Ohio Cities Get Help Curbing Comp Costs
A session held in Garfield Heights, Ohio, this week gave the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation a chance to work with leaders from 13 cities around the state. BWC brought together 29 representatives of these municipalities to help them improve their safety performance and cut comp costs. "Cities rank among the highest for workplace injuries and many communities struggle with high premium rates as a result," the agency said. Representatives of the city of Canton, Ohio demonstrated how their successful program has benefited that city.
"Public entities traditionally have limited budgets and face unique challenges when it comes to developing the tools needed for employee safety and the successful management of workers' compensation costs," BWC Administrator Marsha Ryan explained. "To meet this challenge, BWC has developed a strategy to utilize its value-added services to assist Ohio cities in planning and achieving positive results in the reduction of workplace injuries, while lowering the cost to taxpayers."
BWC said the all-day session focused on ways to manage safety and training, information about rate making, cost control strategies, and claims management. Cities participating were Cleveland, Youngstown, Columbus, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Canton, Euclid, Shaker Heights, Parma, Cleveland Heights, East Cleveland, and Garfield Heights. City and county governments in Ohio employ more than 231,000 people, according to the comp agency. BWC has conducted similar outreach efforts with Ohio's largest school districts during the past year. "We have seen how much the school districts have benefited by learning from one another, and we're excited to provide a similar opportunity for success to Ohio cities," Ryan said.