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OSHA Consultant – Part 2- Keeping Your Cool in a Hot Zone

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Our OSHA Consultant Glen, CSP adds in another part of the Safety Metrics  –  Keeping Your Cool in a Hot Zone series

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Public Use License Vitalov Muratov

“ As the company’s chief financial officer, what can you tell me about your companies experience modifier? “

Answer: “ I  know that it is higher than it was last year. If memory serves me well I am 137.   I have no idea how to reverse it, and our Insurance Broker seems to be of no help.    If we hire you, can you get it turned around?  In fact, whoever we offer this position, must have a  game plan ready for management within ten days of being hired.   You left the interview at 10:30 A.M.  At 3:00 PM you get an e-mail with an offer letter.

Fast forward, one week later.   You have spent a lot of time fact-finding,  and you have put together a game plan for getting the EX.Mod down or below 100.    The plan is really a rough draft because there are a lot of records that no one seems to be able to find.   A very nice Receptionist who has been with the company for 19 years, shares with you the fact that XYZ has outgrown its corporate offices four times.  She also, tells you that a lot of the records are in storage.

Two of the biggest issues is a lack of claims files,  and there are no copies of the OSHA consultant logs.   There is a way around this apparent impasse, like anything else, it will take a lot of work requesting records.

This is your agenda of topics:

  1. Lack of records  and what we can do to get duplicates,
  2. What has been done in the past and why it is not working,
  3. A centralized incident reporting system
  4. Show the CFO and Fanta ( your supervisor ) how you arrived at the fact of $189,637 loss due to the elevated Mod.
  5. And the need for the Safety division of HR to have its own budget.

 

This writer will only elaborate on topics B and C.  For more than a decade, all workers comp reporting has gone through the job Superintendents.  If there were ten different jobs going,  and in multiple states,  each job Super. Would have the authority to send his injured worker to the local Doc in the Box.  If a clerical person or anyone else were to get hurt at the corporate office, the claim would go through the secretary for the V.P. of operations.  Most of the claims were initiated by the Work Comp Doctors, from over a dozen different clinics.

The problem with this “system”  is a lack of accountability, lack of accident info, unnecessary treatment by the Doctors.   Management has agreed,  that a centralized system makes sense.   The CFO,  Handson T. Mony wants to know about the Numbers.

Mr. Mony  “ I’m a numbers guy, I want  to know how we are going to

Track your progress on all of these initiatives. I don’t

Have a problem spending money to save money but

Without the numbers, how do we know  if we are getting

What we are paying for.”

Nate          “ You sir are a wise man,  we will have a way of tracking our

Success but first we need to find our claims records.”

Mr. Mony    “ Well I suppose I could have our insurance Broker put us

In touch with the claims Department.

Nate             “ That Sir is an excellent idea.  Might I suggest, that we have

The broker arrange for a file review with the claims supervisor.”

Mr. Mony     “ I like the way you  think young man,  send me an email of some

Times you will be free, and I will set it up. “

Nate              “ Once we have our claims numbers   we can determine our

annual claims frequency.    Then we can set goals. “

You go on to tell Mr. Mony and Fanta,  that there are two ways to track progress.  One would be to use our internal numbers.  If for example, XYZ had 50 claims in 2018,  it could be a reasonable goal to reduce the claims frequency to say 40, or a 20 percent reduction.  The other way to set goals would be to compare our company’s claims frequency or severity with the industry average of companies with the same work comp class codes.

Mr. Mony was intrigued by your ideas but he had to end the meeting quickly because he had a lunch meeting.   When leaving the CFO’s  office, your supervisor says,

“ Nate, are you hungry?  Let me buy you lunch, I want to hear more. “

By Glen DuLac OSHA Consultant

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice

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James J Moore - Workers Comp Expert

Raleigh, NC, United States

About The Author...

James founded a Workers’ Compensation consulting firm, J&L Risk Management Consultants, Inc. in 1996. J&L’s mission is to reduce our clients’ Workers Compensation premiums by using time-tested techniques. J&L’s claims, premium, reserve and Experience Mod reviews have saved employers over $9.8 million in earned premiums over the last three years. J&L has saved numerous companies from bankruptcy proceedings as a result of insurance overpayments.

James has over 27 years of experience in insurance claims, audit, and underwriting, specializing in Workers’ Compensation. He has supervised, and managed the administration of Workers’ Compensation claims, and underwriting in over 45 states. His professional experience includes being the Director of Risk Management for the North Carolina School Boards Association. He created a very successful Workers’ Compensation Injury Rehabilitation Unit for school personnel.

James’s educational background, which centered on computer technology, culminated in earning a Masters of Business Administration (MBA); an Associate in Claims designation (AIC); and an Associate in Risk Management designation (ARM). He is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and a licensed financial advisor. The NC Department of Insurance has certified him as an insurance instructor. He also possesses a Bachelors’ Degree in Actuarial Science.

LexisNexis has twice recognized his blog as one of the Top 25 Blogs on Workers’ Compensation. J&L has been listed in AM Best’s Preferred Providers Directory for Insurance Experts – Workers Compensation for over eight years. He recently won the prestigious Baucom Shine Lifetime Achievement Award for his volunteer contributions to the area of risk management and safety. James was recently named as an instructor for the prestigious Insurance Academy.

James is on the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the North Carolina Mid-State Safety Council. He has published two manuals on Workers’ Compensation and three different claims processing manuals. He has also written and has been quoted in numerous articles on reducing Workers’ Compensation costs for public and private employers. James publishes a weekly newsletter with 7,000 readers.

He currently possess press credentials and am invited to various national Workers Compensation conferences as a reporter.

James’s articles or interviews on Workers’ Compensation have appeared in the following publications or websites:

  • Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS)
  • Entrepreneur Magazine
  • Bloomberg Business News
  • WorkCompCentral.com
  • Claims Magazine
  • Risk & Insurance Magazine
  • Insurance Journal
  • Workers Compensation.com
  • LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites
  • Various trade publications

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