By Travis Halsted, Loss Control Consultant

Election Day 2018 has come and gone. A new governor was elected and several important issues were settled. While each item that was voted on holds a level of significance to many, one particular item has left companies from every industry scratching their heads. Proposal 1’s passage has provided more questions than answers, but I hope that I can help clear up some of the questions that you may have. Although Michigan voters passed the proposal to legalize marihuana for adult recreational use, employers can still “just say no” to hiring or retaining employees who violate workplace drug policies. The spelling of Marihuana versus the more common marijuana spelling dates back to the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Michigan utilized the federal spelling at that time, which was Marihuana. An act of Michigan Legislature is required in order to change the spelling to the informal spelling (marijuana), administrative rules will be using an “h” in the spelling.

We are excited to announce that we have enhanced our customer portal so that you will now have the ability to upload medical documents as a means to get them to the claims adjuster that is handling your claim. This can be done by following these simple steps:

• Log into the portal
• Go to the claims tab
• Click on the open claims tab
• Look up the name of your injured employee
• Click the Upload Documents button and attach the documents in either a .pdf or .jpg format

As soon as the documents are uploaded, the claims adjuster assigned to the claim will receive an alert that there is medical documentation waiting for them. You will be able to view the documentation after it is uploaded. Please contact Patty at (248) 715-0013 or patricia.allen@mtmic.com/blog with questions.

The bill regarding Michigan’s Minimum Wage was just signed by the Governor on December 13, 2018. The new legislation is under review by the Department’s Wage and Hour Division. Therefore, the MTMIC State and Federal Labor Law Posters will not be mailed out in December as in past years due to the late changes made on the Michigan Minimum Wage section. We are waiting for updated information from LARA’s Wage and Hour Division. Unfortunately we have been told that the updated information will not be released until January. We apologize for the delay ~ posters will be sent as soon as we receive the updated information. 

On Thursday, October 18th, MTM held its annual membership meeting. (Pictures are included in the newsletter.) At each MTM annual member’s meeting we try to spend most of the time relaying helpful information to our members. This year, that topic was active shooter and crisis management (Crisis Recovery after Active Shooter and Traumatic Events). Given all the things we’ve read and heard in the last couple of years on this topic, it seemed wise to have a professional in this field present toMTM members. The speaker was Dr. Ken Wolf who consults on workplace violence, active shooter survival, crisis management strategies and downsizing reductions in force. His resume is quite impressive and details his work in many crisis situations. Dr. Wolf assisted the US Army on-site at Ground Zero after the terrorist attacks, assisted following the mass shootings at the United States Post Office in Royal Oak (1991) and Dearborn (1993). He also responded to the Northwest Air disasters #255 (1987), #299 and #1482 (1990). Dr. Wolf assisted Ryder System and the UAW – GM after the Oklahoma City Terrorist bombing. He has been a news analyst for the Detroit affiliates of ABC, NBC and CBS. In the reviews of his presentation, the common topic critique included: learned lots, time well spent, can we have him back for more? His presentation was educational, interesting and at times scary. The topic and presentation captivated your attention.

Dr. Ken Wolf

While most of the meeting was spent on the above topic, I did give a quick nine month financial/dividend view of 2018. The year is not over and good/bad things can still happen, with nine months we are starting to get a pretty good picture of how the year’s finances/losses are doing. Overall, the results are not on pace for the record year of 2017, but 2018’s results still look good. And only two months to go before we close the year.

The loss year does look different than 2017. While the accident frequency in 2018 is nearly the same as recent prior years, we are seeing an increase in accident severity. Just in the last couple of weeks, we had an electrocution, an employee on his first day with an amputation, and third, a second amputation in the same week which required an air lifting to a trauma center. In the third case, we found in the accident investigation the employee had developed a creative way to bypass the tag out switch. So, my request to you as owners and managers of all our shops, please focus on guarding, looking for creative tag out measures, and training of new employees. Your goal, like ours is to always send the employee home in the same condition as they arrived. Be safe, John

The 2018 Annual Meeting was a great success. Here are a few snapshots from the event:

[rev_slider alias=”2018-meeting”]

By Ruth Kiefer, Loss Control Manager, ARM

With the ever tightening labor force and your need to fulfill orders and production, more of you are turning to a temp agency to fill this need. So what are your obligations to this temporary worker? Or to your new hires for that matter? I’m here to tell you that there is no longer an experienced workforce, or the days where you can find a good lathe operator, someone who knows the ins and outs of the presses in your shops. Those days are gone, the good ones are already working or retired, so you are left with inexperienced workers to choose from. As you know, schools no longer have in house training programs, it’s now left to you, the businesses to do the training, to create and form the “experienced worker”. It’s now on you to educate the younger workers entering the manufacturing sector.

