WorkCompEdge Blog

Training Videos Help Address OSHA's Top 10 Safety Violations for 2009

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:30:20 PST

by Kory Wells, WorkCompEdge Blog Editor

As reported on several news and blog sites in the past several days, OSHA has recently released its preliminary list of top safety violations for 2009. As stated in the full release on PRNewsWire, which came from the National Safety Council,

The number of top 10 violations has increased almost 30 percent over the same time period in 2008.

"We appreciate our colleagues at OSHA presenting their new violation data to such a receptive audience," said National Safety Council President and CEO Janet Froetscher. "The sheer number of violations gives us new resolve in raising awareness about the importance of having sound safety procedures."

"So what's up with the 2009 spike in OSHA safety violations? Have layoffs, emotional states, and other fallout from the financial crisis stressed workers to the point of making bad safety decisions? Or have the OSHA inspectors just been especially diligent this year?"

So what's up with this spike in violations? And will this correlate to an actual increase in workers comp claims in 2009, something we suggested might happen when the global financial meltdown occurred? We're not saying we told you so...we're wondering along with you what's going on. Have layoffs, emotional states, and other fallout from the financial crisis stressed workers to the point of making bad safety decisions? Or have the OSHA inspectors just been especially diligent this year? Regardless of the cause, as Ms. Froestscher points out, clearly there's a need to mitigate this trend.

So, this is a good time to remind you of the WorkCompEdge Safety Training Center, which allows each of a company's employees to take web-based video courses on desired subjects, answer a quiz at the end of each course, and, if he or she earns a passing grade, receive a certificate of completion for that subject. With over 40 videos on a diverse set of safety topics, including defensive driving, disaster planning, hazard communication, noise and hearing protection, recordkeeping, and more, it's sure to have something for everyone - and addresses much of the top 10 list of violations. Here's the list, along with the related video(s):

1. Scaffolding - 9,093 violations
Scaffold accidents most often result from the planking or support giving way, or from the employee slipping or being struck by a falling object.

See the WorkCompEdge Safety Training Center video Scaffolds in Construction

2. Fall Protection - 6,771 violations
Any time a worker is at a height of four feet or more, the worker is at risk and needs to be protected. Fall protection must be provided at four feet in general industry, five feet in maritime, and six feet in construction.

See the WorkCompEdge Safety Training Center video Fall Protection in Construction

3. Hazard Communication - 6,378 violations
Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import and prepare labels and safety data sheets to convey the hazard information to their downstream customers.

See the WorkCompEdge Safety Training Center video Hazard Communication. Note that there's a separate Hazard Communication for Healthcare Workers video.

4. Respiratory Protection - 3,803 violations
Respirators protect workers against insufficient oxygen environments, harmful dusts, fogs, smokes, mists, gases, vapors, and sprays. These hazards may cause cancer, lung impairment, other diseases, or death.

See the WorkCompEdge Safety Training Center video Respiratory Protection

5. Lockout-Tag out - 3,321 violations
“Lockout-Tag out” refers to specific practices and procedures to safeguard employees from the unexpected start up of machinery and equipment, or the release of hazardous energy during service or maintenance activities.

See the WorkCompEdge Safety Training Center video Lockout-Tagout - Authorized Employee

6. Electrical (Wiring) - 3,079 violations
Working with electricity can be dangerous. Engineers, electricians, and other professionals work with electricity directly, including working on overhead lines, cable harnesses, and circuit assemblies. Others, such as office workers and sales people, work with electricity indirectly and may also be exposed to electrical hazards.

This violation is in part addressed in the WorkCompEdge Safety Training Center videos Electrical Safety - Unqualified Worker and Arc Flash Safety

7. Ladders - 3,072 violations
Occupational fatalities caused by falls remain a serious public health problem. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) lists falls as one of the leading causes of traumatic occupational death, accounting for 8% of all occupational fatalities from trauma.

See the WorkCompEdge Safety Training Center videos Slips, Trips, and Falls and Fall Protection in Construction

8. Powered Industrial Trucks - 2,993 violations
Each year, tens of thousands of injuries related to powered industrial trucks (PIT), or forklifts, occur in U.S. workplaces. Many employees are injured when lift trucks are inadvertently driven off loading docks, lifts fall between docks and an unsecured trailer, they are struck by a lift truck, or when they fall while on elevated pallets and tines.

See the WorkCompEdge Safety Training Center videos Forklift Operator Safety and Introduction to Rough Terrain Forklift Safety

9. Electrical (general) - 2,556 violations
See #6.

10. Machine Guarding - 2,364 violations
Any machine part, function, or process that may cause injury must be safeguarded. When the operation of a machine or accidental contact injures the operator or others in the vicinity, the hazards must be eliminated or controlled.

See the WorkCompEdge Safety Training Center video Machine Guarding

Registration for the Safety Training Center is located in the Download and Online Tools section of the "Four" Safety module of WorkCompEdge. There are several other tools there that may also help improve your company's safety culture and record, including a safety commitment statement, a safety culture survey, a safety measurement tool, and more.

Let us know what you think about the increase in violations this year, and other ideas for addressing this issue.

Comparing Two Workers Compensation Experience Mods

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:46:28 PDT

by Kory Wells, WorkCompEdge Blog Editor

Many of our readers have found themselves, at one time or another, in the unfortunate position of trying to explain why the workers compensation mod went up from the previous experience period. The possible culprits are numerous and have a lot of moving parts: changes in

expected loss rates,
payroll,
overall loss experience, or
the mix of loss types (frequency, severity and/or medical-only losses)

all contribute to a change in the mod. Of course, a change can be positive or negative depending on all the moving parts. Mod increases will occur, even if loss levels remain the same, if expected loss rates fall. Business owners don't expect to pay more in premium when their business is down, but it's definitely possible. So how do you get a handle on what exactly is influencing a mod - and premium costs - from one experience period to the next?

We know you already use ModMaster to calculate and analyze the experience mod calculation (What? You don't? Learn more about ModMaster now), so in the past you would've undoubtedly used one of our many reports - perhaps the Loss Analysis by Policy Period, for example - to help see what's happened with the mod from one rating effective date to the next. Still, that involved selecting the desired mod file and requesting the desired reports, then opening up the mod file for the previous experience period and requesting those reports. So much paper and time and looking back and forth from one page to another.

But now (drum roll, please), that's all changed. The new Mod Comparison Report, available in ModMaster update 09.08 and later, produces a two-page report that shows critical information for both the current mod file and a second mod file of your choice. Here's how to use this report for best results:

1. First, let's say that you have the 2009 mod for Favorite Client already loaded into ModMaster. You're ready to put in data for the 2010 mod. Start by doing a File Utilities/Rollover of the Favorite Client 2009 to a new name, let's say Favorite Client 2010. This deletes the oldest policy year of data (in this case the 2005 policy year) and "scoots" all the other data over on the payroll and small loss pages so that the newest column is empty and awaits your data input.

2. Input payroll and loss data (either estimates or actuals, if you have the data) for the newest policy data into the Favorite Client 2010 file. This would be the 2008 policy period for our example. Also make any other adjustments to existing payroll or losses to match the bureau worksheet.

3. Calculate the mod. If there are no errors, then proceed to the Reports Menu.

4. You'll see that the Mod Comparison report is now a choice on the Reports Menu. When you click on this report and then click "Print Preview" or "Print Now," the following dialog appears:

5. Now, here's the important part: when you pull down the list of mod files, be sure to select the mod file for the same risk but only one year earlier. While ModMaster will attempt to compare any two files you indicate, this report is designed to compare mods that differ by one and only one experience period. If you try to compare other mods, unpredictable results may occur, as we say in the software business.

6. After you select the mod file to compare to, click the "Run Comparison" button, and something like the following will print or preview. (Click the report image to view the report as a pdf.)

At a glance, you can see how much the mod changed from year to year, but just as importantly, how much the minimum and controllable mods have changed. You can also see what's happened with the expected and actual losses: whether they've gone up or down, and what's happening with actual to expected ratios.

In this case, we can see that the mod went up, not only because expected losses were down but also because the actual losses which dropped out of the calculation were less than the actual losses which were added for the 2008 policy period.

The new Mod Comparison report is based on a user suggestion we greatly appreciate. We've already had a new suggestion from a different user that we should also list payroll totals, not just expected losses. Give the report a try today and let us know what you think!

Take Our Collateral Survey

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:44:33 PDT

by Kory Wells, WorkCompEdge Blog Editor

As a follow-up to Michelle Bradley's recent blog article "A 2009 Collateral Perspective," we've decided to conduct a survey of professionals currently involved in collateral issues related to self-funded workers compensation liabilities.

