Workers' Comp News

Economist Hunt urges ‘commitment to workers’

Having and demonstrating a "commitment to workers" can reduce injuries and illnesses, and lower accident and disability costs for employers, according to H. Allan Hunt, assistant executive director of the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

Hunt said safety training, work force empowerment, delegation of safety activities to line workers, safety audits, behavior monitoring, employee health screening, and having seniority in the work force are all indicative of that commitment to workers. He said his research has shown that even a 10 percent improvement in such activities can have a significant positive impact on lost workdays and other measures of severity and disability. Hunt spoke at the opening session of the Ohio Safety Congress & Expo in March 2002 in Cleveland.

In looking ahead to the near future for workers’ compensation in general, Hunt predicted that:

• There will be a nationwide trend toward slight increases in benefits for injured workers.
• Consultation will continue to gain momentum, while enforcement is scaled back slightly.
• Employers will become increasingly interested in prevention, with ergonomics and work design emerging as "the real frontier."
• Employers should expect more individualized attention from regulators in the form of experience ratings and targeted inspection programs.
• After several years of stability and even premium reductions and rebates, workers’ compensation costs will begin to rise again, which will spur even greater interest in prevention, disability management and return-to-work.