Bergelectric Reshapes Safety Program with Enhanced Risk and Claims Data

Safety has always been of paramount concern for Bergelectric, the nation’s sixth largest electrical contracting firm. The company has earned top honors for its commitment to safety and health and maintained an exemplary safety record.

Over the past 10 to 15 years, Bergelectric has undergone a dramatic expansion that made it even more critical to maintain rigorous standards for safety and claims efficiency. Then, in 2006, Bergelectric was facing limitations imposed by its aging in-house claims system and its lack of integration between various systems that held claims-related data.

“You could get information on injured workers, but it didn’t allow you to go in-depth and drill down to find out the number of accidents per site or under a particular foreman,” recalled Richard King, claims manager for Bergelectric.

In addition, the old claims system was standalone, forcing employees to exit it to access other systems for OSHA reporting, project status or human resources information. Attempts to interface the systems sometimes resulted in crashes that brought the system down for a day or more.

Gaining a Comprehensive View of Claims

After investigating the offerings on the market, Bergelectric selected RISKMASTER for its ability to support the needs of the construction industry with comprehensive, integrated claims management and reporting for workers’ compensation, general liability, property damage and auto claims.

“With RISKMASTER, I can put in an employee number and I have everything I need to know about that employee, including any other previous accidents, the type of accident, category of accident, whether it was an unsafe act, the superintendent safety managers that they are under and if there’s a pattern,” King noted.

Using the Web-based reporting capabilities of RISKMASTER, Bergelectric has created a large array of reports. In the past, King had to create manual reports with spreadsheets using data from the company’s field offices, which often didn’t match its insurance companies’ records. Now, all of the necessary reports can be generated through RISKMASTER. King notes that the company runs 30 to 40 different reports every month, ranging from hours worked per employee, loss reports and year-to-date scorecards, to open claims, lost-time and modified-duty injuries, and OSHA reports.

Company-Wide Safety Program

RISKMASTER has been instrumental in supporting and fine-tuning Bergelectric’s company-wide safety incentive plans, which are continually revised based on the changing needs of the corporation, customers, regulatory agencies and work processes.

“RISKMASTER has reshaped our safety program,” said King. “When our safety managers go out in the mornings, they know what type of safety violations or injuries have occurred in which locations, and those are the things that we’re looking for.”

“We have achieved a cost savings of nearly $2 million annually that is attributable to decreased claims resulting from prevention and education efforts and designing installation methods that reduce risk,” said Dave Nelson, safety manager for Bergelectric. “Further, our programs have allowed us to complete more than 1 million work hours without a single time-loss injury.”

“We are very proud of our safety record, our retention of employees and our insurance rating,” King said. “Most companies have a modification rating of 1.2 or 1.3 and insurance companies love them, but we’re significantly under that at .56.”

Reliable Support for the Future

Looking to the future, Bergelectric is exploring ways to handle more claims in-house and reduce its reliance on insurance carriers and brokers. The company licensed RISKMASTER with the goal of eventually becoming a fully self-insured organization.

To support that program, Bergelectric opted for CSC to host RISKMASTER at its data center, alleviating the responsibility of system support for the company’s IT staff. CSC also handles all software updates and ensures that Bergelectric has the latest version of the system.

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