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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At the 2016 PRIMA Annual Conference, Frank Altiere from PMA Management Corp and Lori Gray from Prince William County, VA discussed how using data effectively is vital to improving your program and proving its value. In workers’ compensation you can significantly impact your results and metrics are the key to doing so. They can help gain buy-in for change and new programs from senior management, provides performance triggers to intervene, and prevent claims and save lives. Using data effectively involves the following steps: What are my workers’ compensation risk issues? Ten years ago we were not focused on the aging
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The presenters for this 2016 PRIMA session were Richard A. Spiers, CPCU, ARM, Are, Genesis Management and Insurance Services and Attorney Samuel C. Hall, Jr., Crivello Carlson, S.C. Currently, over 3,500 law enforcement departments use police body cameras and that number is expected to more than double over the next five years. Body cameras can have may benefits as well as risks. Many agencies using body cameras do not have adequate policies and practices in place. Do Body Cameras Change Behavior? While empirical research is just beginning in this area, initial findings suggest a connection between the use of body
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Police officers, firefighters and emergency medical services personnel continue to get in trouble for the same things over and over again. This ‘trouble’ does not just impact them as employees, but also the employer and the management in a public entity. In this session at the PRIMA 2016 Annual Conference, Gordon Graham from Lexipol, LLC, demonstrated five categories that serve as the root of risk control problems and activities within them that can be fine tuned to improve existing policies and prevent problems. According to Graham, “In order to be successful, you must first get and keep good PEOPLE, derive
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This PRIMA 2016 session was presented by William Grace Frost, Director of Strategic Relations, Community Matters. Community Matters is a national leader in student‐centered school safety programs and school climate improvement since 2000 Founders of the evidence‐based Safe School Ambassadors Program implemented in over 2,000 schools nationwide and in Canada, Puerto Rico and Japan. The intent of this session was to provide a school climate improvement framework and assessment process, designed to implement an effective and sustainable risk reduction strategy. To do this, one must think outside of the box. Bullying and cyber bullying are becoming more prevalent, much more
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At PRIMA 2016, a session discussed why it is important that risk managers are among the best marketing and sales professionals. The speakers were Zachary Gifford from California State University and Cindy Parker with Sedgwick. Programs are only as effective as the willingness of employees to follow them. Risk managers must persuade people to wear safety goggles, wipe up spills on the floor and use proper lifting techniques. Should an accident occur, risk managers must be able to convince employees to report incidents immediately, explain why treatment from a company doctor is preferred and encourage a safe and speedy return
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