents, but also to
raise their safety awareness to such a degree that they are able to
maintain "clean" driving records . Moreover, because there
are tremendous costs associated with drivers failing to follow proper
vehicle maintenance procedures, an integral part of the Safety Pays
vehicle program is to reward those drivers who adhere to maintenance
guidelines and penalize those who don't.
Overall then, Safety Pays has put together a specialized incentive
program which can reduce vehicle accidents just as effectively as
it reduces at-work injuries. And to the same extent that we've developed
a fleet liability program, we've also developed other Safety Pays
liability applications unique to a variety of industries. For example,
we have in place a special cargo claims incentive program for several
of our moving and storage clients. A similar program design is available
for companies wanting to reduce inventory damage. The bottom line
is that regardless of what your particular liability concern may be,
we can put together an incentive program which will make a BIG difference!
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Back Disorders
As most of us know, back injuries are the most prevalent of all workplace
injuries. They're also the most enigmatic since their exact causes
and effects often remain a medical mystery. Chronic back disorders
can develop gradually as a result of repetitive actions over time.
Because of the slow onset and insidious character of these internal
injuries, the condition often may be ignored until it becomes "chronic".
Acute back injuries usually are the immediate result of improper lifting
or too heavy loading. Injuries can arise in muscles, tendons, bursa
and ligaments, either singly or in combination. Every year, an estimated
10 million employees in the United States encounter back pain that
impairs their job performance. Approximately 1 million of these workers
file workers' compensation claims with an estimated impact of $10
billion in comp payments alone. In addition, there's the cost of lost
productivity due to the injured employee's absence, not to mention
the cost of finding and training a replacement.
Obviously then, those companies which formulate an effective injury
prevention strategy to reduce, if not eliminate, work-related back
trauma will minimize such costs. There are many strategies including
the redesign of equipment and jobs, as well as worker training, conditioning,
consulting and screening programs. Other injury prevention and/or
control methods include rotating employees, providing regular periodic
breaks, putting additional employees on the job and assigning light
work. The most frequently used measures cited by experts include:
SAFE LIFTING PRACTICES: Such practices include analyzing the size,
shape and weight of the load before lifting; placing feet about a
foot apart and standing close to the object for balance; bending the
knees to a comfortable position; lifting the object into a carrying
position to avoid unnecessary twisting movements; turning the body
by changing foot positions; and lowering the load by bending the knees.
SUPPORT DEVICES: Personal protective equipment for back injury prevention
includes back support belts as well as cushioning shoe insoles. In
addition, special furniture is available for proper sitting.
IMPROVING JOB DESIGN: Many ergonomists believe that many elements
of a job -- tool and furniture design, size and weight of objects
handled, not to mention work scheduling -- can be adjusted to minimize
risk of back injuries. Work objects should be easy to handle and at
least waist high to avoid needless bending and twisting. Work flow
should be monitored to avoid rushed work, jerky and repetitive motions,
and standing for long periods of time. Effective job design depends
on careful evaluation of the entire work process, the employees performing
the work, and detailed recommendations for improvement.
SCREENING PROGRAMS: While screening to determine which workers are
best able to perform high-risk jobs {without injury} can be an effective
way to reduce back problems in the workplace, special attention must
be given to the selection process and the use of the results, both
for program effectiveness as well as for legal considerations. Common
screening methods include strength/flexibilty testing, pre-employment
physicals, and spinal x-rays.
Finally, don't forget the value incentives can be to employee involvement
in these strategies. The Safety Pays program provides not only group
and individual incentives to secure the workforces' active commitment
to these techniques, but it also assures employee compliance through
the utilization of game "safety violations". For those customers
interested in learning more about back injury prevention, give your
insurance carrier's loss control department a call, or we'll be more
than happy to refer you to a risk manager who specializes in this
area.
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Post-Termination Claims
There is probably nothing more aggravating for any company than seeing
a workers' comp claim suddenly filed by an employee who no longer
works there. Invariably the claimant is an individual who was either
terminated for cause or subject to a recent lay-off. Moreover this
type of claim is almost always something along the lines of a back
problem; the type of injury which is difficult if not impossible to
dispute. In fact, in most states, all a workers' comp claimant needs
is just one doctor verifying a medical problem exists. And this would
hardly seem difficult given the rampant collusion that exists between
unscrupulous workers' comp attorneys and medical mills catering to
these types of claims. What's more, because post-termination claims
are almost always litigated, the cash reserve placed on such a claim
by the insurance carrier is astronomical. And those high reserves
in turn will be linked directly to future premium increases.
Given the situation, even the safest, most employee-oriented companies
feel helpless when it comes to post-termination claims. Because the
former employee is no longer associated with his employer, loyalty
to the company is all but nonexistent. Often in fact, the former employee
has some level of resentment for no longer having a job and so is
eager to get back at the company. Most of the time, management feels
its only recourse is to settle the claim as cheaply as possible. The
danger, of course, is this sends a signal to other employees that
filing a workers' comp claim after leaving the company is an easy
way to get some extra money. But what else can the company do? Since
the former employee is no longer a part of the organization, there
would seem to be no way to motivate such a person from filing what
is otherwise a phony claim.
Fortunately, we have an effective and proven set of solutions for
this dilemma. At the company where I developed Safety Pays, a couple
of "employee accountability" elements were incorporated
into the program. We found that an employee who is aware that he will
remain accountable, not just to the company but to his former co-workers,
for his actions after departing, will think twice before improperly
taking advantage of the system. While in the past, we experienced
as many as a dozen such claims a year, there have been absolutely
no post-termination claims since 1990! And other companies using these
program strategies have found the same level of success. Marki Leonard,
President of Crystolon Inc. recently wrote:
"We've always had a problem with post-termination claims which
have occurred subsequent to a lay-off. Our industry is cyclical and
we can always anticipate sales to decrase during the end of the year.
This year we were faced with the normal lay-offs in November but because
of your program...we did not receive a single post-termination claim
as a result of a decrease in our labor."
So if your company is not already utilizing the Safety Pays techniques
we now offer to avoid post-termination claims, give us a call and
we'll explain how you can easily integrate several steps into your
program which can dramatically impact what was before an unsolvable
problem.
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