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We are excited to announce that we have enhanced our customer portal so that you will now have the ability to upload medical documents as a means to get them to the claims adjuster that is handling your claim. This can be done by following these simple steps:

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Often I have stated that the strengths of MTM are based on three pillars:

1. A Board made up of members (Board is directly focused to member benefits/improvements),
2. Professional long-term committed staff members,
3. Members who support employee safety and save money through loss control efforts.

Last month I profiled one of our MTM members, Avalon & Tahoe Mfg. Inc. This month I have the honor of introducing two new MTM Board committee members.
Brady Schlesener – Director of Sales and Marketing, Gemini Group, Inc.
Brady is a graduate of Cedarville University with a BA. He then went
on to receive his MBA from Michigan State University. For the last 12 years, he has been an executive at Gemini Group, Inc.
Brady is a team player with great functional experiences – perfect fit for our MTM Board Marketing & Underwriting Committee.

Our second new Board committee member is Barry Kavanagh FCCA, CMA, VP of Finance at Avalon & Tahoe MFG, Inc.
Barry received his BA from Waterford Institute of Technology in his native Ireland. He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the main accountancy body in the UK, Europe and Asia, and holds the Certified Management Accountant certification from the U.S. Institute of Management Accountants.

For five years, Barry has been the VP of Finance at Avalon & Tahoe MFG. Inc. Prior to that Barry was the Controller at another MTM member for over eleven years. With Barry’s financial skills and his 12
year history working with MTM, he is also a perfect fit for the MTM Board Finance committee.

Thanks to these new Board committee members, I am anxious to see how they contribute to the committee’s and MTM’s success. Brady will be working with Chairman Brad Lawton, Star Cutter Company. The Board Finance Committee is chaired by Teena Kowalski.

As we visit your shops, we are finding nearly every shop has a hiring sign in the window. This year we are seeing more accidents from low experienced individuals who may have gotten less training than desired. Our members focus on keeping employees safe. It is that important third leg of the MTM success stool. As always, we will keep our Loss Control Representatives busy visiting your shops, giving advice and doing anything that will help improve the safety of our member’s employees.

Until next time, be safe.

Thurs., Oct. 18 • 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

The Inn at St. John’s

It is almost time for the MTMIC Annual Member Meeting and there is still time to RSVP if you haven’t already done so. Contact Patty Allen at patricia.allen@mtmic. com by October 10th so that you don’t miss out on our Crisis Recovery after Active Shooter and Traumatic Events presentation provided by Kenneth Wolf, PhD.

Payroll renewal forms have been sent out to all insureds that have an effective date in January 2019. We are asking for your estimated annual payroll for 2019 which assists in reducing the chance for additional audit money due at the end of your policy. Please complete
the form and return it to Glenda Moyle or an additional copy can be requested at glenda.moyle@mtmic.com/blog.

By Glenda Moyle, Premium Accounting Manager

Each year we evaluate officer coverage and rating rules. Currently, officers are included in your Workers’ Compensation calculation with a minimum payroll amount of $20,800 and a maximum of $45,000 each.

Effective 1/1/19 or later the minimum payroll amount for an officer is $26,000 and the maximum included will be $50,000.

These new amounts will automatically be applied to renewals effective 1/1/19 and after. If you have any questions, please contact me at glenda.moyle@mtmic.com/blog.

I have mentioned in previous newsletters that the best part of my job is delivering member dividend checks in March. I have also said the second-best part of my job is going to and touring MTM member’s facilities. One MTMIC member that makes a particularly interesting product is Avalon & Tahoe.

You probably have heard the name before, but if not, they build pontoon boats. Before my tour, my image of a pontoon boat was anything but sleek, plush, and cool. My tour was arranged by Avalon & Tahoe’s CFO, Barry Kavanagh. Mr. Kavanagh handed me over to their plant Operations Manager, JJ Dudick. This tour changed my vision completely. Before getting to that, let me tell you what their brochure says, and now with the tour knowledge in hand I can say these statements are very accurate.

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By Chris Demeter, Senior Loss Control Consultant

It’s 10:00 a.m., you hear a knock on the door, you get up and see someone who looks very official standing there, you open the door and they introduce themselves. “Hi my name is Kristin, I’m with MIOSHA CET…” your heartbeat quickens, you are no longer listening to the woman at the door, you’re thinking, is the boss here? What am I going to do? Before you know it, she has passed you a business card and turned away, leaving you standing there. You take a second and realize she is not coming in, so you just pass it off as a near miss and put the card in your desk without a second thought. That might be a mistake not inviting her in for a non-enforcement hazard survey. You may already know this, but MTMIC has had an alliance with MIOSHA CET for many years and have assisted many policyholders with CET services with positive results. As you know we are a proactive insurance company and are always finding ways to reduce injuries and provide our policyholders with valuable resources to use.

