FWCJUA Safety Committee Meeting Report: April 23

The Florida Workers’ Compensation Joint Underwriting Association (“FWCJUA”) Safety Committee (“Committee”) met via teleconference on Thursday, April 23, 2009, to review the FWCJUA 2009 Cause of Loss and Safety Program Analysis Report (“Analysis”), and consider whether modifications to the FWCJUA loss control and safety programs, including performance standards, are warranted.

Florida law requires all FWCJUA policyholders to participate in a safety program.  In an additional effort this year to promote safety, the FWCJUA has included a notice in its binders encouraging policyholders to implement a safety program by offering a two-percent safety credit towards the premium for participation in the program.  The notice further advises that if the policyholder implements a drug-free workplace program that meets the criteria of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, the FWCJUA will reduce the policyholder’s premium by an additional five percent.

Also, this year, the FWCJUA publicized bulletins via mail and its Website regarding free statewide safety workshops offered by the Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation and the United States Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration.  To view the bulletin, click here.

Committee members determined that the Analysis produced no recommendations to alter the current Loss Control and Safety Performance Standards or modify the FWCJUA’s current loss control and safety programs.  In addition, no “alternative” methods and techniques for accepting and using safety programs were identified for exploration at this time.  Highlights of the Analysis included:

• 34 percent reduction in policy count from 2007 to 2008
• 39 percent decrease in claim counts from 2007 to 2008
• 10.5 percent of policies received a loss survey in 2008, compared to 13.4 percent in 2007
• 79 percent of claims reported in 2008 were from construction risks
• 40 percent increase in Tier 1 accounts from 2007 to 2008, (which is a positive sign that policyholders may be improving work place safety and controlling claims)
• 87 percent decrease in minimum premium policy claim counts from 2007 to 2008
• Claim severity, not claim frequency, is an issue, and thus is the focus of loss-prevention and claims-handling efforts
• Types of serious injuries are consistent from year to year, and reflect book of business composition (i.e., construction trades)

With the level depopulation, lower claim counts and book of business consistency being stable, the Committee agreed the continued promotion of FWCJUA loss prevention and safety programs is the key to improving work place safety.  The steps taken by the FWCJUA to ensure that its policyholders are aware of both the necessity to maintain safe work places and the resources available through the FWCJUA to improve work place safety appear to be sufficient at this time, and thus, should remain in place with no modifications, members determined. 

To view the Loss Control and Safety Performance Standards, which can be found in Part Three of the FWCJUA Operations Manual (Pages 25-29), click here.

With all business concluded, the meeting adjourned.

Should you have any questions or comments, please contact Colodny Fass.

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