By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims

What is entailed in processing a Workers’ Compensation injury claim? Once the claim form is submitted and set up in our system, it is more than just processing and paying the medical bills. In most cases the injured worker is treating with the employer’s Occupational Clinic. It is the Claims Adjusters’ responsibility to assure the employee is receiving proper treatment, with the appropriate medical personnel; and if necessary, have treatment of the injured worker transferred to a physician specializing in said injury. Orthopedic physicians specialize – back, shoulder, knee, foot, elbow, hands, etc. A mucular condition would be referred to a Physiatrist.
We monitor each and every doctor appointment the employee attends. If an appointment is missed or rescheduled, we want to know why. We follow up for the necessary disability slip the injured is required to submit to their employer.

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With spring weather finally arriving, many companies are now hiring summer interns or have youth employment. There are some tricky pieces to young employment that are worth sharing with you. First be advised or warned that youth employment rules are strictly enforced. Regulators take great care of providing an extra layer of protection for employees under 18 years old. Let me cover some of the restrictions that apply to employees under 18. The law is clear about occupational duties that are restricted based on age. Employees under the age of 18 are prohibited from working in ANY hazardous or injurious occupation. The regulations then specify some of the items included in their hazardous or injurious tasks: driving, working power equipment, exposure to hazardous substances or chemicals, driving hoisting apparatus such as lift trucks or Bobcats, running any power driven metal forming, punching, or shearing machines, running circular saws or band saws or involvement in any building maintenance such as roofing or painting.

There is a narrow exception of some of the above tasks. The exceptions are permitted in order for students to be enrolled in state approved career or technical education training or apprentice programs. They must be specifically approved and documented.

The Michigan child labor laws also require adult supervision for any employee under 18 years of age. These rules become even more strict if the employee is under the age of 16. The good news for the summer is that the many rules dealing with limited hours during the school year are not a factor. But just a red flag for the rest of the year, the child labor laws are very specific to make sure that the hours are limited and do not infringe upon youth school activities.

At the beginning of this topic I mentioned regulator enforcement is aggressive and punishment for violations is significant and severe. A first violation is imprisonment for one year, and a fine of $2,000. A second violation is a $10,000 fine and 10 years of imprisonment. The Department of Labor takes seriously their role in requiring safe environment for employees under the age of 18.

Even with these restrictions, student interns are a helpful resource and a benefit for both the company and the youth employee. At MTM we use interns to help us with mass mailings, filing, and other office duties. The youth gets to build some experience for their first resume and the company gets some tasks taken care of that are difficult to accomplish during the regular business day. I expect that our member shops have seen the same rewards for both their company and for their kids that are involved.

If you run across a question on this, please do not hesitate to contact us and we can go over it in more detail with you. The law is four pages, single-spaced, we are happy to share that with you for those that are interested. Until next month, I hope you enjoy the spring weather and we will get ready for the warm days just around the corner.

By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims

Have you ever watched people as they walk down a street, or walk through the mall, or sit in a waiting room? Almost everyone has their cell phone in their hand. Notice the position of their head while they stare at the phone screen. Their head is bent forward! This position causes a strain to the muscles and tendons in the neck and shoulders; and possibly the low back. This position changes the natural curvature of your neck. Your neck moves forward, your shoulders round forward or lift up toward your ears and your neck and shoulder muscles spasm (contract). Neck muscles are designed to support the weight of your head, about 10 – 12 pounds. According to the Cleveland Clinic, research shows that for every inch you drop your head forward, you double the load on those muscles. Looking down with your chin to your chest can put approximately 60 pounds of force on your neck. Dr. Dean Fishman, a Chiropractor in Plantation, Florida has coined this condition, this repeated stress injury, as: Text Neck.

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Scott Smith, MPT – Sr. Regional Director ATI Physical Therapy

Scott Smith from ATI Physical Therapy will be one of our featured speakers at the October 19th Annual Meeting. Scott graduated from the University of Michigan – Flint with a Masters of Physical Therapy in 1999. He is the Sr. Regional Director for ATI Physical Therapy. Scott has worked with a wide range of patient populations including the industrial athlete and work comp populations with the goal of returning the injured worker back to an optimal level of function. He has taken several continuing education courses to further gain knowledge on orthopedic pathologies and sports medicine. His clinical experience includes treating patients for pre and post-operative care, musculoskeletal pain, work hardening, and postural/body mechanics education for further prevention of injury. In his free time, Scott enjoys tennis, golf, mountain biking, and participating in youth sports coaching.