We invite insurance brokers, risk management consultants, and risk management staff of self-funded concerns to participate in the survey, which will be open through the month of October.

The goal of the survey is to assess, on a national basis, trends in collateral negotiations, exposures, reviews, arbitration, litigation, and other factors that SIGMA has seen with its own clients this year.

Our privacy policy: At the end of the survey, we ask you to register if you'd like us to share survey results directly with you. We'll also be posting at least some of the survey results on this blog and possibly in other venues. If you supply your email address, we'll also send you an invitation to join our newsletter list. We will NOT be sending any other emails or contacting you further, nor will we share your personal data with anyone else. Also, no personally identifiable information will be shared in any survey results we publish.

The survey takes about 5 minutes to complete, and (enticement alert) you get not one, but two, special free offers at the end. Take our collateral survey now.

We appreciate your participation!

Improve Your Cash Flow with Pay-As-You-Go Workers Comp

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:11:33 PDT

by Frank Pennachio, WorkCompEdge Regular Contributor

Workers compensation policy premiums are usually based on estimated payrolls. The final earned premium is determined during a premium audit after the policy expires and is based on actual payroll. When payroll is higher than estimated, the employer owes additional premium, and when payrolls are lower than estimated, money is returned. In current economic conditions, many employers’ payrolls are declining, so an employer may be paying higher than necessary monthly installments due to an overstated payroll estimate at the inception of the policy.

In these challenging times where cash flow is king, employers might want to consider another work comp insurance option known as Pay-As-You-Go.

View the full blog at http://workcompedgeblog.com/

A 2009 Collateral Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:44:50 PDT

by Michelle Bradley, SIGMA Actuarial Consulting Group

In October 2006, Lloyd Kelly and I authored a paper titled “Reducing Collateral Uncertainty: A Primer for Negotiations” that was published in Risk Financing Perspectives for the International Risk Management Institute. We expanded the paper in 2008 and published it as “Reducing Collateral Uncertainty” for the Institute’s Risk Financing Manual.

For the purposes of this article, collateral is one type of security that can be provided to a fronting carrier or regulator by a self-insured entity for the credit risk assumed by the carrier or regulator.

View the full blog at http://workcompedgeblog.com/

New WorkCompEdge Licensing Options

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:40:03 PDT

As you may recall, we launched WorkCompEdge last fall - just in time for the economic crisis. Since the downturn affected many sectors, including insurance and risk management, we've been especially grateful to our WorkCompEdge founding members and to all of our ModMaster customers who evaluated WorkCompEdge. Time and again, we've heard similar feedback, however, and that's led us to make some changes to our WorkCompEdge licensing options we think you'll be excited about. Here are the highlights:

Our new Agency Plus license represents some cool savings over previous WorkCompEdge license options for agencies and similar providers. Thanks for giving us your feedback!

IF YOU ARE AN AGENCY, BROKERAGE, INSURANCE COMPANY, CONSULTANT, PEO, TRUST, ETC.

For only $1,000 per year, the new and very affordable WorkCompEdge Agency Plus license offers agencies and similar providers the opportunity to access WorkCompEdge for internal training and coordination of service activities in 15 different areas that affect work comp costs, including:

* hiring practices,
* safety,
* the premium audit,
* mod verification and analysis,
* medical clinic relationships,
* return-to-work,
* and much more.

As you probably know if you're a regular reader of this blog, site access includes to-the-point educational modules PLUS strategy and tools to help you evaluate a company's entire work comp picture.

For an additional $500 per client, you can add the option for your clients to have direct access to WorkCompEdge and the WorkCompEdge Safety Training Center.

The Agency Plus license can be purchased as an add-on to your annual ModMaster subscription, or you can contact us for a prorated license until the time your subscription is due for renewal.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN AN AREA "EXCLUSIVE" LICENSE TO WORKCOMPEDGE

For agencies who are eager for exclusive access to the benefits and competitive advantage of WorkCompEdge, we've enhanced the Member Agency Exclusive license to include custom marketing support, flexible employer seats, unique educational opportunities, and more. A number of our founding members have already converted to this license, which is priced at $850 per month. Some markets - including Albuquerque, Atlanta, Buffalo, Shreveport, and parts of Maryland, Minnesota, and Wisconsin - are already closed.

IF YOU'RE AN EMPLOYER

WorkCompEdge is still available through your favorite agent, broker or consultant on terms they specify. It's also available directly from us for $500 per year.

FAQs

Q: If someone else gets an exclusive license in my area, does that affect my ModMaster subscription?

A: Absolutely not. It only affects your ability to be a registered WorkCompEdge user. You will still be an important ModMaster client, participate in our forthcoming WorkCompWisdom program, and glean valuable knowledge from our blog and other resources.

Q. Exactly what are the fifteen modules in WorkCompEdge?

A. A graphic showing all of the modules is at http://www.specificsoftware.com/wce/videointros.htm. Click on any of the module titles to see the short video introduction to that module. At $1,000, we believe you'll get your money's worth by using even ONE of these modules!

MORE DETAILS

Learn more about the new WorkCompEdge license options at http://www.specificsoftware.com/wce/pricing.htm

If WorkCompEdge interests you, act soon! To order or inquire further, contact Helene Pellett at 800-929-4052 x 205 or helene_pellett@specificsoftware.com

LinkedIn: Your Objections, and Why You Should Get Over Them Now

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:22:49 PDT

We’re grateful that several hundred of our readers and clients took the time to participate in our recent survey “How Do You Stay Informed and Connected?” We’re still compiling the results, but for today, I want to focus on one trend that was glaringly evident: professionals in the insurance industry (which made up 98% of our respondents) are not taking advantage of social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter. Now, admittedly, Twitter is still pretty new, so it may be understandable that more folks in the insurance industry haven’t yet experimented with it. But LinkedIn? A whopping 85% of our respondents say they’re not using LinkedIn. While we understand that social media may not be for everyone, at least exploring the possibilities - particularly if you are in business-to-business (b2b) sales or service - should be an objective for every business, period. So let's talk more about LinkedIn today.
Here are some common reasons our respondents said they’re not using LinkedIn

Connect with our CEO Tim Coomer or blog editor Kory Wells on LinkedIn.

View the full blog at http://www.workcompedge.com/blog/blog.cfm

http://www.WorkCompEdge.com

http://www.SpecificSoftware.com

Take Our Survey: How Do You Stay Informed and Connected?

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:17:30 PDT

Several years ago, Specific Software conducted a survey about favorite online sources of insurance and risk management news and information. The survey garnered some media attention in the industry and was useful to us internally as we developed marketing and publicity plans.

You can now follow WorkCompEdge on Twitter!

But that was a few years ago! With the growth of both content and "2.0" applications on the web, we've decided it's time to resurrect the survey, with a few new questions geared towards not just information, but how you stay connected with colleagues and clients.

Whether you're an insurance or risk management professional or a business insurance consumer, please take our survey "How Do You Stay Informed and Connected?" now.

While I'm on the topic of staying connected, this is a good time to mention that you can now follow WorkCompEdge on Twitter. I'm trying to tweet at least once a day with some sort of information about workers comp, general insurance and risk management, general business or technology news, or news about Specific Software and SIGMA Actuarial that I hope others may find interesting.

You can use Twitter for free simply through the Twitter website - using your cell phone is optional. I've found that starting just by using the web interface is a good, low-impact way to try it out.

In general, the insurance industry doesn't seem to be embracing social media as quickly as other industries. But numerous activities, such as the recent AMS Users' Group Social Media Road Trip, Insurance Journal's promotion of social media webinars, and consultant Rick Morgan's blog entry "Insurance Agents Don't Market," suggests that we are on the cusp of change when it comes to how we connect with each other and our clients.

We'd love to hear your thoughts in our survey - and in the blog comments!

How Will New NCCI Ratemaking Rules Affect Workers Comp Mods?

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:06:06 PDT

It's a bit confusing to understand the likely impact of the new NCCI ratemaking change. But businesses, such as contractors, which are required to have a mod of 1.0 (or other value) in order to bid on jobs will want to be especially careful to anticipate this change and minimize any losses that do occur through good injury management and claims management efforts.

View the full blog at http://www.workcompedge.com/blog/blog.cfm

http://www.WorkCompEdge.com
http://www.SpecificSoftware.com

Looking for Trouble: Finding and Correcting Mod Errors

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:59:59 PDT

View the full blog at http://www.workcompedge.com/blog/blog.cfm

Today's blog will be most useful to insurance agencies who are assisting their clients with experience mod verification and analysis, but the main point is important to agents and employers alike: sometimes errors in the mod occur, and these errors can cost the employer money through increased premium costs. Therefore it's important to go "looking for trouble:" to know how to identify such errors, and how to get them corrected.

