With the winter weather can come icy and snowy conditions and that means potential for slips and falls, one of the leading causes of on-the-job accidents. And the more ice and snow, the more chances there are for more slips and falls that can cost a lot! Be sure to talk to your Loss Control Consultant about our Snow and Ice Management plan ideas that can help you manage “plowing, sanding and salting” to keep your parking lots, sidewalks and stairs free of ice and snow this winter. Also, talk to them about “ice cleats” which are a great way to keep your workers that are out in the bad weather from slipping and falling at job and customer sites.
To that point, the better job we all do at minimizing and eliminating hazards and working with our folks to educate them on safe work practices, the less of your premium dollars go to pay Workers’ Comp claims. The less we spend to compensate for claims on the job means the better chance that all our groups can develop a financial surplus which can result in a “Distribution” which is a fancy way of saying premium money going back to our Member companies as we do not need to hold onto that much to pay claims.
In most years, we have been able to “give back” distributions to one, two, or all three of the groups that we manage. Sometimes it is a little and sometimes a lot. This year at the annual meetings in November, we were thrilled to give back a total of $1,550,000 to all three groups!!!! This is a really big deal and we should all feel good about our group effort to help ensure that our workers go home from work every day “with all of their fingers and toes” as that is pretty much the goal.
We couldn’t do it without all your help and cooperation and we thank you for that!!! Keep up the good work.
A much bigger piece of news is that we are in the final stages of completely replacing the software we use to run the Workers’ Comp aspect of our business. We had simply outgrown the software we have been using for well over a decade, almost two, and was bought when we were managing about 50 companies in one self-insured group. We now manage three different self-insured groups with well over 400 companies that employ over 35,000 workers. We also manage four New Hampshire companies that are self-insured and we do some Third Party Administrator work for a commercial insurance company. It was time, actually, it was way overdue.
We’re excited to share that after investing over $1 million and dedicating countless hours of hard work from our amazing team, we’re now starting to “go live” with various parts of our new software system. By the time you’re reading this, we’re hopeful that all those efforts will be behind us, and we’ll be reaping the rewards of significant efficiencies and powerful data access that weren’t possible before. This is a big step forward for us, and we can’t wait to see the positive impact it will have!
Of course, as with any big transition, there may be some hiccups along the way. If you encounter any issues, please don’t hesitate to reach out so we can address them promptly and ensure everything runs smoothly. Your feedback is invaluable as we make this leap. Thank you for your patience and support throughout this journey—we believe the results will be well worth it!
