The physical and emotional well-being of employees is of vital importance to the success of K-12 schools, but the challenge of keeping school staff safe from harm is becoming more and more complex. As a result of rising grievances, the costs of Workers’ Compensation (WC) claims are sky rocketing. Rising claims and rising costs are the curse of school administrators who continually look for ways to reduce the probability of injuries happening on their campuses, and it’s also why risk managers embrace the saying – “the best Workers’ Comp claims are the ones that never happen.”

In workers’ compensation claims, the main objective for an employer is to return injured employees to work as quickly and safely as possible within their functional limitations through transitional work. Stay at Work (SAW) programs allow this to happen.

The topics of cyber risk and cyber security have been around for a while, but wrapping our heads around these topics seems to be something with which many of us public risk management professionals struggle. As chair of PRIMA’s External Affairs Committee, cyber risks and security are topics that we have been discussing for more than a year, and still strive to define.

You get a call from the chief of police about using a drone in his department. They are excited about the many uses in law enforcement, such as surveillance on rooftops where snipers may be or have been, traffic accident investigations where there is a big traffic jam, and various other things. He asks what they need to do to start operating; they can buy one online with fancy cameras for only a few hundred dollars.

In last week’s PRIMA Blog, we explored unallocated expenses. In this blog, we will discuss allocated expenses. According to IRMI, allocated expenses (ALAE) are defined as loss adjustment expenses that are assignable or allocable to specific claims. Fees paid to outside attorneys, experts, and investigators used to defend claims are examples of ALAE. Municipalities typically entrust their TPAs to select vendors as needed to administer the claims. One common example of an allocated expense is bill review, which is used to reprice medical bills to fee schedule.

You have just concluded a rigorous request for proposal (RFP) process and selected a third party administrator (TPA) at a very good price, or so you thought. At the end of the three-year agreement, your average cost per claim is still increasing at a steady rate. But you have just negotiated a hefty reduction in the fee per claim you are paying. The medical network, utilization review and pharmacy vendors are all showing much-improved savings. At the end of the day, your experience modification (e-mod) has not improved and still remains at an unacceptable level.

Communication problems and unresolved conflict in the workplace may be two of your biggest risks. Whether you are trying to convey policies, proper methodologies, expectations, or coaching, the ability to communicate effectively often proves to be a limiting factor for many people – especially managers and supervisors. If you are a great communicator, then you can develop broad influence and deep impact. If you struggle to be engaging, compelling and memorable, then you will likely experience and cause a lot of frustration for yourself and the people with whom you work.

With increasing frequency, the world of risk and insurance is facing challenges that are leading to disruptive interventions from a variety of sources, the aggregate of which portends some significant shifts in an industry often viewed as being stuck in a lower gear. Well-known and understood among underwriters is the challenge of the investment environment, which has been disrupted continuously since the recession beginning 2008 with returns being artificially suppressed by the federal government’s economic strategy.

I recently had the opportunity to mingle with public entity risk managers from across the country at the national PRIMA conference in Atlanta. I took the opportunity to ask those I met (as often as I could, while trying not to be too annoying), “How can we reduce law enforcement auto accidents?” And while my data collection would not stand up to scientific scrutiny, I am confident it is a fair reflection of the situation. Two conclusions are clear:

Municipal insurance pools are an excellent example of local governments working together to create efficiencies, preserve resources, and create value.

As a manager for a municipal pool, I offer my Top 10 Trending Issues for Pools: