For years now, the Trust has been insuring employees working in group homes that care for people with physical, mental and behavioral challenges. No doubt, it can be a very physically and emotionally demanding job based on the care required for these residents. The frequency and severity of injury losses by employees working within these environments clearly speak to this fact.
Due to worsening loss experience within these group home environments, the Trust initiated a 6 month pilot project to take a deeper dive into understanding the risks associated with group homes and to see if anything else could be offered by the Trust to help these members improve safety and turn the tide in their loss experience.
Through careful internal review and selection, a 20-year member of the Trust was chosen to participate in the pilot project. The member recognized that they were a good candidate for the pilot based on their poor loss history, their difficulty in returning injured workers back to work during the recuperative process, and the understanding that if their loss trend did not turn around, workers’ compensation premiums would surely continue to increase.
The goal of the pilot was to examine four key areas: return to work opportunities for injured workers; reviewing operations on all three shifts to mitigate risks causing injuries; review effectiveness of employee safety training; and lastly, ensure job descriptions were compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and appropriately reflected the actual demands of the job.
Due to the uniqueness and scope of this project, Robb Wright, a licensed occupational therapist who owns and operates a company called Wright2Work was hired by the Trust to spearhead the project in consultation with key management from the Trust.
Initial results so far have been very positive, although it is still too early to determine the long term impact of the recommended changes in operations that came out of the project with the member. For instance, through 11 months of the policy year, the member has experienced a 50% reduction in lost time cases as compared to their previous two year average. All employees sustaining a lost time injury were placed back to work within a short time period, minimizing costs associated with lost time wages. Some environmental and training shortcomings were identified and addressed. And lastly, the group home administrator is convinced that the project gave his organization the “shot in the arm” it needed to improve safety awareness and enhance the overall safety culture among the employee population.
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