Both data reporting and, less frequently, calculation errors can impact the mod - and the amount of premium that an employer must pay. Checking for and questioning such errors can save an employer money!

http://www.WorkCompEdge.com
http://www.SpecificSoftware.com

Why Invest in Safety?

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:07:42 PDT

Listen/subscribe to this blog on the WorkCompEdge podcast feed

Editor's note: I recently joined the Small Business Online Community sponsored by Bank of America. Among several interesting articles there, I was thrilled to find a safety guy talking about the workers comp mod. Robert F. Tilley, Jr. is the CEO of SafeTek USA, a company that provides knowledge, supplies, products and services to North American organizations ranging from small residential builders to the US Navy. SafeTek's vision - "to help create safe and healthful workplaces, where quality is higher, mistakes are fewer, and costs are lower" - is quite similar to the mission of WorkCompEdge, and Robert's article certainly has some points that should sound familiar to our regular readers. But he also brings the perspective of a safety professional and the business owners his company serves - along with some interesting statistics. The following article may give your company's management, or your clients, some new food for thought.

If you are not motivated to have an effective safety program by either OSHA, the threat of fines or care for your employees, one thing that will motivate you is the actual cost of a workplace injury to your business.

At a recent speaking engagement for business owners addressing how to implement effective safety programs, I had a question from a member of the audience-we'll call him Bob. Bob asked why he should invest in safety. He told me he has insurance if an employee gets injured, he has a safety manual, OSHA has never bothered him and the only employee injuries so far have been minor. Why should he do more if what he's doing now is working?

"Well Bob," I said. "How much will it cost your business if an employee falls from a roof, and how much have those ‘minor injuries' cost you so far?" Needless to say, Bob, and everyone else in the audience that day, were quite surprised as we revealed the actual costs of workplace injuries to their businesses. Unfortunately, the only thing most employers are aware of is that they have to spend money to have an effective safety program, and that's where the train stops. Successful companies, however, maintain very effective safety programs and pay the expenses involved even when business is slow and times are tough.

Most employers maintain some semblance of a safety program at their company, either because they care about their employees or because they're required to by OSHA. OSHA violations can range anywhere from just a warning, to $70,000 per incident with recent proposed legislation asking to raise fines even further into the range of EPA violations. I would like to think that all employers care about their employees, but often profits come first. What does that mean? It means one thing is certain-all employers care about their company because of the profits derived from it. A for-profit business is created to make a profit 99.9 percent of the time. You carry insurance to protect yourself and your business, you plan ahead to avoid unforeseen costs and cut expenses where they are not needed to ensure you are as competitive as possible while maintaining a good profit margin.

Unfortunately, however, the cost of effective safety measures are all too often deemed an "unnecessary" expense. When business is slow, what is the first expense to get to get cut? You already know: the safety program. Normally the responsibility gets transferred to the HR manager, and training and other expenses are cut, which could really lead to disaster, especially for the new employee you just hired. If you are not motivated to have an effective safety program by either OSHA, the threat of fines or care for your employees, one thing that will motivate you is the actual cost of a workplace injury to your business. So how much does it cost?

Statistics and Costs

Every year in the United States there are over 6,000 workplace fatalities. The greatest majority of these fatalities are men ages twenty-five to forty-four, of which there are approximately 30 million in the United States. That means, using this example, just over 1 in every 6,000 men aged twenty-five to forty-four dies at work each year.

Even with these staggering numbers, this does not include deaths related to occupational illness. Another 50,000 workers die every year in the United States from occupational illnesses due to exposure to a workplace hazard. These occupational illnesses include asbestosis caused by exposure to asbestos, silicosis which can be acquired from concrete cutting operations (and any work involving exposure to crystalline silica dust if not using proper respiratory protection) black lung disease for miners, or brown lung disease for textile workers, etc. (Just an FYI, though not usually fatal, poison ivy is an OSHA reportable illness.)

In addition to deaths, there are over 6 million U.S. workers that suffer non-fatal workplace injuries with an estimated cost to U.S. businesses of around $128 billion annually. A person's life or health is obviously priceless, but incidents and injuries carry a tangible cost to business, one quarter of each dollar of pre-tax corporate profits, to be exact.

The actual cost of a workplace accident or illness to your organization depends on a few different things. Costs depend on how many employees you have, how many incidents you have, the type of work you do and the value of your materials, products or services. For companies that may be experiencing a tough time financially, any losses are serious. Even for a large employer, losing an employee on a job who is skilled in their trade, for even a few days, can have a much larger impact on profits than the actual direct costs might suggest. With smaller businesses this would be magnified because they often have very little buffer when it comes to accidental losses. A serious incident could not just make it difficult to get by, but put them out of business. In fact, according to a recent study, 60 percent of companies experiencing a serious disruption that lasted more than nine days went out of business.

"But Wait, What about My Insurance? Isn't My Business Covered?"

Insurance only covers what is detailed in the policy, and it usually only pays for serious injuries or damage. Workers' compensation does cover all employee injuries, but you will end up paying for the cost of that injury and more-we'll get into that later. Some of the costs that are not covered by insurance include lost time, sick pay, damage or loss of product and materials, lost time and failure to keep schedule, extra wages for overtime and temporary labor, investigation time and expenses, OSHA fines, loss of contracts, legal costs and loss of company reputation, to name a few.

The uninsured costs differ between businesses, the type of work being done, insurance and type injury. No matter how you look at it, though, the uninsured costs are many times greater than the insured costs. If your business is a ship, costs are like an iceberg. Most of the costs are hidden beneath the surface and are not immediately visible, but you feel it when you run into them. Studies have shown that the insurance premium to uninsured cost ratios for the construction industry generally range from 1:9 to 1:41. That means that for every $1 paid in insurance premiums, the company has to pay an additional $9 to $41 themselves for losses arising from incidents. Another way to look at it-uninsurable expenses often run up to as much as 4 times more than the actual costs covered by insurance.

Workers' Compensation Insurance

It may surprise even the financially savvy how much you can save on your insurance by being safe. A poor claims record will affect the amount a company pays in insurance premiums. Depending on the number of incidents a company may have, insurance premiums can increase, and coverage may even be cancelled. Insurance companies set a base rate for a particular industry, and the number of incidents you have directly affects how much you pay as your base rate. This is called an experience modifier. Your workers' compensation insurance premium is determined by this easy formula:

Payroll x Workers' Compensation Rate x Experience Modifier

Workers' compensation rates reflect the average claim cost per $100 of payroll. Workers' compensation rates can take a huge chunk out of your profits if you are not safe. The average worker's compensation rate for construction is 7 to 8 percent of your payroll, but can be lower for executives, around 2 percent, or 25 percent for more high risk activities. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, construction claims comprise around 21 percent of the total claims for all industries. This is quite a large number considering that only 5.7 percent of the U.S. workforce is in the construction industry.

An experience modifier of 1.0 means your company's workers' compensation claims experience is no better or worse than your industry. If you have a lower experience modifier, you pay less.

For example, if your business had a 1.47 experience modifier because of increased incidents and injuries and paid $85,958 in premiums, but reorganized, got serious about safety, and got down to a .82 experience modifier, your business would only be paying $47,950. That is almost a $40,000 savings. That $40,000 with a 9 percent profit margin equates to approximately $445,000 in new business each year!

There are other savings to be had. Many businesses find that by improving workplace safety and health standards, their investments are repaid by improved productivity and efficiency, less employee absence, good company reputation, less turnover and improved quality of work. Tackling the causes of incidents and injuries is not unnecessary overhead, but an investment in your business. An investment in an effective health and safety program is as valuable as any other for your company. The American Society of Safety Engineers found in a recent study that for every dollar spent on a quality safety and health program, businesses saved $8. That's a healthy return on investment.

An investment into an effective safety and health program for your business is just that, an investment. Not only is it unethical to risk an employee's health or safety to save money and cut costs, but in reality, it does just the opposite. It creates unnecessary risks, costs and headaches. A safe company with limited incidents and injuries will not only have an increased profit margin, but will be more appealing to potential clients and good employees. Successful businesses plan for the future, for growth and for potential risks. Safety should play a key role in your strategy and is the reason long-term successful businesses invest so much into their safety and health programs, because as I am sure some of you know, gambling isn't a good long term, or short term investment. Play it safe with safety. You may skimp by for a while, but the house always wins.

