Forms, posters, information and requirements for employers, links to outside resources and newsletter archives.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Board of Directors for the opportunity to serve as President of MTM. It is an honor to lead this dynamic organization as we celebrate our 50th year, building on the foundation of our 49-year legacy.
A little bit of a refresher course
How do we determine an injured employee’s Workers’ Compensation weekly benefit amount? To calculate an average weekly wage, we need 52 weeks of gross wages dating back from the date of injury. This includes overtime and bonuses. Of those 52 weeks, we pick out the highest 39 weeks. This gives the injured worker the highest possible average weekly wage.
To help you stay up to date on the most cited serious violations from MIOSHA, I attended CET’s annual release of the top 20 that they provide at their annual Michigan Safety Conference. You should be aware that both the number of citations and fines have increased 18 percent since 2023. In 2024, MIOSHA collected approximately $2.62 million in serious violations alone.
Consecutive Years of Member Dividends – 11
On 12/31/24, our CFO was busy that evening transmitting to our actuaries our entire claims history. That data included date of injury, what was paid so far, and our estimate of what remains to be paid on every claim since 2006. There is lots of detail to send. This data is then sorted by our actuary and trended to get an estimate on the final claims costs for claims that may have just happened in 2024. By getting that assessment of the past 18 years’ worth and applying it to the known and unknown data of 2024, they come up with a final estimate of claims cost for 2024.
So you’ve taken the time to identify the hazards in your workplace, now what is your next step in protecting yourself or your employees? Did you know there is a hierarchy of 5 levels for determining the most effective control methods? These methods include elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls and personal protective equipment.
I read a recent statistic listing the “most dangerous” jobs; they were :
1. Logging
2. Fishing & Hunting
3. Structural Iron & Steel Workers
4. Roofing
5. Aircraft pilots.
Dissecting these professions support the “danger” of the job. However, “danger” does not necessarily equal injury severity or frequency.
