Workers Compensation Costs CAN Be controlled Part III The MaxCo Success Story

April 22, 2009 By // by Robert Elliott, J.D. Leave a Comment

Steps in a Well-Designed Plan Managing the Claims — Who's in Charge? Active management of all workers' compensation claims is a key responsibility of division management. This means management makes a commitment to take control of the situation and decide who is going to be in charge of work-related injuries and absences: management or the employee. In the past, it was found in many of the divisions, the employee was actually controlling the situation. The employee is in control when s/he stops by the plant with a note from the doctor stating s/he will be "out of work" for several months. In most instances, no procedures were in place to verify whether an injury actually existed, if the injury was work-related and whether the diagnosis was valid. Internal management of claims includes designing and implementing in-house policies, procedures, and facility-based documents to be followed and used by each employee every time an injury occurs. The program (workersxzcompxzkit) must be communicated to employees, supervisors, the insurance division and/or third-party administrator. Let employees know they have to take some responsibility for their own safety and they must cooperate in their recovery and return to work. MaxCo has policies in place so all employees know how workplace injuries are handled. MaxCo gave each employee a brochure titled "What to Do If You Are Injured on the Job." Finally, MaxCo holds training sessions at periodic intervals for its supervisors to ensure they knew how to manage the program. This helps new supervisors. Of course, training was intitially done at roll-out. Author: Robert Elliott, J.D., Executive Vice President, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. 860-553-6604 RElliott@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com Click on these links to try it for yourself. WC Calculator www.ReduceYourWorkersComp.com/calculator.php TD Calculator www.ReduceYourWorkersComp.com/transitional-duty-cost-calculator.php WC 101 www.ReduceYourWorkersComp.com/workers_comp.php Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws are different. Consult with your corporate legal counsel before implementing any cost containment programs. ©2008 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@WorkersCompKit.com