Member Dividend Update

At the February MTM Board Meeting, the Board approved a $3.5M member dividend and instructed management/staff to implement the Board Resolution. Within two weeks of the Board meeting, member checks were cut. MTM staff has now completed two weeks of member dividend deliveries. While some of the dividends were mailed, we prefer to hand deliver as many as possible. The reason for this was to thank our members in person for their support of MTM. In the last two weeks, I have personally made 50 deliveries to members. I’ve been to places like Sterling Heights, Warren, Plymouth, Iron Mountain, Ludington, Muskegon, Grand Rapids, Jackson and Bad Axe. This is NOT a complete list of all the towns/cities I have visited.

I can report that no member was unhappy to see me. All of our member’s shops are busy, but not so busy as to say hello, accept a member check and take a picture. Attached are a few of the member pictures taken these last two weeks.

The Board, management, and staff continue to work hard to make these member dividends possible in the future. This is the third consecutive year for member dividends. And over the last three years, a total of $9.5 million has been returned to MTM members. We still have about two weeks left in the delivery cycle, so if you haven’t seen us, you are about to and we are looking forward to it.

Various happy clients are shown receiving their annual dividend checks…

By Travis Halsted, Loss Control Consultant

As companies attempt to reduce costs, one particular item that I have been seeing a great deal of is companies having their own drivers. These drivers provide companies with the ability to pick up and deliver their product, get product from one location to the next, or to send products to secondary operations. While convenient, it is vital to point out that the simple roadway hazards that most commuting drivers only face for a short period of time in a day, are constant hazards that professional drivers face all day.

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The February MTM Finance Committee and Board Meetings are the most important company meetings of the year. Well, with over 80 MTM members present, the October Member’s Meeting is very educational and fun too. However the member dollars are reviewed in February. Last month the Finance Committee and Board reviewed the year-end results including: loss reserves, loss trends, claims account funding, independent actuarial report, and management recommendation to determine if a member dividend is warranted.

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By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims

There are a lot of advantages to have your Workers’ Compensation insurance with MTMIC, but I want to point out a few that are “hidden” advantages.

As mentioned before, our Claims staff has extensive years of experience handling Workers’ Compensation claims. I would like to say we have “seen it all”, but every once in a while a situation will occur that is a “first”, even for us. Most of the Claims staff has extensive years of service AT MTM. For many, many years our core business focused on the manufacturing and tooling industry. And because of our company’s longevity in this industry, we have some insureds that have been with us since the early days. You might wonder, where is the advantage in that? Well, the first thing we do when a claim is received in our office, is check to see whether or not the injured worker is already in our claims system. If an employee incurred an injury between 1976 and 2017, and a claim was submitted, we have record of it in our system. We ask injured workers if they sustained any previous work injuries, and if they say no, but we find them in our system, that’s a red flag that may raise the question “what are they trying to hide”? We sometimes see patterns forming – say, an injury every hunting season. Or recurrent injury to the same body part which might mean the job site or process should be adjusted.

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One of the key benefits of being an MTM member is the owner dividend. Management is working hard at putting the 2016 financial numbers together. MTM is a state insurance regulated business. All of our numbers are required to be analyzed by an outside actuary and then submitted to the State of Michigan Insurance Department. As part of the state review, an outside actuary must look at each loss year and determine the adequacy of monies set aside to pay the losses for that year. A similar detailed review of company investments is done and included in the 2016 financials. These steps slow the process from a normal, generally accepted accounting principles process.

Once this process is completed about February 1st, a management dividend recommendation goes to the MTM Finance Committee. The MTM Finance Committee meets the first week of February and includes:

• Jack Accardo, Chairman, Haller International Technologies
• Jerry Decker, Precision Boring Company
• Gerd Walter, Creative Automation
• Gary Sievert, Wellington Industries
• Teena Kowolski, Loc Performance Products

The Finance Committee will review, debate, and amend management’s recommendation before sending their input to the full MTMIC Board. The MTMIC Board meets on February 16th, and will look at management’s recommendation and amendments made by the Finance Committee. The full Board is made up of:

• Kurt Heuser, Chairman, Bokum Tool Company
• Joe Keppler, Vice Chairman, HTI Cybernetics
• Jack Accardo, Haller International Technologies
• Bobby Cox, Acorn Stamping Company
• Jerry Decker, Precision Boring Company
• Bradley Lawton, Star Cutter Company
• John Moll, Gemini Group
• Doug Mack, retired shop owner
• Richard Smith, Wolverine Bronze Company
• Karen Schluckebier, Rogers Group

The full Board will make the final decisions regarding the MTM member dividend. Interestingly, please note that all voting members are active MTM insureds, with one exception. Our members’ best interest is achieved because members are making the decision. We will anxiously wait to give you updated information after the February Board meeting and then delivering checks in March.