Listen/subscribe to this blog on the WorkCompEdge podcast feed

http://www.WorkCompEdge.com
http://www.SpecificSoftware.com

Member Agencies Talk About WorkCompEdge

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:35:32 PDT

Maybe you're in an agency that's considering WorkCompEdge. Or maybe you're already an agency member. Integrating WorkCompEdge into your sales and service processes is admittedly a task that takes some thought and - that dreaded word - change. WorkCompEdge member Garry Watts of the Winona Agency acknowledges it isn't easy. "I'm a producer," he says, "and we don't think 'process-oriented.'" But, in a new audio interview available here on our corporate website and as a podcast feed, Garry also goes on to offer encouragement for - and his experience with - implementing WorkCompEdge.

Today's blog marks the first time we've published the blog as a podcast. Would you like all WorkCompEdge blog entries delivered as a podcast? Let us know!

"WorkCompEdge seemed to be a missing link for us," he says. "We think the return on investment is very high."

WorkCompEdge contributor Frank Pennachio, another agency owner and work comp trainer, also lends his thoughts on how WorkCompEdge helps agents lead and engage employers and how various work comp training programs integrate with WorkCompEdge.

(For our Member Agencies, Frank and Garry will be continuing this discussion in more depth in a web-enabled roundtable discussion in July - watch your inbox for more details.)

Thanks to Jack Burke, president of Sound Marketing and host of the popular insurance programs "Audio Insurance Outlook" and "Insurance Talk Radio," for conducting the interview.

For you podcast subscribers out there, this blog marks the first time we've pushed audio to a podcast feed. Be sure to subscribe, and let us know if you'd like all blogs available as a podcast! It won't always be Jack's professional voice, but we're willing to give it a try if the interest is there!

Play the audio interview now

Subscribe to the WorkCompEdge podcast feed

http://www.SpecificSoftware.com
http://www.WorkCompEdge.com

WorkCompEdge Interview with Garry Watts and Frank Pennachio

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Wed, 27 May 2009 06:30:39 PDT

Jack Burke, president of Sound Marketing and host of the popular insurance programs "Audio Insurance Outlook" and "Insurance Talk Radio," interviews WorkCompEdge member agents Garry Watts of the Winona Agency and Frank Pennachio of WorkComp Partners about the challenges and benefits of integrating WorkCompEdge into their agency processes.

http://www.specificsoftware.com/
http://www.workcompedge.com/

Virtual Conference on Return to Work Now in Progress

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Thu, 14 May 2009 06:25:49 PDT

Workers compensation consultant, writer and trainer Margaret Spence of Douglas Claims and Risk Consultants has founded National Return to Work Week and is observing it now (May 11-15, 2009) for the first time with a free virtual conference. Here are a few of the seminar topics coming up in the remainder of the week:

Physician Where Art Thou - Medical Management
Best Practices - Workers Compensation and Beyond - From a Defense Attorney’s Point of View
I'm Injured and I Can't Come Back to Work
Engaging Employees With Disabilities - Getting Them Back to Work

No packing needed - attend the inaugural conference for "National Return to Work Week" virtually. And free! And even after it's over!

"Kory," you might say, "it's a whole week of free events. And this is Wednesday afternoon. Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

"Well," I would say sheepishly, "that might have something to do with me not opening every email I receive in the most timely manner. Not yours, of course."

But all is not lost! The seminars we've missed are recorded and also available. These include:

Disability is a Daunting Task - Right?

The Flip Side: Attorneys and Return to Work

Vocational Retraining: a Viable Return to Work Option

and many more. Speakers include attorneys, an ergonomics specialist, a medical doctor, human resource professionals, Ms. Spence, WorkCompEdge contributor Frank Pennachio, and others.

Visit www.brighttalk.com/summit/nationalreturntoworkweek to view in-progress, upcoming, and recorded sessions. Registration is free and easy. I had a little trouble the first time I tried to view one of the seminars (my browswer bombed), but on my subsequent attempt, everything worked fine.

This initiative mirrors many of the principles we advocate in WorkCompEdge, and we congratulate Ms. Spence on her leadership and vision.

http://www.WorkCompEdge.com
http://www.SpecificSoftware.com

The Power of Intentionality, Part 4: Missiles, Juggling, and Whole System Intelligence

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Thu, 07 May 2009 08:11:48 PDT

Part 4 of the series "The Power of Intentionality": Part 3

Those of you who are regular readers know that my early career was spent as a systems analyst in the defense industry. If you’ll bear with me mentioning it again, that job taught me something that applies to today’s blog: focusing on one piece of a large, complex system can easily lead to weakness in other parts of the system. And, elements that will challenge a system – such as ballistic missiles - will find the weak parts of the system and potentially take advantage of them.

Is your work comp focus too narrow?

With work comp being as big and complex as it is, it hardly feels like I left defense systems. Many of the same principles apply, and here's the principal weakness I see with how employers try to manage work comp: During the past several decades, employers and the risk management industry have focused on safety as the ultimate solution to lower workers compensation costs. But despite the tremendous effort put into safety training – and the significant gains in work place safety – many employers still struggle with workers compensation losses as a significant and often unpredictable expense.

What work comp missiles may strike your vulnerabilities?

Even if you have a good safety program in place, there’s plenty to thwart your overall defense of low costs and optimal productivity, such as:

hiring someone with a medical history that comes back to bite you

having the attitude that accidents are inevitable

assuming that human resource and medical personnel communicating with an injured employee is enough

not understanding how important it is to get an employee back to work, even if on modified duty

being satisfied with a mod of 1.0

buying work comp insurance with a “low bid” mentality

and so much more!

The employer must understand how these many components weave together to form an incredible synergy that's more effective than simply applying only one or two strategies. In my mind, that moves us from the defense metaphor to a juggling metaphor: how can an employer gain and maintain whole system intelligence when there are so many moving parts?

How do you keep all those balls in the air?

Prior to my career in defense, I fueled planes at an airport, where there would sometimes be fairly long delays between flights destined for our terminal. During the downtime, I taught myself to juggle. I still keep beanbags in my office to entertain and relax myself (and to challenge our blog editor Kory Wells, who has yet to get the hang of it).

Editor's note: I'm here to confirm that Tim really can juggle, although as far as I know, he's exaggerating about the flaming sword routine. However, if you talk to him, ask him about his unicycle!

The principles of juggling apply to managing many components of a big system such as work comp:

You have to touch each object on a regular basis. In other words, you can't focus just on safety, or just on return-to-work, or just on the mod. There are 15 WorkCompEdge modules, and eventually, you should be using all or most of them.

You have to manage your speed. For example, this is why we recommend quarterly reviews of data in the Verify Your Mod module and workbook. This is why your actions in the first 24 hours following an injury are so important.

You have to manage your accuracy. If your payroll isn’t classified correctly, you may be paying too much in premiums. If your losses aren’t classified as medical-only when applicable, your mod may be much higher than you deserve. If claims aren't closed in a timely way, it can affect your mod. These are just a few examples.

The right kind of object will make juggling easier. You don't start out juggling flaming swords (I'll post the YouTube video of me doing that soon.) The right tools and automation are going to help you maximize your success. Enough said!

Starting with a small number of objects is easier. This is why we have our Getting Started quiz, to help you prioritize which issues you should consider first.

Of course, you get better – and can juggle more - with practice. This is why module after module in WorkCompEdge urges you to come back and reassess on a regular basis.

And finally, at any given time, you have to have a mind's eye view of where each object is. As you practice more, you develop this ability - and even an intuition - that helps you continue to improve.

Through experience, decisions, conversations, and review of what all is happening within your organization, you will begin to see and understand how these many components operate together. It’s a rather abstract concept, but it’s truly what differentiates a workplace environment and leads to dramatically lower workers compensation costs.

More in this series "The Power of Intentionality": Part 3

http://www.SpecificSoftware.com
http://www.WorkCompEdge.com

The Power of Intentionality, Part 3: The Cost of Knowledge

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:11:40 PDT

We all have various areas of expertise that are – or that we think should be - worth something to others.

As many of you know, Specific Software and SIGMA are located in the greater Nashville area, so it was inevitable: the inspiration for today’s WorkCompEdge blog comes straight from a country song. A few years ago, singer Alan Jackson had a hit called “The Talkin’ Song Repair Blues.” (Alan doesn't want it embedded on other sites, but you can watch the music video here on YouTube). In the song, a well-known songwriter has to take his car to a mechanic, who rattles off a long list of everything that’s wrong. It seems the list – and the cost – won’t end. Then the mechanic, realizing he’s talking to a famous songster, says “Hey, let me play you a song.” The songwriter turns the tables, telling the mechanic all that’s wrong with the song… “a broken hook,” “you’ve been using a cut-rate thesaurus,” and much more. The chorus cleverly applies whether the mechanic or the songwriter is speaking:

“Don't be downhearted, I can fix it for you, sonny;
It won't take too long, it'll just take money."

