Ice and snow-related slip and fall workers’ comp claims nearly doubled and represented one-third of claims involving time away from work last year in the Midwest area, which had a particularly harsh winter. In five Midwest states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota, and Illinois winter-related slips and falls claims averaged 29% of all workers’ comp […]

Employers have spent a lot of time and money on the traditional solutions to slips, trips, and falls, which occur in almost every type of workplace, yet they still account for: More than 95 million lost work days per year – about 65 percent of all work days lost 15 percent of all accidental deaths […]

The National Safety Council’s (NSC) recently issued the report, Prescription Pain Medications: A Fatal Cure for Injured Workers, identifies 15 court cases from 2009 through 2015, where an employer was sued because of the prescribed use of opioids to treat workplace injuries. Many injured workers who were prescribed opioid painkillers have become addicted, suffered additional […]

Many businesses accept on “good faith” that the Workers’ Comp audit is done correctly. Yet, the audit process is complex and prone to many errors and omissions. Since a Workers’ Compensation premium is estimated initially, the actual cost is determined through the premium audit, which can result in higher and unexpected costs. There are two […]

It is obvious, yet often overlooked, factor in controlling the costs of Workers’ Compensation. It is the immediate supervisor, or more accurately, the person who is the perceived loss of the injured employee. While this may seem like a no-brainer, in the typical injury management process the supervisor’s involvement ends after the due diligence of […]

How do companies keep score in workers’ compensation? Typically insurance carriers provide basic or “top of the line measurements,” such as annual totals of claim expenditures, average claims costs for medical only claims and average claims costs for lost time claims to employers. They may even break down some injury costs by department. Not surprisingly, […]

Workers’ Compensation rates have been trending downward, as have the number of job-related injuries. Even injuries totaling $50,000 or more dropped for the first time in 2005. But before we let loose the balloons and congratulate ourselves on what is clearly a notable achievement for American business, there’s another side of the story that deserves […]

Throughout much of the country, declining Workers’ Compensation rates are music to employers’ ears. After all, that seems like long-awaited good news, particularly since Workers’ Compensation is more often than not viewed as a necessity and a significant cost of doing business. Yet, looking at Workers’ Compensation as a business necessity or a commodity is […]

“We’ve got an employee who’s abusing the system and we’re just about fed up. So are our people.” Every insurance agent has heard these words from frustrated employers who are certain injured workers are taking advantage of the Workers’ Compensation system. While we all know such abuses occur, they may be far less frequent than […]

One of the most confusing components of an employer’s Workers’ Compensation Policy is the Experience Modification Factor. They watch it increase and decrease from year to year – higher Experience Modification Factors generally increase costs and lower factors reduce them. What’s often missing is an understanding of how the Experience Mod factor works and what […]