What does it take to keep people from being hurt on the job and get them back to work as fast as possible when injuries inevitably occur–all while treating them with respect and concern, and without busting your loss control budget? To see how the best in the business handle such challenges, check out the profiles of this year's three winners in the second annual National Underwriter Award For Excellence In Workers' Compensation Risk Management. They share the secrets of their success in a series of profile in our WC RM Award section.
The winners–presented with their awards this week during the Workers' Compensation Educational Conference, as part of the National Trends program put together by NU–are role models for their peers:
o ServiceMaster, our "2008 Champion," provides pest control, disaster recovery, lawn care and landscaping, cleaning and restoration, as well as other services to 10.5 million homes and businesses annually via 35,000 employees–represented by David Hopps, vice president of risk management.
o Walt Disney Company, receiving an "Honorable Mention," is a diverse entertainment conglomerate featuring theme parks and resorts, TV, movie and theatrical productions, as well as consumer products and retail outlets–represented by Tim East, director of risk management.
o Select Staffing, another "Honorable Mention," is a privately held outsourcing firm with some 400,000 employees on call and 130,000 on assignment each week across the country–represented by Fred Pach?n, vice president of risk and insurance.
With one in five of its employees being injured on the job and workers' compensation for nearly 5,000 claims accounting for a whopping 65 percent of the company's record-high cost of risk of $117 million in 2002, a new executive management team at ServiceMaster–facing a "significant moral and financial imperative," according to its risk manager–realized there was no choice but to launch a cultural revolution, backed by a multifaceted loss control and safety initiative.
For an organization as diverse as The Walt Disney Company, developing a comprehensive risk management strategy for workers' compensation might have been a daunting challenge, were it not for the commitment, support and adaptability of its people, from top-level executives down to individual employees–which the company refers to as "cast members."
When Select Staffing's newly hired consultant submitted his 50-page report in 2001, showing how the outsourcing firm could employ risk management to overcome the fact that it had overshot its workers' compensation loss projection by $20 million, he was told by the CEO at the time: "Sounds like you're trying to build an empire. We're not that big of a company."
Teamwork, training, monitoring, motivation, top management support and accountability are all critical elements in preventing injuries, hastening recoveries, and holding down the cost of risk for workers' compensation, according to the risk managers of three NU award-winning programs.
Since accepting the inaugural NU Award For Excellence in Workers' Compensation Risk Management last year, a lot has been happening for Gary A. Nesbit–both personally, with a big promotion, as well as at the risk management department of his Charlotte, N.C.-based Belk Brothers Department Stores.
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