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Can you come up with safety ideas that will prevent employee injuries and save your company a significant amount in workers’ compensation, auto, and general liability insurance costs? Have you approached your insurance agent to help you come up with a plan that will work?

Jeff Graham of LaPorte & Associates, a Portland, Oregon-based insurance agency and a member of PLANET’s Safety/Insurance Committee, says several of his green industry clients have developed cost-saving safety ideas that have worked. Here are two examples:

• One landscape company that had not carefully monitored its workers’ personal driving records suffered increased losses, greater severity of losses, and higher insurance costs. The company partnered with Graham to develop its own company driver’s license. In order to drive a company vehicle, an employee must pass both a road test and a written test. The license is renewed every year and can be taken away at any time. Incentives are received each year if the license is renewed. A worker must meet eligibility guidelines before taking the test. The person must also be at least 21 years of age, have three or more years’ driving experience, and must have limited activity on his or her personal driving record. The result? “Over the last two years, the company reduced its auto loss ratio over 50 percent,” Graham says. “By doing this, competition from insuring companies has increased, making for more favorable rates now and in the future.”
• After maintaining an excellent safety record for 10 years, one tree service and landscape maintenance company suffered a 50 percent increase in its experience modifier due to the severity of accidents, back strains, etc. The company brought Graham and his accountant to employee safety meetings to show the workers what was happening to company costs. “The company decided to have all employees take ‘ownership’ of their loss record,” Graham says. “This opened their eyes. What changed was their safety culture –– they were all in it together now and nobody wanted to be the one who had the accident that ruined the record.” The company’s loss record and experience modifier had become so poor that its only source of insurance coverage was from the state’s assigned risk pool, which included an additional 50 percent surcharge. Yet, due to its successful change in approach to safety, an underwriter was found who was willing to accept the risk –– and after just one year, the company got out of the state’s risk pool and saved $17,000.

How Your Agent Can Help

Graham says it is important for companies to know how to utilize their insurance agent so that the agent can be a resource for safety-related ideas that work.

As part of their premium, he says, all insurance companies “can and should include some loss control and risk management services.” These services can come directly from the insurance agent, the insurance company, or a third party that specializes in risk management. “Either way, it begins with and is coordinated by the agent,” Graham says.

For best results, he suggests hiring an agent who understands the green industry. “The more the agent knows your business and industry, the more that person can do for you without needing outside help,” he says.

Start by having your agent perform a safety program audit, Graham suggests. “Oftentimes, an outside look will uncover areas of concern that have gone unnoticed. Communicate any recommendations to your Safety Committee for implementation, and track the results,” he says.

“Another great resource is the State OSHA Consultation Service, which will come on-site and perform a free safety audit,” Graham adds. This service is completely separate from OSHA enforcement and is oriented toward small businesses. Your insurance agent can assist you in making contact with the OSHA Consultation service in your state.

The bottom line, Graham says, is that “your safety program can be as good as anyone else’s,” if you use the assistance that is available to you.



9/05

By Barbara Mulhern, PLANET Safety Specialist