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By Ruth Kiefer, Loss Control Manager, ARM

Outside the cicadas are singing their song signifying the end of summer, and the kids are getting ready for school, but I can’t seem to enjoy this annual transition from the winding down of summer to fall because my mind can’t stop wondering why we are having so many traumatic injuries this year. My team and I have been called out to conduct way too many accident investigations regarding amputations. This traumatic event, in which a part of the body is violently removed from your employee has plagued us since the beginning of the year. So, I must ask myself, why the sudden increase in this type of traumatic injury?

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At a recent MTM Board meeting, I was asked for a “wrap up” report from the spring dividend. It was the normal report with management members, but one set of numbers is worth sharing with our members. The question was how does the MTM dividend compare with similar and competing mutual insurance companies with special focus on mutual companies. Here was what was reported to the Board:

MTM returned 83.4% of its 2017 profit as member dividends. We reviewed 3 well-known companies to provide the following comparison. Company A, a nonmutual returned 7.6% of its profit as member dividends. Mutual competitor number one returned 18.9% while mutual company number two returned 5.3%. The MTM member owner dividend is in a completely different ballpark compared to commercial carriers, and even other mutual companies. These numbers prompted a whole different conversation of why MTM is so different.

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By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims

Employees are often eligible for multiple benefits with their employer. Workers’ Compensation coverage is mandatory in the State of Michigan. Optional benefits may be Short Term Disability (STD), Long Term Disability (LTD), Sick Time, Personal Time Off (PTO), Family Medical Leave (FMLA).

Of these programs, FMLA is “unpaid” with time limited to 12 weeks away from work, but the employee’s job is “protected” – meaning a position is to be available to the employee at the end of 12 weeks at the same rate of pay and same benefits.

STD and LTD generally pay a percentage of the employee’s wages. Of the STD cases I have seen (and handled), the employee has been paid approximately 65% of their wages. STD is generally limited to a set number of weeks, and LTD may or may not have a time limit (but again, recipients are paid at a lesser rate of pay).

Sick Time and PTO may or may not pay for days missed and generally have a time limit of eligible days that can be taken.

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We are proud to announce a new Association member program effective August 1, 2018. This partnership, MFG Works Partners, is a collaboration between the Michigan Manufacturers Association (MMA) and MTMIC will offer our policyholders who are members of MMA an additional 3% discount on your workers’ compensation insurance premium. This discount will be automatically applied at your next policy renewal.

For 115 years, the MMA has been serving Michigan manufacturers and related industries by providing effective representation at Michigan’s Capitol, timely educational seminars; quality and competitive-rate insurance programs, informational e-newsletters and a monthly magazine. Visit www.mimfg.org for more information on the benefits of joining the MMA or contact Brett Gerrish, at 800-253-9039 ext. 533 or 517-487-8533.

Both MMA and MTMIC are excited about this new partnership and its potential for keeping your business competitive. Watch for more information on the MFG Works Partners program in our monthly newsletters and additional publications. For more information on the MFG Works Partners program contact Megan Brown: megan.brown@mtmic.com/blog or (248) 715-0012.

This Year’s Annual Meeting Speakers:
Kenneth L. Wolf, Ph.D. and Marilyn Knight, M.S.W.

We are pleased to announce that this year’s annual meeting speakers are Dr. Kenneth L. Wolf, Ph. D & Marilyn Knight, M.S.W. Our speakers are experts in their field and will be speaking on the topic of “Crisis Recovery After Active Shooter and Traumatic Events”.

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By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims

The Michigan Workers’ Compensation Act & Administrative Rules originated in 1912. The Act was revised with Amendments in 1969. Then in 2011, at 100 years old, the Act was updated with Statute changes to accommodate the past amendments and hopefully, better address, with clarity, issues facing our ever changing world. One of the updated issues was to define “disability”. No longer is the injured worker considered disabled because they cannot return to the job that caused their injury. Disability as defined by the Workers’ Compensation Act is: “A limitation of an employee’s wage earning capacity in work suitable to his or her qualifications and training. . . . . . The establishment of disability does not create a presumption of wage loss.”

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By Travis Halsted, Loss Control Consultant

First and foremost, I hope everyone is having a spectacular summer! Whether you are spending time on the water, relaxing and reading a book on your front porch or traveling, I hope that you are all able to enjoy this beautiful Michigan weather. I am not quite sure how it worked out this way, but I find myself scheduling a great deal of my Loss Control visits on the west side of the state this time of year. It must be some kind of coincidence.

With these elevated temperatures, the need to use the air movement fans also rises. The air movement fans have a plethora of different hazards that can cause injuries. Within the first week of July, MTMIC had two injuries directly related to fans. Some of the most common hazards that are found with fans include, but are not limited to:

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