At this time I like to thank these Board and Committee Members for their input and hard work. Management and staff are very capable insurance technicians, however, having the Board and Committee direction keeps us on track and focused.I will update you further on this important topic.

By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims

Does your employee know what to do if they sustain a work related injury? Whether your employee is a new hire or has worked at your facility for many years, the procedure is the same. All employees should be briefed upon hire of the steps to be taken should a work injury occur. Employees should be reminded periodically, no less than annually, of proper procedures or any changes in said procedures, should an injury occur. All employees, not just the injured person, play a part in work safety. All employees should be diligent in keeping the work environment clean; clean up or report oil spills, report unsafe practices, report faulty equipment and safety hazards. A co-worker may be a witness to an injury.

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By Ruth Kiefer, Loss Control Manager, MSc, ARM

As you know one of the nerve-racking issues of keeping up with the MIOSHA safety standards is when a compliance officer comes to visit and puts your safety efforts to the test. Their visits can be spurred by an employee complaint, your industry code being on their strategic plan, or a visit that results from a severe injury. A recent visit in December of 2016, to a manufacturing plant in Ypsilanti, resulted in $265,600 in fines. The MIOSHA inspector found eight serious, six repeat serious, and three other-than-serious safety violations that were noted during the visit. The safety standards that were in violation were the same things that were on our April’s edition of MIOSHA’s top 10 safety violations. The list of standards found in violation included:

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The Inn at St. Johns, the site of our Annual Meeting which is held in October

By
– Megan Brown, Vice President of Sales & Marketing
– Patty Allen, Sales & Marketing Assistant

• In need of Client Portal access for billing, claims, and safety info? Please contact Marketing for a user id and password:  sales@mtmic.com/blog.
• In need of more Claim Packets? Please contact Marketing to have them sent out: sales@mtmic.com/blog.
• In need of additional sets of labor law posters? Contact Patty Allen in Marketing with your request: patricia.allen@mtmic.com/blog.
• Is need of adding additional recipients to receive the monthly Newsletter? Contact Marketing to have them added: sales@mtmic.com/blog.
• Stay tuned in the upcoming months for information about our Annual Luncheon held in October.

Well 2016 just wrapped up. Early indications are that 2016 will be a good loss year for MTM members.

As a refresher, 2014 was a good loss year. At the February 2015 Board of Directors meeting the Board reviewed the December 31, 2014 financial results. The Board then declared a member dividend of $2.5 million. At the end of 2015, we again had a good loss year. And at the February 2016 Board meeting, the Board approved a $3.5 million member dividend.

In January our CFO will put together the 2016 numbers and will also get the loss trend analysis from our independent outside actuary. With all of this data, the MTM management team will prepare MTM year-end financials for presentation to the MTM Board on February 16th. Included in that presentation will be member dividend data and options for the Board to consider and ultimately decide. MTM members are well represented by the Board since all Board members are MTM insureds.

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By Travis Halsted, Loss Control Consultant

I was recently contacted by one of our customers with a concern that I do not believe many of us think of. This company was concerned whether or not they had the right form of clamp at the tool end of their air hose. This particular company had the worm-drive style hose clamp holding their quick connect air fittings onto the air hose. The worm drive style hose clamp is the clamp that is tightened by using a flat head screw driver or socket to turn a screw that tightens the clamp. This is a common practice among the vast majority of companies that I visit. Upon the correspondence regarding their concerns, the MTMIC Loss Control team spoke of prior MIOSHA inspections and any knowledge of standards regarding hose clamps for air hoses. Through this communication it was found that a prior federal OSHA inspection from 2013 did cite a facility for the wrong type of air hose clamps. In this situation the facility was found to have worm-driven hose clamps that connected their tools to the air hose. The Enforcement Officer found this to be a hazard, as if the hose clamp was to malfunction or loosen, then the employees would be exposed to the whipping action of the air hose. This was cited under the federal OSHA rule 29 CFR 1910.243(b)(2). That rule states that hose and hose connections used for conducting compressed air to utilization equipment shall be designed for the pressure and service to which they are subjected. The company in this particular inspection was cited for $5,500 for 4 instances of this violation.

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In this newsletter you will see pictures of the MTM annual members meeting. This meeting was held October 19th at the Inn of St. John’s in Plymouth. There were over 80 members in attendance. It was the largest MTM meeting ever. At the meeting, attendees had a great meal and two short presentations. One of the presentations was from two of our nurse case managers on how they coordinate medical care for an injured worker, get the worker back to work and also save money for the employer. The second speaker was the president of an outside insurance rating organization, Demotech. He gave a brief description on insurance company rating and why it’s done. He then went on to inform the group of the MTM “A” financial rating. He went into some detail on why this rating of MTM’s financial finances was well deserved.

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