How A Safety Professional Can Develop a Workers Comp Program

A Reader Asks:
How DO I put a Workers’ Comp Program Together Using My Safety Experience? Recently my company tasked me with managing workers’ comp costs because I have a background in safety. I really don’t know where to begin. I tried expressing my reservations to management, and they just said, “Nonsense! If you have a background in safety, you can handle all the workers’ comp stuff.”

Now I am panicking because to be honest, I don’t have a clue as to where to begin. I used to think that workers’ comp was the flip side of safety and to some extent it is, but I’m finding safety only works up to the point where a work-related accident occurs. Once the accident occurs, I find our company doesn’t have any stop gap measures in place to protect ourselves. Where do I begin and how do I get something concrete off the ground quickly so I can keep my job?

Help! Bob Elliott Replies:
Yes, you’re right, workers’ comp management is the flip side of safety if you look at it from the vantage point of pre- and post-accident. Safety measures are critically necessary to ensure work related accidents don’t occur. However, if and when accidents do occur, you must have post-injury procedures in place to quickly address that accident, provide medical care to the employee if necessary, and return the employee to work in a modified or full time duty position as soon as possible. I think you can design a program that will enable you to manage both safety and workers’ comp if you build upon what you have.

You can use the same tools you used to build your safety program to build a workers’ comp management program. Since a strong safety program is in place, one all employees are trained in as to signage, work place safety, toolbox safety, handrail safety, etc., a post-injury response training program can also be developed. Since communication is such a large part of safety, workers’ comp management communication can be also be developed.

Use templates adaptable to develop a workers’ compensation policy such as: an employee brochure, post injury response documents, letters to medical people and claims handlers, a communication strategy.

Assessment

Since workers’ compensation management isn’t a mirror image of safety, you need to acquaint yourself with the myriad factors impacting your workers’ comp costs. Taking a workers’ comp assessment is a great place educate yourself about all the costs you may not have noticed that are driving your comp costs out of control.

I recommend taking an assessment to discover where you are with your current workers’ compensation program. Once you have this information design an action plan. I suggest using a timeline so you can prioritize your action plan because otherwise you will feel overwhelmed.

Make sure you obtain adequate resources for program development and training up front. Based on the assessment, create a short presentation for senior management to show comp costs and cost savings of comp management.

Planning Tools

You can use several free planning tools to illustrate the costs (known and hidden) of a workers’ compensation program and to bring management on board.

1. The Sales to Pay for Accidents Calculator:
This tool (below) dramatically illustrates comp costs Use your laptop with a projector, and let management key some numbers into the calculator so they can draw their own conclusions. Management will love it because this calculator drives the point home as nothing else can.

2. The Transitional Duty Cost Calculator
Use the TD calculator (below) in the same way to show how implementing a modified duty program can save the company big money right away. Let management manipulate the calculator if they wish. This will bring your point home, and ensure you’re receiving the financial backing you need to develop and implement a program.

3. What to Present to Management
Provide management with a prioritized list you’ve developed from the assessment and recommendations and a calendar plan of action items, together with a cost estimate so you can ask for and receive adequate resources to do the job management gave you based on your “safety experience.”

Implementation will derive from your assessment answers, but for the sake of illustration, let’s assume your immediate goals are:

1. Instituting a strong post-injury response procedure.
2. Instituting transitional duty program.
3. Reviewing your claims handling practices to ensure claims handlers are responsive and plugged into your situation.
4. Bringing injured employees back to work.
5. Launching a communications program for the employee population (this includes writing a workers’ comp policy, a brochure detailing the policy and post injury response procedures, and a get-well component for keeping the lines open with out-on-comp employees.

Returning Employees To Work: A Two-Pronged Approach

1. You can design modified duty positions as part of your transitional duty program for employees out a work for a short period of time.
2. You can convene file reviews to develop remedial action plans for those employees who are out of work forever. File reviews would typically take place at the insurer’s worksite. You should invite the case handler, a physical consultant with a background in workers’ comp, together with any one else who touches the case. Discuss each case and decide next steps for bringing the case to resolution.

Issues in Workers’ Comp Management Safety Doesn’t Touch

1. You must establish, to the extent your state laws allow, the best medical care coordination possible.
2. Ensure every cost containment measure is in place.
3. Work closely with your insurer to have regular file reviews to begin dealing with ancient comp claims and either bring those workers’ who are out on comp back to work or resolve and close the file in some way.
4. Schedule visits to your company’s preferred medical clinic – if that’s possible in your state — to make sure they are in step with your post injury response procedures.
5. As part of your claims handling, you should schedule a periodic visit with your insurer to be sure they are paying out what you want them to on open claims.
6. Use a calendar and plot your strategy, along with your other duties so you can coordinate with your safety initiatives, organize your thoughts and your time more efficiently. (workersxzcompxzkit)
7. Divide implementation into immediate and longer-range action items for both safety and workers’ comp management. The important thing to remember is that everything occurs over time.
8. Organize your strategy as it occurs over time.

A cost-effective workers’ compensation program is like Rome, it can’t be built in a day.

Bob’s Sign Off Tip: “Good luck comes with good management!”

Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers’ Compensation costs, including airlines, health care, manufacturing, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. He can be contacted at: [email protected] or 860-553-6604.