This punch line, of course, underscores the fact that we all have various areas of expertise that are – or that we think should be - worth something to others.

Let’s shift from the songwriter and mechanic back to our own Tony King, the actuarial analyst with the marathon goals we’ve been talking about in our series about the power of intentionality. You may remember that Tony decided to increase his expertise on the subject of running by buying and reading a book on the subject. While that sounds like a simple enough thing to do, it implies some deeper things about Tony’s commitment to his goal:

First, Tony was willing to spend some money on a knowledge resource that he believed would benefit him.

Second, Tony was willing to spend the time to make the most of that resource.

Knowledge is worth an investment of money

Tony can certainly develop his running knowledge from many free resources on the Internet. I’m sure he also asks other runners for their experience and advice. But when he got serious about his goal, he did some research and decided to mostly focus on a single resource to guide him. And he didn’t just borrow this resource from the library – he made the decision to own it. Owning the book signaled his intention to engage with it for longer than the two weeks the library would let him have it. Owning the book also demonstrated his belief that knowledge, and not just new running shoes, could help him reach his goal.

In a similar way, you can find all sorts of good information on workers comp on the Internet in the form of blogs, articles posted by various organizations, lawyers, risk management professionals, and more. We encourage you to make use of all that free information. But when you’re ready to get serious about implementing your work comp vision, we think you need to think about paying for a few resources that will help you as much as possible to reach your goals in an optimal amount of time.

Well, of course, you're probably saying. We're developers of a subscription site, so we think you need to pay for some resources, right? Shameless self-promotion aside, WorkCompEdge - and other resources - cost money because someone spends a lot of time and energy developing their knowledge and conveying it to you in a (hopefully) organized way and with a big-picture view. We’re the first to admit that the scope of work comp is so broad that you may need a few resources to address all of your goals. The point is, “you get what you pay for” is not just a cliché; it’s wisdom. Use of a few good resources will bring you expertise that's focused and yet comprehensive.

Learning - even from the right experts - takes some time

As high school teachers have admonished legions of students over the years, it's not enough to have the book: you've got to read it. "You're not going to get it by osmosis," I can hear my high school physics teacher saying. Tony could’ve bought that book with the best of intentions, then parked it on the coffee table in the den while he spent his evenings dozing on the couch in front of ESPN. Or helping with his kids’ homework and chauffering them to games. Or cooking dinner. Or mowing the lawn. You get the idea: like all of us, Tony undoubtedly could’ve had a hundred excuses for not getting to that book. But he prioritized making use of his resource. You have to do the same when it comes to utilizing WorkCompEdge or other resources to increase your understanding of workers compensation. It will be worth it!

http://www.SpecificSoftware.com

http://www.WorkCompEdge.com

Compare Your Company to Industry Standards Using Data from the Mod

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:35:22 PDT

One of the more dreaded phrases in the English language – particularly on high school and college campuses – is probably “compare and contrast.” As in:

For 20 points, compare and contrast mitosis and meiosis.

For 30 points, compare and contrast the style and theme of Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18" to "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns.

For 50 points, compare and contrast the economic, political, and social structures of ancient Athens to modern-day Iraq.

Comparing and contrasting your work comp experience to industry standards isn't difficult with the right information and tools. (Shakespeare would insist on complete sentences, of course.)

If these questions (which I found on the Internet, by the way) give you a not-so-nostalgic pit-in-the-stomach feeling, you’re definitely not alone. If you’re like me, you’re grateful such academic gymnastics are in your past. But here’s a compare and contrast exercise that will be useful to your company today:

Compare and contrast your company’s work comp losses to the average for your industry. Use actual and expected losses on total, primary and excess amounts. Include comparisons on a policy period basis. Use complete sentences.

OK, you don't have to use complete sentences. Even without that directive, this analysis can still sound a bit intimidating. However, if you have a mod worksheet from NCCI or another bureau, all the data you need is on the worksheet – and at least some of it is already summarized and ready to use.

The whole purpose of the mod calculation formula is to compare your company’s loss experience with the average for your industry. The code word for this in mod-speak is “expected.” On your worksheet, you see total expected losses, total expected primary losses, and total expected excess losses. If you don't know the differences between all these expecteds yet, don't worry. It's enough to know that these values reflect the standard, or average, for your industry for a theoretical company that has the same payroll you do.

The mod itself tells a story, comparatively speaking: if your mod is over 1.0, your compare unfavorably to other businesses in your industry. If your mod is under 1.0, you compare favorably; you are, as we’ve said in other blog entries, “beating the average.” But the formula can be broken into components which can be analyzed for additional insight. So let’s take this exercise in pieces:

1. Compare your company’s total losses to the industry average.

Why you want to do this: This comparison provides a general indicator of your loss experience.

How to do this: Divide your total actual losses (box H on the NCCI bureau report) by total expected losses (box D).

2. Compare your company’s total primary losses to the industry average.

Why you want to do this: This comparison provides an indicator of whether too MANY losses are keeping you from reaching your minimum mod.

How to do this: Divide total primary losses (Box I) by expected primary losses (Box E).

3. Compare your company’s total excess losses to the industry average.

Why you want to do this: This comparison provides an indicator of whether the SEVERITY of your losses is keeping you from reaching your minimum mod.

How to do this: Divide total actual excess losses (Box F) by expected excess (Box C).

In all three of the comparisons above, you will get a number that’s more or less around 1.0 or, converted to a percentage, 100%. The lower the number, the better; and any percentages over 100% warrant your attention.

Now, for the trickier stuff: compare your actual versus expected losses for each policy period in the mod. This is harder to do because all of the totals that you need – by policy period - are often not shown on the bureau worksheet. So, you’ve got to haul out the slide rule, calculator, Excel workbook, or (ahem) ModMaster software to make this easier.

This seems like a good time to mention the WorkCompEdge Proposal Report that employers or (more likely) their insurance agents can print from ModMaster. We discussed the first part of this report, about what your mod is costing you, in another blog entry. Now let’s look at the second part – How Your Company Compares to Industry Standards.

Here's a snippet of a sample WorkCompEdge Proposal Report that shows how you can use mod data to compare your company to industry standards - and identify trends that will affect your future mods.

The first 4 bullet points in the report excerpt correspond to the comparisons we discussed in items 1-3 above (note the wonderfully complete sentences), and the graph on the left, Actual vs. Expected Losses, visually shows the same information. In this sample, when so many of the percentages look so good, the 134% ratio of the primary loss comparison stands out. While this company has a pretty healthy mod, that 134% points to a clear opportunity to reduce the number of losses they’re experiencing and thus drive their mod even lower, for even more cost savings.

The graph on the right, Loss Trend, shows the actual losses and expected losses for each policy period. This graph is really helpful for two reasons:

First, it shows us the general trend of losses for our own company versus the industry average. In this particular example, we see that this company has never exceeded industry norms, and that in the most recent year they’ve beat the average by quite a bit.

That’s important information, but we can also discern more. This graph also lets us see the anomalies that a certain period may be contributing to the mod. In this case, the “blip” of increased actual losses in 2006 is probably the principal contributor to the mod. So, until 2006 comes out of the calculation (after one more year), the mod is going to stay a little higher. When policy year 2006 no longer affects the calculation, provided that the latest trend has continued, THAT’s when the mod will really decrease.

So, for real cost savings – not points on a test - compare your work comp losses with industry averages using mod analysis.

http://www.WorkCompEdge.com
http://www.SpecificSoftware.com

Test for podcast

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:22:10 PDT

Test for podcast

The Power of Intentionality, Part 2: A Vision for Work Comp in Your Organization

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:03:27 PDT

Today we continue the series inspired by the marathon goals of our actuarial analyst Tony King. Now that we've outlined all that being intentional encompasses in part 1, let's talk more about the root of it all: a vision.

"If you want to reach a goal, you must 'see the reaching' in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal."- Zig Ziglar
A vision statement often takes the long view: a bold statement or dream for the future.

Whether it's for an individual or an organization, a vision drives all other components of intentionality as you strive for the knowledge, intelligence, measurements, discipline, and repetition it takes to reach a goal or level of achievement. In Tony's case, the vision could be simply stated: he wanted to qualify for the Boston marathon. But a vision statement can be considerably more complex, especially for an organization.

