Citation

Schofield KE, Alexander BH, Gerberich SG, Maclehose RF. J. Saf. Res. 2017; 62: 101-105.

Affiliation

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. Electronic address: macl0029@umn.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, U.S. National Safety Council, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsr.2017.06.012

PMID

28882256

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Insurance loss prevention (LP) representatives have access and contact with businesses and employees to provide targeted safety and health resources. Construction firms, especially those smaller in size, are a high-risk population. This research evaluated the association between LP rep contact and risk for lost-time injuries in construction policyholders.

METHODS: Workers' compensation data were utilized to track LP rep contact with policyholders and incidence of lost-time injury over time. Survival analysis with repeated events modeling calculated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS: Compared no LP contact, one contact was associated with a 27% reduction of risk (HR=0.73, CI=0.65-0.82), two with a 41% (HR=0.59, CI=0.51-0.68), and three or more contacts with a 28% reduction of risk (HR=0.72, CI=0.65-0.81).

CONCLUSIONS: LP reps appear to be a valuable partner in efforts to reduce injury burden. Their presence or contact with policyholders is consistent with reduction in overall incidence of lost-time injuries. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Reduction in lost-time injuries, resulting in reduced workers' compensation costs for policyholders and insurance companies, builds a business-case for safety and injury prevention. LP reps are often a low or no-cost benefit for insurance policyholders and may be an important injury prevention resource for small firms and/or those with lack of safety resources and staff.

Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Business-case; Injury; Safety; Survival analysis; Workers' compensation