Wednesday, August 29, 2007

To Safety - and Beyond!

Recent information from NCCI indicates that claim frequency continues to drop across all industries. This is great news but it comes with a sobering analysis of claim severity. Medical and indemnity severities continue to show significant increases.

For some reason, the image of Buzz Lightyear, pointing his finger skyward and shouting, "to infinity - and beyond!" comes to mind. For employers, this news is a call "to safety - and beyond!"

As we bring development of WorkCompEdge to a close and prepare to launch this new service, I am reassured by this recent news that our focus with WorkCompEdge is on target. WorkCompEdge provides resources to help you build a safety program – but that part of the puzzle is being accomplished effectively by most organizations. It is the safety culture, supervisor training, wellness push, designation and training of an injury coordinator, a medical clinic relationship, and finally a return-to-work program that is focused and purposeful that really matter. Most employers “get” safety – it is all these other areas where there is significant opportunity for improvement.

Severities are going to be dramatically impacted when companies start putting the implementation plans suggested here into action. We chose to focus less on safety and more on these other issues that do not receive the needed attention and I feel it was a good decision. The opportunity is in reducing severity and we know how to help you accomplish that!


As we like to say on the actuarial side of our business – “a correct analysis of the data leads to the right decision.” My analysis shows safety works in preventing accidents, but if you do have an injury there are at least a dozen things you have to get right. If you can master these other areas you will enjoy happy employees and massively reduced work comp costs!

In the months and years ahead I look forward to sharing WorkCompEdge success stories with you!

http://www.WorkCompEdge.com

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

National Underwriter Awardee Practices What We Preach

The August 13th 2007 issue of National Underwriter includes their annual "Award for Excellence" in Workers Comp Risk Mangement. (Read related article.) As I was reading the article about Kitty Hawk, a cargo and transportation company, it struck me that two of the key strategies implemented by the risk manager are similar to two of the modules within WorkCompEdge.com. The strategies provided by WorkCompEdge.com are becoming more and more popular among organizations of all sizes.

The challenge for any organization that wants to lower their workers comp costs is where to begin and what do I need to do. As we approach the launch of WorkCompEdge.com, it is exciting to see confirmation of what we are doing in an organizations like Kitty Hawk.

http://www.WorkCompEdge.com