Do I hear some of you groaning now? I'll admit, the words “vision statement” can conjur the image of a slow and painful staff meeting, something we avoid as much as possible here at Specific Software and SIGMA. But Zig Ziglar hasn't been talking about goals and visualization techniques for all these decades for no reason.

So, what's your vision for your workers' health, safety and productivity, and how should you define it? What things should be considered? Here is a list of questions to get your thinking on the right track.

• What type of workplace do you want to have?
• What is the culture you are trying to create?
• How does the wellness of your employees affect your business, and what is your business’ role in supporting employee wellness?
• How is safety viewed within your organization?
• What is your view of and relationship with OSHA?
• What is the relationship between management and line employees?
• What responsibility do you have in gathering and determining the accuracy of data pertaining to the premium audit?
• Should your organization take time to understand, analyze, and manage the experience mod?
• Are you trying to buy the cheapest insurance possible or do you have a broader goal?
• Do you have a vision for how your agent and insurance company should serve YOU the CUSTOMER?
• Do you or should you have a leader who oversees many aspects of injury management?
• Is there a commitment to having a relationship with a local clinic?
• Do you know what happens right after an injury occurs and how your organization will respond to it?
• How are injured employees treated?
• What do the processes you go through to hire someone look like?
• How is an injured employee returned to work?
• What is the driving force behind your organization?

This list presents a lot of questions to help you form a vision that will guide you through the remaining principals of intentionality. Your complete vision might look something like this:

XYZ Corporation Workers Compensation Vision Statement

Our organization is committed to a culture that promotes the mental, emotional and physical wellness of our employees, reduces injuries, and mitigates the severity of any injuries that do occur. We believe that the backbone of this culture is effective communication.

We take responsibility for our workers compensation program by having a trained injury management coordinator, maintaining accurate records that allow us to prepare a premium audit and thus avoid overcharges, understanding the technicalities and insights of experience rating analysis, hiring people who are fit for the job, establishing and following excellent safety procedures, and looking beyond the lowest bid for our coverage to a long term effective relationship with an agent and insurance company.

We optimize effective communication by: training our supervisors on injury management and employee relations; training our employees on what to expect if they are injured; and having our injury management coordinator oversee communication, establish effective clinic relationships, internally market our return-to-work program, measure both subjective and analytical measures of our culture and safety, and build relationships with medical clinics, OSHA representatives, and other professionals who can contribute to our employees' safety and wellness.

Does this seem like a tall order? It's OK if it does! I even considered saying that XYZ is committed to a culture that eliminates all injuries. After all, a vision statement is often the long view: a bold statement or dream for the future. For more about leadership and vision, see An Interview With Leslie Kossoff on Management Leadership Skills, or chapter 10 of The Leader's Guide to Storytelling by Stephen Denning, which gives a template and considerations for crafting a "future story," which is what a vision is.

Of course, having a vision statement is only worthwhile if you compare the actual conditions of your workplace against your vision on a regular basis and work to make needed changes...which is where we'll pick up next time with how knowledge applies to the power of intentionality.

Does your organization have a vision statement just for workers compensation, or does your general vision statement include the health and safety of its employees? We'd love to see some real examples from our readers!

More in this series "The Power of Intentionality": Part 1

http://www.SpecificSoftware.com
http://www.WorkCompEdge.com

Layoffs: Ten Techniques to Avoid or Minimize Claims

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 07:21:10 PST

Layoffs have become an unfortunate reality of everyday life in America. While historically layoffs are often due to legitimate competitive practices (and in some cases corporate heartlessness), I don't have to tell you that almost all layoffs in the past 18 months have been due to the severe economic downturn. A full article addressing layoffs and terminations, discrimination, duties of the employer to comply with state and federal laws, and more about the human costs on both the laid off and remaining employees is available to WorkCompEdge members on our wiki. For this blog, let's take a further look at work comp claim issues associated with layoff situations:

Don't just do the paperwork: employers mustover communicate in layoff situations. These are human beings whose lives have just been turned upside down. The surviving employees will give the employer the benefit of the doubt and their commitment to the employer if the employer tells them the truth and treats the employees who are leaving with fairness and compassion.

It is a documented fact that an impending or even threatened layoff increases workers compensation claims…especially in a tight job market. Individuals faced with a reduction in their income, temporary unemployment benefits and the likelihood of unaffordable health insurance may look to workers compensation as a way to ensure their income is sustained in the face of a layoff or termination. Even the rumor of layoffs and company reorganizations is enough to scare some employees into filing a work comp claim. But note: simply because an employee files a claim after his or her employment ends does not necessarily mean that the claim is fraudulent. Some employees, previously worried that filing a claim would affect their job security, go ahead and file once they are terminated. Whether the injuries are real or imagined, the fact is, workers compensation claims increase during and after a layoff.

Employers can't completely stop illegitimate claims from being filed, but there are steps they can take to prepare for defending against such claims - and thereby minimizing costs. The following techniques, a list I've tweaked from an article by the Louisiana Workers Compensation Corporation to include my own experience, can avoid or minimize claims cost following downsizing, terminations or layoffs.

1. Communicate with Your Insurance Carrier

Let your insurance carrier know about any downsizing plans your company has. The carrier should be more than willing to strategize with you on ways to thwart any fraudulent claims. Report any suspicions you have about a claim, along with all the reasons for your suspicions, to your workers compensation carrier. The earlier you voice concerns, the better the opportunity to investigate, gather medical evidence and discuss strategy on defensible positions.

2. Focus on the Things You Can Control

The workers compensation system was designed to protect the employee and the laws favor the employee. However, measures can be taken to minimize cost and limit the life of the claim. Often this is the goal – reducing cost and the life of the claim – which can be frustrating to employers. The reality of workers compensation claims is that they are not won by hitting a home run. Rarely is there one isolated piece of information that “knocks it out of the park” and provides an ironclad denial. Claims are won through a series of singles. Documentation of anecdotal evidence (the employee was fine on the last day of employment; no one saw the individual get hurt; the employee was observed using the body part he or she is alleging is not functional etc.) and objective evidence (the independent medical exam’s x-ray or MRI shows no injury) builds your defensible positions and gets you to home base (which is usually a negotiated settlement). The value of the claim will be substantially less with well documented information. The claims take patience and persistence to resolve as bringing the employee back to work (the most common resolution to workers compensation claims) is not an option in a layoff situation. The lack of this option complicates the claims handling. The efforts and costs expended to defend suspect claims is difficult but worth the aggravation as it far outweighs suffering the enormous cost of a permanent long term workers compensation claim.

3. Revisit Your Accident Reporting Policies

Require all employees to report accidents immediately, no matter how minor.

4. Recommit to Thorough Accident Investigations

Accidents in times of company turmoil can be especially upsetting, but this is not time to get lax on your procedures. Investigate accidents immediately after they're reported. Separate witnesses from each other and the injured employee to get the whole story - and signed statements. Remove or restrict access to any equipment or other physical evidence involved until it can be examined. Address any other hazards which may have contributed to the accident as soon as possible.

5. Be Vigilant About Your Recordkeeping

Many of the workers compensation claims filed after employment ends are occupational disease in nature. Claims for hearing loss are common after layoffs. Be vigilant about your industrial hygiene recordkeeping, including baseline levels of noise, airborne particles, in-door air quality, chemicals and dust exposures. Also be sure not to neglect equipment condition or housekeeping inspection logs. Make sure records are not destroyed, since employees' payroll, schedule and accident reports may become evidence in a claim after their employment has ended.

6. Use Wellness Exams and Videocams to Document Employees' Health

Many employers contract with their workers compensation medical provider to conduct physical examinations to determine an employee's overall health and fitness status preceding a layoff. Employers may also videotape work areas to document employees performing their usual duties. These tools can help establish an employee's health and activities at the time employment ends. A cautionary note - information obtained about an employee's health must not be used as a reason to terminate or lay off the individual. This would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

7. Ask Employees to Confirm They Haven't Had Unreported Accidents

As part of an employee's exit interview, have the employee sign a form stating whether they have been involved in any unreported accidents on the job. This is an important document that can help defend any claims arising after employment ends.

8. Invest in Employee Assistance Programs

Terminations can easily and understandably thrust employees into an antagonistic frame of mind that can lead to fraudulent claims, but this can be mitigated if the employer communicates caring in the exit interview - and provides some real programs to support those sentiments. Consider job fairs, resume counseling, placement services, on-site therapy, and other services that demonstrate your concern for your terminated employees' welfare.

9. Consider Stepping Up Security Measures

As we all know from unfortunate events reported in the media, workplace violence is a real concern following layoffs or terminations. Any employee hurt on the job through violence of another current or prior employee will result in a workers compensation claim. Examine the level of security you can provide for remaining workers. Use exit interviews to assess an employee's attitude and tendency towards violence, and take all threats seriously. Employees probably should not have unescorted access to work areas following a layoff or termination.

