Workers Compensation Group Rates

Hunter Consulting provides comprehensive consulting and claims administration in the area of workers’ compensation. Hunter’s services are custom designed to meet the ever-changing workers’ needs. By utilizing aggressive claims management systems and a personalized approach to providing services, they are able to control workers’ compensation costs. Benefits for participating companies include substantial savings and a unique defense fund provides participating employers with funds for legal and medical expenses to defend certain workers’ compensation claims. For more information, please contact Hunter Consulting at 800-486-6652800-486-6652.

Review the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation

• 10-Step-Business-Plan-for-Associations
• Safety Talk Employee Orientation
• Motivating Employees to Work Safely
• Group Rating Safety Accountability letter

10-Step Business Plan for Safety

With BWC’s 10-Step Business Plan for Safety employers can focus on implementing a more effective safety plan one step at a time as opposed to getting lost in the “where to start” phase of the big picture. While some of the BWC programs require employers to complete the 10-Step Business Plan for Safety, it can also be a good resource for companies looking to implement a new safety program or simply improve an old one. Please watch our monthly newsletters/website each month, as we will be highlighting each step. If you are anxious to get started or simply can’t wait for the next step to be released you can visit Hunter Consulting Company’s website at www.hunterconsulting.com for the full plan outline.

SAFETY ARTICLES

Review the article on

• Safe Use of Fire Extinguishers
• Preventing Heat Related Illnesses
• Safety Trips for Winter Driving
• Hypothermia
• Practical Electrical Safety Tips
• Implementing an Effective Safety Incentive Program
• Regular Safety Communication
• Hazard Communication Standard

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July 2013

RE: Group-Rating Safety Accountability

Dear Employer:

Each year Ohio employers have the opportunity to participate in BWC’s Group-Experience-Rating Program or Group-Retrospective-Rating Program. While these programs are not required, they do provide you with an opportunity to significantly reduce your workers’ compensation premiums, while increasing your awareness of safety and risk-management strategies.

Workplace safety is an important component of these programs. To succeed in accident prevention, we encourage you to use the many resources available to you. We believe a group-rating program is a partnership that includes you and your employees, your sponsoring organization or third-party administrator (TPA) and BWC. Each has specific roles and responsibilities, all designed to assist in preventing workplace accidents. This letter outlines the safety services expectations you should have as an employer enrolled in a group-rating program.

The employer will: Maintain a safe workplace; Attend safety training to enhance workplace safety; Implement BWC’s 10-Step Business Plan for Safety and use available safety services as needed; Attend the required two-hour training and provide proof of attendance to sponsor for claim(s)
occurring within the last two years.

The certified primary and affiliated sponsoring organizations will: Communicate, educate and verify BWC’s 10-Step Business Plan for Safety to group members; Sponsor eight hours of safety training (this may be done at one time or may be provided incrementally as long as the total is at least eight hours); Provide information regarding safety resources to group members; Possibly assist an employer in achieving its safety needs; Manage employer fulfillment of the two-hour training requirement, where applicable.

The TPA may: Assist sponsoring organizations with fulfilling the group-rating safety requirements; Assist an employer with its safety needs; Work in conjunction with sponsors to develop safety training and deliver safety resources; Provide resources for claims handling.

BWC will: Monitor all group-rating safety activities to confirm requirements are met; Meet at least annually with sponsoring organizations to provide recommendations for fulfilling safety requirements; Provide safety training through Ohio’s Center for Occupational Safety & Health; Offer on-site safety consultation (hazard assessments, air and noise monitoring, ergonomics evaluation, training) by a BWC safety professional; Offer publications and videos for safety program support; Conduct employer visits to confirm the employer is meeting group-rating requirements, when appropriate.
The goal of this collaborative effort is to make sure all your safety needs are met. Using these resources will assist you in preventing accidents, reducing claims costs and achieving the highest discounts possible. Below you’ll find contact information for various resources.

