Even the most diligent executives can’t think of everything when it comes to cutting workers’ compensation costs.

Here’s how one firm found - and fixed - a hidden cause of its high premiums: The risk manager at an Alabama-based educational institution was disturbed by a sudden jump in its workers’ comp premiums. There’d been a sizeable uptick in injury claims over the last year.

One thing stood out from the claims: There seemed to be a high number of claims tied to employees’ slip-and-fall accidents. But there was no clear reason why it was happening.

Senior management conferred with the facilities manager, who said the problem could be the shoes employees wore. But the top brass suspected there was more to it than that. There were too many claims for it just to be people’s shoes.

Carrier had the answer

Next, senior management went directly to the workers’ comp carrier and asked if the vendor had any insights that could help cut its disability claims.

Their observation: They saw lots of similar claims in buildings with over-polished floors.

Management then huddled again with Facilities. It turned out Facilities had switched to a different type of floor polish the year before. The department head of Facilities said he’d go back to the other kind. Practically overnight, the accidents stopped. 

At renewal time for the workers’ comp plan, premiums dropped significantly.  Just further evidence why it pays for you to get directlyinvolved - and dig deep for answers - when it comes to managing premiums.