10. Watch for Potential Fraud Indicators

Familiarize yourself with the warning signs of fraud developed by the National Insurance Crime Bureau:

the employee is disgruntled after being fired or laid off
the employee has been told his or her employment is about to end
the employee is having financial difficulties
the accident is not witnessed
the injury involves subjective complaints of pain with no ability to obtain objective medical evidence

Your claims adjuster is undoubtedly familiar with these, but, as noted in our first point, your awareness and good communications will facilitate optimal claims handling.

Conclusion

Although none of these tips may actually prevent an employee from making a workers compensation claim after leaving an employer, they can assist in defending against such claims. The more evidence to present to the judge that there was no mention of any accident until after employment ended or was announced to end, the stronger the defense will be.

Employee reductions can pose a significant challenge for employers and often a devastating turn of events for employees. It is important for employers to have a layoff strategy broken down into goals and an action plan for the company. The layoff can be so overwhelming an employer may forget the overall company’s vision and strategy. Each employer should ask the question; “How do we not just survive but thrive after a layoff? How do we inspire our remaining employees to achieve amazing things… to continue their focus and innovation and not be paralyzed by these troubled and uncertain times?” First, every employer must over communicate in these situations. The employer should reiterate the vision and strategy of the company and the action taken (layoffs), although painful for everyone, accomplishes the mission.

Next, keep in mind; these are human beings whose lives have just been turned upside down. The surviving employees will give the employer the benefit of the doubt and their commitment to the employer if the employer tells them the truth and treats the employees who are leaving with fairness and compassion.

Don't miss the full article on this topic, available to WorkCompEdge members, on our wiki.

http://www.WorkCompEdge.com
http://www.SpecificSoftware.com

How Low Can You Go? Attaining a Perfect Score for Your Mod

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:31:30 PST

Perfect and yet attainable scores apply to many areas of life: credit reports, bowling, the game of Yahtzee, and ACT college prep exams immediately come to mind. These are cases in which the higher the score, the better. Less commonly, an excellent score is represented by a low number: as our director of strategic consulting Lloyd Kelley would be quick to point out, golf is an example, even if it doesn't have a true perfect score.

If your mod was a game of golf, you'd want it to be under par - not just average. You also want to know what your company's perfect score can be - and then implement loss control and prevention measures to attain that perfect score.

Did you know that you can have a perfect score on your workers comp mod?

You can. But here’s the tricky part: the perfect score for your mod is unique to your company. It will be different from the perfect score of the company next door, or your competitor across town. It may change somewhat from year to year. The variability is due to the fact that the mod is based on your unique industry and payroll. But it is a real, attainable number, not just a theoretical best case scenario.

Many employers have the idea that a workers comp mod of 1.0 is, if not perfect, at least the goal that they want to reach. This is like saying a “C” on your grade school report card is good - or that you've shot par on the golf course. You may be pretty happy with it, but in truth, a mod of 1.0 is only average. If you want to beat that average, and thus lower your workers’ compensation insurance costs, you’ve got to know the value of your minimum mod - your perfect score - and your controllable mod.

Every mod value can be broken into two pieces: the minimum mod and the controllable mod. The minimum mod is that perfect score: the lowest possible mod if your business had no losses for the experience period (typically three years). The controllable mod is the difference between your actual mod and the minimum. This value is a direct result of the losses your company had during the experience period.

Attaining your perfect score directly impacts your work comp premium costs

The minimum mod and controllable mod are important for two reasons. For larger companies, these values highlight the savings that are possible by controlling losses. For example, as shown in the report example below, a large company with a mod of 0.98 may think they are doing quite well, however, since they have a controllable mod of 0.22, there is significant room for improvement - which in this case translates to a $44,000 cost savings!

For a small company, the minimum and controllable mod values can be used for setting realistic expectations; for example, a small risk that sets a goal of having a 0.80 mod will not be able to achieve it under any circumstance if the minimum mod is 0.85.

Here's a snippet of a sample WorkCompEdge Proposal Report that shows the minimum mod and controllable mod - and how much money this company could be saving!

No matter the size of your company, knowing the controllable mod is critical to understanding the possible savings achievable by reducing that controllable mod to 0 through loss control and loss prevention activities.

Ask your insurance agent to show you your minimum and controllable mod values – and estimate the premium dollars you can save by attaining that perfect score. A WorkCompEdge agent can do this using the WorkCompEdge Proposal Report from our ModMaster software. WorkCompEdge members can also use the WorkCompEdge QuickMod tool in the module Learn the lessons your experience mod can teach you to obtain this valuable insight.

http://www.workcompedge.com/
http://www.specificsoftware.com/

Maureen Steps Up (and Down!)

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:35:12 PST

Our blog earlier this week about staffer Tony King's marathon training and intentionality seems to have started a trend: WorkCompEdge regular contributor Maureen Gallagher is also preparing for a big physical challenge ahead of her, and we're hoping WorkCompEdge readers might help. Maureen, who's also a partner with Neace Lukens, is going to be fighting childhood heart disease - and testing her own physical limits - in the grueling Carew Climb, part of the Skyscraper Vertical Mile challenge, on Sunday, February 22 at Cincinnati’s Carew Tower.

Specifically, that means she'll be climbing and descending the Tower’s forty-five floors ten times, with another eight floors and six steps thrown in just to round off the total distance to one mile up and one down—a total of 3,780 stairs in under three hours. And by auctioning off each one of those stairs, she’s hoping to raise enough money to send twenty kids to camp through Hope With Heart as well as raising money for the American Lung Association, the Climb’s sponsor.

Established as a summer camp experience, Hope With Heart provides year round support and friendships for its campers. The camp, now in its tenth year, is unique because it accepts high-risk children with limited life expectancies. The camp has children with varied heart problems such as valve replacements, pacemakers and transplants. Providing a recreation and social eight-day camp experience for children ages seven to fifteen, Hope With Heart has transformed the lives of more than 400 children with serious heart disease through the generosity of contributors.

Maureen, a fitness advocate who has run several marathons, has a personal interest in the Hope With Heart cause. Her nephew, Ryan, was born with a life-threatening heart defect similar to that of other children who attend the Hope With Heart camp. Ryan attended the camp along with other kids whose hart disease was so severe that other camps would not take them.

"We are all grateful for the experience Ryan had at the Hope With Heart camp,” said Maureen. “And we want to ensure that experience remains available for other children in the coming years."

The camp must maintain an emergency helicopter on standby along with doctors and nurse to monitor activities and dispense medicines to the children there. Everyone involved with Hope With Heart is a volunteer and the camp is free to all campers.

Maureen says that training for the Carew Climb is one of the more physically demanding challenges she has ever taken on. Those interested in making a contribution can do so directly to Hope With Heart at www.hopewithheart.com or to Maureen directly at
Maureen.gallagher@neacelukens.com. Any amounts are appreciated!

http://www.WorkCompEdge.com
http://www.SpecificSoftware.com

The Power of Intentionality, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:18:25 PST

As you may know, we have two affiliated businesses under one roof here at Specific Software and SIGMA Actuarial. Our actuaries hang out on the “south side” of the office, while most of our software staff is located on the north end of the floor. This provides us with the opportunity to kid each other about where the brain power resides. One of my favorite targets for this friendly ribbing is actuarial analyst Tony King.

SIGMA actuarial analyst Tony King has been very intentional about his marathon goals. At WorkCompEdge, we believe the components of his intentionality can apply to any goal, including a new vision for your company. Photo courtesy of Mike Stanfield.

Tony is mild mannered, humble, intelligent, highly disciplined, and focused. But, as he recently taught me by example, he’s also very intentional in working toward his goals. Tony has been a runner most of his life, although he took a break from it while his children were young. Now he puts in about 60+ miles per week. Last year he decided to step up his training in order to decrease his time and qualify for the Boston Marathon. Popping into his secluded south side office ever so often, I kept up with his progress and learned a lot that can apply to any goal:

Being intentional requires specific knowledge

Tony bought Lore of Running - and actually read it. (I have a copy collecting dust on my bedside table.) Gathering the knowledge one needs to effect change is a crucial first step that takes initiative.

Being intentional requires whole system intelligence

Tony then put the knowledge from his reading into practice. Knowledge is, in my definition, information and facts. Intelligence is a more abstract concept that involves applying knowledge to the whole system or “big picture” – in this case, Tony’s body and environment – to the challenge at hand. Intelligence includes a healthy dose of creativity, reason, and abstract connections between seemingly unrelated items to bring about change and improvement. It is one thing to read the Lore of Running, but is an entirely different level of functioning to know what the heck it means to you!

