Workers’ Compensation in the Insurance Industry
Insurance companies who write workers’ compensation insurance self-insure or obtain coverage in the voluntary market.
- The cost of coverage is lower than average as both the frequency of claims and the severity of claims is low.
- The workforce of an insurance company is primarily office workers, with some outside sales representative and outside adjusters.
- The clerical workers are normally high school graduates
- Underwriters, adjusters and other staff workers are usually college graduates.
- Often the workforce is a mixture of short-term and long-term employees.
Insurance companies will have a safety program in place as they are aware of the benefits safety programs provide.
- There are few safety issues as most offices are designed with the safety of the employees in mind.
- Injuries due to carelessness do occur, and tend to involve accidents like trips and falls, strains and auto accidents by the salesmen and adjusters.
While insurance companies recognize the benefits of one, most do not have an on-site medical facility, as their frequency of injury does not justify it.
- When medical care is needed, loyal medical providers are nearby as insurance companies are usually located in metropolitan areas in order to have the labor pool they need.
- In states where the employer can select the medical provider, the name of the medical provider will be posted for the employees.
- In states where the employee selects the medical provider, a list of the various medical facilities in the area will be posted.
The overall cost is lower than average for temporary total indemnity benefits for insurance company employees due to the low severity of most injuries.
- Permanent partial disability benefits occur infrequently.
- Repetitive motion injuries do occur.
Some categories related to insurance companies that would have the same or similar work comp issues include:
- Insurance brokers
- Third party administrators
- Insurance auditors
- Insurance consultants
Transitional / Modified Duties in the Insurance Industry
Most jobs within the insurance industry are sedentary or lighter in nature and accommodations in the case of restrictions should be possible via job modification. Examples include:
| Claim Examiners and Underwriters: | Accommodations could include working from home if restricted from driving due to a leg or foot injury or elevation of a limb at the office. |
| Loss Control Representatives: | Some work usually performed in the field could, on a temporary basis be performed from an office telephonically. |
| Clerical Staff: | Accommodations include allowing another employee to perform “heavy” lifting of manuals or files. Repetitive work such as data entry could be rotated with light cleaning or organizing. |
| Auditor: | Field work could, on a temporary basis be conducted telephonically with information provided electronically for audit. |
| All Employees: | Many insurance companies, though now paperless, still have “clean up” to be done concerning old paper by either scanning or shredding that could serve as one-handed work. |
