By Travis Halsted, Loss Control Consultant
As the winter months are upon us, so is the use of furnaces, personal heaters, propane heaters and a plethora of other heating devices. These heating devices can often cause safety concerns, especially those regarding
potential fire factors. This concern brought about thoughts of other fire hazards that we see during loss control visits and how to possibly remedy those hazards. During our loss control visits, we attempt to identify potential and present exposures for that particular facility. As each facility is different and may complete different processes, the hazards found will vary. Possibly, one of the most effective ways to avoid fires, is to aim at strategic fire prevention.

How can fire prevention be strategic you ask? By recognizing the hazards, putting procedures in place, auditing those procedures and continuing education for new and existing employees, your workplace will strategically reduce the likelihood of a fire. Fire hazards can be found within office settings, maintenance areas, industrial production floors, paint booths, plating facilities and other types of environments. This often leads companies to question what they can do to properly prevent fires. The topics below are just some of the items that I often make recommendations about during the loss control visits. These particular topics could greatly assist in fire prevention.

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By Glenda Moyle, Premium Accounting Manager

This is just a reminder to all of our Policyholders that our audit company, The Aprise Group, will be doing the final audits again this year. They have been our audit company for the past 25 years. Once your policy expires, they will be contacting you within 30 days to set up an appointment to do the audit. If you have any questions, please contact me at glenda.moyle@mtmic.com/blog. Thank you for being a member of the MTMIC.

By the time you get this, the holiday season will be over and I hope you enjoyed it with your family. At the same time, you’re already busy with 2016 business activities. We at MTMIC, are in that same situation. As quickly as possible we are closing out the financial numbers for December 31, while also working on business issues for 2016. I expect that the next newsletter will have a first indication of the actuarial and claims numbers from 2015. These numbers will presented to the Board of Directors in February for Member Dividend declaration.

For this newsletter, it seemed like a good time to reintroduce three key contacts at MTMIC. One of the hazards as President of doing this, is you can never only pick three. I will address more staff in a future newsletter. But for this newsletter, let me start the staff introduction process. The first is Glenda Moyle. Glenda is our Premium Accounting Manager and also handles the endorsements and certificates of insurance. Many of you have known Glenda for many, many years. I have to say our company personnel records from 30+ years ago are not that accurate. Glenda has been with us somewhere north of 35 years and is the encyclopedia of MTMIC. Any premium or endorsement questions, Glenda is the key player. What you may not know, is that Glenda is also the MTMIC Corporate Secretary. She covers lots of territory.

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By Ruth Kiefer, MSc, ARM, Loss Control Manager

Many of our manufactures and policyholders may or may not know we also have been servicing the printing industry for a few years now. During this time I have been asked on numerous occasions what does MIOSHA compliance look for in our industry? During one of our recent training events with MIOSHA, I had the opportunity to inquire about which standards MIOSHA refers to when they conduct a compliance visit in a Printing facility.

Having seen most of our workers’ compensation injuries related to inadequate LOTO (Lockout Tagout) procedures and where the majority of our members have the most questions; I directed our conversation to the LOTO requirements and what they are looking for. What I found out was in the 1990’s OSHA and ANSI came together as a board to interpret and clarify what actually applies to the printing industry, since there are a variety of printing presses with different technologies, and most of them spanning many years.

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By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims

HAPPY NEW YEAR – 2016! A new year – new beginnings – new opportunities to change. How did your 2015 end? The Claims Department ended with a BANG! As if there aren’t enough challenges in our lives and in the work place. We contend with family, friends, health issues, school, our homes and work on a daily basis, and then, the HOLIDAYS arrive and add a lot more stress! Even though we may look forward to the holidays and consider it a “happy” time, it can be stressful, none the less. There is shopping to contend with, trying to get just the perfect present for everyone, entertaining, socializing, all adding up to an extra financial stress. People are using up vacation time and trying to get work caught up before being off for a day or more.

Is it any wonder our department sees a spike in claims at the end of the year? With everything going on, people are more pre-occupied and distracted. It is even more dangerous driving a vehicle because we are distracted by the bright lights and holiday displays along the way. Or maybe someone just left a holiday party where alcohol was served. All this on top of drivers using their cell phones while driving.

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First, I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. The Karlen’s had the normal family get together. Weather cooperated, and we all arrived at the right place at the right time. That in itself, is something to be thankful for.

This is a busy time of year where we deliver renewals to over 300 members. During these deliveries and renewal discussions, I keep a list of frequently asked questions. Here’s one of the top three that you may find interesting. The question is, “What are the benefits of being an MTMIC member?” There are several answers to this, so here are a few.

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As you may recall, last March, the MTMIC Board authorized distribution of $2.5 million of profits to members. The dividend covered policy years 2010 – 2012. The dividend was comprised of two parts:

1. Loyalty – how long have you been with MTMIC. All members with coverage during the covered or beginning during the “covered years” and still in force as of February 28, 2015 shared in this dividend part.
2. Great loss ratios – accounts with outstanding loss ratios during the “covered years” shared in a second dividend. The end result was an average dividend of 19%. A total of 108 members received a dividend that exceeds 50% of their current annual premium. Yes, that is very cool.

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Just recently, MTMIC achieved a couple of milestones. For the first time in our nearly 40 year history, we broke through the 800 member mark. Second, MTMIC’s asset value passed the $50 million mark. Both of these results are based on our member’s loyalty and dedicated staff. Building member loyalty comes from two sources. The first source is that we have a dedicated Board of Directors. These board members represent the owners/member’s interests every day and their skillsets built over the years, demonstrates that they know how to create member value by giving staff the freedom and support to improve member services.

The second source that builds member loyalty is the MTMIC staff, which is filled by unusually tenured veterans. One of the most frequent contacts is with Glenda Moyle, the MTMIC Premium Account Manager who handles billing and underwriting service questions. What you may not know, is that Glenda has been with MTMIC (and our previous Trust Fund) for nearly 35 years. She knows most of our members, some of their family, and lots of policy details for most accounts. The next frequent contact is Donna Motley, our Vice President of Claims. With her number two, Cindy Boyce, they both have more than 20 years with MTMIC. Other frequent contacts are with our loss control staff, with Chris Doebler, our CFO, and of course our Marketing Vice President, Megan Brown and Marketing Assistant, Patty Allen. A common thread with all the MTMIC staff, is member commitment and tenure. I have had the privilege of leading this team since August 1, 2013. Our employee turnover rate in 2013 was 0%, 12014 0% and 2015 0%. Yes, I am the newest employee.

The board and staff’s focus has been simple. Make sure that all accounts are funded properly to ensure claim payments and secondly, when there are profits above this funding requirement, those profits are OWNED by our members. In March, $2.5 million was returned to our members. At the October Annual Member’s meeting, we will have the first discussion about the dividend for March of 2016. The Annual Member’s meeting is Thursday, October 15th at 11:30 and will be held at the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth. I am pleased to pass on these two significant achievements and hope you can attend the Annual Meeting to hear the first words about the 2016 member dividend.