Being intentional requires quantitative measurements

Tony strapped on numerous electronic devices and gathered heart rate, distance, time, and speed data he needed to measure his progress. He then downloaded this data to a computer and gained insight that led to new questions and new measurements – and thus the feedback loop got tighter and tighter. Some of his insights – like how his heart rate correlated with his endurance – were new for him. They also led to new strategies, such as starting slow and ending fast. Some of his discoveries were not intuitive, thus proving the value of lots of measurements and an unbiased analytical approach.

Being intentional requires discipline

Tony used his knowledge, intelligence, and quantitative measurements to develop and execute specific action plans. Most of us can figure out what to do to a reach a goal – it is the doing itself that we struggle with. Discipline overcomes that emotional resistance.

Being intentional requires repetition

After going through the process above, Tony wasn’t sure he was where he needed to be, so he started the entire process over again. He reached out to new experts, identified road blocks, doubled his efforts, measured data again, tried new things. He persevered.

Being intentional produces results

Tony was shooting for a time of 3:15:59 to qualify for the Boston Marathon. He ran the Marshall University Marathon in West Virginia and finished with a time of 3:15:28, trimming about 30 minutes off his previous personal best!

So, when did Tony succeed? Would this have been a worthwhile effort if he finished with a time of 3:16:00? Certainly! The moment Tony decided – to the exclusion of all other options - that he would pour his heart and soul into creating a new level of performance, he created a new reality for himself. Which brings me to my final point:

Being intentional requires a vision

I don’t use the word decision lightly. A true decision leaves no alternative because it’s based on a vision of where we want to be. Arguably, the vision – of qualifying for the Boston marathon – is the first thing Tony had in this process. But he also kept that vision foremost in his mind. A solid vision guides our decisions and provides opportunities for the future.

So what’s your vision as an employer? What’s your “Boston marathon” goal?

This year, employers are facing unbelievable challenges. If, combined with economic challenges, you have workers compensation issues, you may feel very overwhelmed. I believe that the power of intentionality can make a dramatic difference for any employer that wants to change their business, address their workers compensation challenges and significantly reduce costs. In the weeks ahead, I will explore how an employer can use Tony’s model of intentionality with the knowledge and tools in WorkCompEdge to make dramatic reductions in workers compensation costs. But your first job is to make that decision and develop a vision of being a more successful company.

http://www.SpecificSoftware.com
http://www.WorkCompEdge.com

Can You Plan for the Unforeseen?

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:12:32 PST

In our local area, a radio commercial for a life insurance company seems to run about ten times a day. In a dramatic voice, the announcer explains that we all need life insurance for the “unforeseen.” It is exactly the “unforeseen” that causes so many of the severe and tragic workers compensation losses that our actuarial firm sees in the the analytical consulting projects we do.

You CANNOT “punt” on planning and training for foreseeable emergencies and catastrophes – because this is what is going to save you or mitigate damage when the significant unexpected event occurs.

While I sat in traffic recently and heard this commercial for what must have been the 1,000th time, I quickly ran through some of the “unforeseen” things that I’ve personally experienced in my lifetime. Have you ever done this? It is amazing how many things we all must confront in the normal course of life. Here are a few of the highlights for the ones that worked out well for me:

• Being a passenger on a Southwest flight that ingested a bird, ran off the runway, down a hill and caught on fire. The evacuation was not orderly, but we all survived. (There were a few broken bones.)

• Being in a sailplane on tow when the tow plane’s engine died. Landed safely in a field. (My Dad was the pilot on this flight.)

• Having at least 6 trips to the emergency room for injured kids (broken bones, car wrecks, head injuries – oh! the joys of parenting).

• Being the passenger in a high speed car crash. (The car was totaled – I was lucky to survive with recoverable injuries!)

• Having the doctor tell my wife and me that our unborn child had a 0% chance of being born. (The doctor was wrong – the kid is awesome.)

• Living through a house fire. (The house didn’t fare too well, but family did.)

• Confronting a home intruder. (I used my most intimidating primal scream!)

• And my personal favorite, which goes back a while - being chased by the neighborhood German shepherd when I was 8 years old!

Thoughts of these could-have-been disasters brings me to the question: How do you prepare for the worst possible scenario, the unexpected, and the catastrophe that could threaten your business? Some employers believe you can’t prepare and therefore don’t bother. However, I recently got another perspective on this when I had the opportunity to hear Rudy Giuliani speak.

Rudy is a great speaker. Watching him live is very inspiring. He is an effective story teller and, as you might guess, has some pretty amazing and powerful stories to relate. Rudy asked the question, “How do you prepare for the unknown?” Obviously, there was no way the city of New York could have prepared for the 9/11 catastrophe. While I am sure the volumes of studies done on the response find areas for improvement, the city of New York can be proud of how it dealt with this unimaginable scenario.

Rudy shared his theory on this: “Prepare for everything known and you will be prepared for the unknown.” He goes on to describe how the city had action plans for specific disaster scenarios. Each plan was divided into components and each component was then well researched, planed, and rehearsed. One example might be setting up a triage near a large industrial accident. Despite the extensive preparation that the city had undergone for various disaster scenarios, there was no plan for the collapse of the World Trade Center twin towers.

When Rudy arrived on the scene, he began to direct all the city’s departments to pull components of other emergency plans together to create, on the fly, a custom response to the emergency at hand. Because they had planned for everything they could imagine and had their plans compartmentalized into specific function areas, they were able to respond to the unimaginable. While I cannot do this story justice as Rudy so passionately does, I can relate this to the importance of disaster planning for an employer. You CANNOT “punt” on planning and training for foreseeable emergencies and catastrophes – because this is what is going to save you or mitigate damage when the significant unexpected event occurs.

In more recent news, the US Airways captain who successfully protected the lives of his passengers and crew after losing both engines on his Airbus 320 after takeoff probably never trained specifically for so masterfully using the busy Hudson River as an alternative runway. But, if you read his resume you will notice that Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III had, in addition to his training as a pilot, extensive experiences related to safety and risk management. He had practiced, without doubt, thousands of emergency situations over his 40 years of flying. He had studied safety and participated in accident investigations. His training and experience also included glider flying – a handy skill when your Airbus becomes a 160,000 lb glider over one of the most densely populated cities in the country. So what was the payoff for the untold hours of training and emergency drills for theoretical situations that never actually happened? A miracle!

As part of your safety goals for this year, take time to develop focused and compartmentalized action plans to deal with what you can imagine. Then when the unimaginable happens – as our actuarials often see in the data we analyze - your organization just might survive. And if you’ve trained diligently, you might even experience your own miracle.

Editor's note: On a related note, this week's (January 24) issue of Newsweek features an excerpt of the new book The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science That Could Save Your Life (Grand Central Publishing, January 2009) by Ben Sherwood. While this is more about personal than corporate response to disaster, it's still very interesting reading - and should give you pause to think about the psychological factors in identifying and training the leaders who can help your organization in a disaster scenario.

http://www.WorkCompEdge.com
http://www.SpecificSoftware.com

WorkCompEdge: Perfectly Executed, Entertaining, Best of Show!

noreply@blogger.com (WorkCompEdge) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:31:30 PST

If you'll indulge us a moment of shameless self-promotion, we're excited to share with you that WorkCompEdge has been awarded Best of Show for "distinguished technical communication" in the 2008 Technical Communication Competition sponsored by the middle Tennessee chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC).

The judges particularly mentioned this WorkCompEdge video from the Avoid Low Bid Mentality module about "you get what you pay for." If you have trouble viewing the video above, try this link.

We received top honors from the judges, whose written statement about the site included the comments:

"extremely well-planned"

"intelligently thought-out"

"design planning that accounts for all learners"

"concise, clear and useful topics"

"entertaining and impactful visual ideas" (our videos also won an award for excellence in the "promotions" category)

"perfectly executed"

Other organizations in the competition were from a tri-state area and included Lexmark, Square D, Schneider, and the DOD. As best of show, WorkCompEdge now goes on to the STC international competition!

But it's all about you...

Doesn't all this talk make you want to delve into one of the modules right now?

Seriously, while we're thrilled to have impressed our peers in communication, it's you, our agent and employer subscribers, ModMaster clients and blog readers, who we really want to make - and keep - happy. Remember that we're always glad to hear your ideas for blog topics, your questions about content, your suggestions for where we can improve.

http://www.SpecificSoftware.com
http://www.WorkCompEdge.com