Group sponsor:
TPA: Hunter Consulting Company, tpurcell@hunterconsulting.com, (513) 372-8714
BWC:https://www.bwc.ohio.gov/employer/services/safetyhygiene.asp,%20groupratingsafety@bwc.state.oh.us

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Save money, achieve Excellence with BWC’s new programs More often than not, CEOs and business owners place workers’ compensation near the top of the list of cost drivers for their company.Last year, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) looked to ease this burden with several initiatives designed to reduce red tape and a base-rate reduction that resulted in more than $86 million in premium savings for public and private employers. The agency also saved an additional $80 million by cutting its own biennial budget by 12 percent.Now, BWC is focusing on making workplaces safer and improving return-to-work rates. The agency’s leaders believe improvements in these areas will bring further reductions in workers’ compensation costs for Ohio employers.“Over the past four years, the number of injured workers getting back to work after sustaining a workers’ compensation claim has fallen from 75 percent to below 69 percent here in Ohio,” explains BWC Administrator/CEO Steve Buehrer. “Additionally, we’ve seen medical and indemnity costs rising faster than the national average.”Destination: Excellence takes on troubling trends With these statistics and trends as a backdrop, BWC created Destination: Excellence – a package of new and existing BWC programs – that allows companies to design a risk-management plan that suits their business needs.Destination: Excellence’s program options:

Address safety and accident prevention through on-site consultation by BWC experts, industry-specific training, rebates for safety council participation and help with implementing a drug-free program;
Provide assistance with developing transitional work and vocational rehab programs, including grants to help develop these types of programs;
Help save companies money on premiums through adoption of best practices and meeting certain performance requirements. Additional savings are also possible for effective policy maintenance such as doing business online and keeping current on premiums.

“We designed Destination: Excellence to align with our top priority of preventing injuries and getting injured workers healthy and back to work sooner,” Jeremy Jackson, BWC’s chief of public policy & strategy, explains. “A quick return to work has the dual benefit of saving money, but more importantly increasing the chances of a positive outcome for the injured worker.”From helping to review and develop a transitional work program to on-site safety and health consultation, BWC has experienced staff members to assist employers with all of the elements of Destination: Excellence (See sidebar). There is no additional cost to employers for these services.BWC offering financial assistance with workplace wellnessIn addition to Destination: Excellence, BWC recently unveiled its Workplace Wellness Grant Program for Ohio employers that want to improve the health and wellness of their workers through wellness programs. Developing workplace wellness initiatives can help employers control the escalating costs of health care by proactively addressing risk factors.BWC will provide a grant over four years to implement wellness programs addressing health risk factors such as obesity and chronic disease. Health experts often point to obesity as a key contributor to conditions that include hypertension, diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease and cancer. These conditions, in turn, can complicate workers’ compensation cases and returning injured workers back to work.”Our belief is that employers who support the wellness of their workforce will be less likely to have employees experience work-related accidents, injuries and illnesses,” says Buehrer. “Reducing occupational injuries or illnesses reduces the number of workers’ compensation claims, which lowers costs and supports a healthy, productive workforce.”Visit ohiobwc.com for more information about Destination: Excellence and the Workplace Wellness Grant Program. Workplace Wellness Grant Program Employers wanting to improve the health and wellness of their workers can benefit from our newest program, the Workplace Wellness Grant Program (WWGP). It provides funding to assist employers in establishing training and programs to reduce health risk factors specific to their employees.BWC established WWGP to study the effect of a wellness program in the workplace on bringing down incidence and cost of accidents and illnesses. The goal is to control the escalating cost of workers’ compensation claims through addressing health risk factors. The WWGP’s collateral goals are also to reduce health-care costs for employers, as well as improve the health of the workforce.We’ve provided an application packet for you to download below. Please take the time to read more about the program and see if it will help introduce a wellness program into your safety program. Information can also be found at ohiobwc.com.Workplace Wellness Grant Program Overview and Forms