Are you about to hire your next workers compensation claim or lawsuit? In an effort to get a position filled quickly, you may take short cuts that could cost you thousands of dollars.

Prospective employees should be required to complete a pre-hire physical. A copy of the intended job description can then be given to the medical provider with the physical requirements of the position. The Pitcher Insurance Risk Management Portal has forms to help guide you through this process to ensure 1.) only those capable of doing the job are hired 2.) employees are kept safe 3.) you do not hire your next workers compensation claim.

Often times employees don’t understand the workers compensation process and may be afraid to report a claim for fear of losing their job or impacting a daily count of “injury free” days that are tied to an incentive program.

Educate your employees on the workers compensation system. During the hiring process, consider explaining how workers compensation coverage protects your employee when an injury occurs. Your employee should understand that it is his/her responsibility to report an injury immediately and follow the company’s guidelines for seeking medical attention. Explain your return-to-work policy and have your employee sign an agreement stating he or she understands the process. The Pitcher Insurance Risk Management Portal provides you with forms and payroll stuffers to help keep your employees educated and make this process easily understood.

Your employee may become injured and you might be tempted to rely on “the system” to communicate with him/her. As a result, your employee may be confused by the workers compensation process and unsure where to turn.

You and your supervisors need to stay in constant communication with your employees, and Pitcher Insurance is committed to giving you the resources to do so. Through our Pitcher Insurance Risk Management Portal, you will have access to a resource portal that will become your one-stop source for communication tools. Not only is our Risk Management Portal excellent for communicating with your workers, it will also help you in risk management, OSHA compliance, HR, safety training and other business areas. There are on-demand videos to help business owners and risk managers better understand complex business and legal topics. These topics include OSHA, workers’ compensation and risk management.

Success doesn't come easily…and it doesn't come alone. Your employees are critical to your mission. But the bigger you grow, the more time it takes to manage and maintain your staff…time that could be better spent growing your business and attracting new clients. It seems impossible to keep up with all the HR changes taking place.

As one of our valued clients, we will provide you with access to HR360 -- the premier online HR library. It features the most current federal & state laws and updates, plus step-by-step guidelines for compliance as well as how to hire, interview and terminate. It also includes an Online Job Description builder and Salary Benchmarking tool and easy-to-understand information and guidelines for major federal employment laws such as COBRA, HIPAA, FMLA, USERRA, and mandated benefits.

Statistically, your company’s Experience Modification Rate (EMR) has over a 70% chance of being incorrect. Your EMR is a number used by insurance companies to gauge any past cost of injuries and future chances of risk. In addition, over 80% of payroll audits are done incorrectly. Both factors impact your workers compensation coverage.

As your trusted insurance advisor, we will assist and advocate on your behalf during the annual payroll audit conducted by the insurance company. We believe one of the most important things an agent can do for you is to properly exercise your statutory ‘check & balance’ rights with your insurance carrier.

We have also partnered with AcuComp, an independent workers’ compensation claims auditing firm whose function is to audit open workers’ compensation claim files, change reserves, verify modifiers at renewal & pursue corrections with the insurance carriers. AcuComp®, a proven, proactive, long term plan in place to control your worker’s compensation costs!

When your employees become injured, they may need time to recover. As an employer, you may be tempted to rely solely on the workers compensation insurance company and/or your employee’s medical provider to communicate throughout the process. If you do, the process can become unnecessarily prolonged. Claims can remain open longer than needed due to poor communication between you and your employee’s medical provider. As a result, you may be unaware that your employee is well enough to return to work on a modified basis.

As your insurance and risk manager, we will provide you with a Disability Management & Temporary Duty turn-key program so your employee’s medical provider will know that you have a return-to-work program in place. This program is complete with letters that ask the medical provider to refer to the job description that has been provided for the injured employee and also includes letters to the employees about the process. As soon as the employee is medically cleared, offer a light duty position and ask him/her to report to work. If needed, your employee can continue to receive treatment while they continue to recover.

Sometimes employees are trained to do a job well, but are not trained to do their job safely. Many work related injuries can be avoided by effective training.

We offer a wide variety of safety and OSHA compliance training classes, both where our Safety Director will do the on-site training and where we give you 24/7 access to complete training programs. Insurance carriers offer loss control services too, including location inspections and training documents, but usually they will only tell you what needs to be done in the form of loss control recommendations. Seldom, if ever, will they actually do the training for you. Our clients tell us their prior insurance agencies rarely did any OSHA compliance training either, so we always begin with a hazard assessment to determine what has and hasn’t been done. A few areas of training are Lockout/Tagout, Hazard Communication, Machine Guarding, Forklifts, Personal Protective Equipment and Emergency Evacuation. Service includes an OSHA compliant record-keeping book to document your records.

Many employers are concerned about their next OSHA visit. Concerned about citations and fines, employers see OSHA as the enemy. Sound familiar?

We offer a Mock OSHA Inspection from our Safety Director. To accomplish this we function just like an OSHA inspector would. Our process is focused, straightforward, and carefully designed to minimize your valuable time. Compliance services can be provided across all your operations or focused on a specific OSHA standard. For each OSHA standard we have developed proprietary compliance checklists to make sure that no element of the OSHA standard is overlooked. You will receive a detailed, confidential written report covering all standards that apply to your business, including recommendations. For each violation we will also provide an estimate of potential fines and penalties. In short, you will know your potential financial exposure before OSHA knocks on your door.

Many businesses think they don’t need a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plan since they have an insurance program that includes Business Interruption coverage. Thinking that if there is a covered loss their insurance will get them back in business and make them whole, as if it never even happened.

Business Interruption is a critically important coverage but it won’t always make you whole. This valuable coverage pays for your loss of profits and continuing expenses, but it will not pay to replace your lost customers. The best way to keep your customers and reduce your lost down time is to have a great Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that minimizes your chance for being out of business very long and have a comprehensive insurance program crafted by an agent like Pitcher Insurance that specializes in your industry.

Working with Standfast Global and Belfor USA, we will customize a BCP to your company’s budget and need. We will take you from the Risk Assessment to Testing (beginning to end) in a format that not only is effective, but cost-effective as well.