Workers’ compensation costs throughout the U.S. have increased by 8-10% over the past few years. This may be attributed to an increase in medical costs and wages, which in turn raises the indemnity payouts. There are two ways to decrease these costs: (1) have fewer injuries and (2) improve management of the injuries when they occur. In this session at the PRIMA 2016 Annual Conference, Helaine Rumaner, CSP, ARM, Director of Risk Management, Houston, TX, explored some of the injury prevention programs one municipality in Texas has begun to implement and strategies to increase management of injuries in order to
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At the 2016 PRIMA Annual Conference, Richard Spiers from Genesis Management and Insurance services discussed the decision process on whether to take claims to trial or pursue settlement. Why trial? Sometimes a trial is your only alternative due to excessively large demands, unclear and unproven facts that sound bad, or damages that are larger than anticipated. Uncooperative showboating attorneys also can result in taking things to trial unnecessarily as they are trying to make a name for themselves. Why settle? Sometimes settlement makes the best economic sense as the settlement can be significantly less than the trial costs or trial
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The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the business landscape and promises to do the same for our urban centers. Internet-connected sensors and video cameras providing real-time data on traffic patterns, air and noise pollution, energy resources and parking issues are already helping cities design solutions for a cleaner, more efficient and sustainable lifestyle. These technologies also create new business models that can help to reduce risk and increase funding capacity for urban development and projects. The panel speakers for this 2016 PRIMA session were: Karim Al-Khafaji, Alliance Director, Sensity Systems; Guneet Bedi, VP, Business Development, Relayr; and Javier Martinez,
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The speakers in this PRIMA 2016 session were Ben Eggert, Esq., Wiley Rein, LLP; Gerard Finley, CPCU, Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.; Sarah Perry, Risk Manager, Columbia, MO and Richard Spiers, CPCU, ARM, Are, VP Claims, Genesis Management and Insurance Services. Drones are quickly becoming a technological innovation employed by public entities and businesses nationwide. While drones are a heavily regulated technology, the risks and exposure are far from certain and change from year to year as the laws and technologies develop constantly. Drone Usage: There are several ways drones are being used within public entities. Police use – for surveillance/photography,
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In this session at the PRIMA 2016 Annual Conference, Regan Rychetsky, ABCP, Director of Enterprise Risk Management and Safety at Texas Health and Human Services Commission, explored effective preparation and response strategies that can be used with active shooter situations. An active shooter acts spontaneously, with little or no warning. The perpetrators are often depressed, angry and suicidal. Their motive is to punish others and negotiations will not work. They are there to kill and be killed. They are not there to come out alive. In addition, the more media coverage that these events receive, the more sensationalized this becomes
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Student travel is often conducted without the same administrative controls as other school activities. Pressures from staff, students and parents as well as existing school traditions make oversight difficult. Overnight trips, foreign trips and service-related travel are becoming more popular and thus there is a need to develop a risk assessment protocol to evaluate proposals and plans for student travel. This PRIMA 2016 session was presented by Robert Bambino, Wright Risk Management, LLC and Michael S. Foulke, Munich Reinsurance America, Inc. Concerns about school and student travel are due to many factors with the biggest being terrorism, civil unrest and
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At the 2016 PRIMA Annual Conference, Brett Carruthers from Wright Public Entity and the NYSIR and Neda Saric from Munich Re discussed the significant challenges in the prevention of student athlete head injuries. In the public entity world, this is a huge concern for school district administrators, athletic directors and coaches. One of the biggest problems with head injuries is that historically there has not been a “gold standard” for diagnosing a concussion. These injuries cannot always be clearly defined by diagnostic testing. The diagnosis relies heavily on self-reported symptoms from the patient. Unfortunately, this means athletes can and often
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The biggest security threat to any organization is not a lack of cameras or access control – it’s the people. In a crisis, every school professional must engage in a specialized role. However, there may be temp employees or substitutes who may not know your crisis response plans. In this session at PRIMA 2016, Dana Henderson presented how Charleston County School District has developed innovative and inexpensive solution to these challenges. Throughout their schools, Charleston County had nearly 5,000 cameras, strong visitor management, nearly 1,300 access control points – the “the stuff”. The largest vulnerability in a school is the
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This session at the PRIMA 2016 Annual Conference featured a panel of public entity risk managers discussing their biggest workers’ compensation challenges and how they are overcoming them. Presenters included: Mark Walls, Safety National Kimberly George, Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc. Marilyn Rivers, CPCU, ARM, AIC, City Saratoga Springs, NY Dan Hurley, CSP, ARM-P, MS, City of Chesapeake, VA Wade Damron, Georgia Department of Administrative Services Dawn Watkins, AIC, PHR, ARM-P, Los Angeles Unified School District What are some return to workers’ comp challenges you experience and how have you approached them? Rivers: We are in a unique situation, so
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Excessive force claims are costing cities and municipalities millions of dollars each year. While the issue of police misconduct is not new, the advent of social media is helping to make this issue headline news. In this session at the PRIMA 2016 Annual Conference, presenters discussed strategies and tools that can be applied to mitigate the risk related to the use of excessive force. Speakers included: Elizabeth Capek, AIC, ARe, Munich Re America Catalina Sugayan, Esq., Sedgwick LLP Technology Police departments are encouraged to purchase body cameras and provide provide standards of use and training. There are many pros and
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