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How to Maximize a Loss Control Visit

by | Apr 9, 2024 | Risk Management | 0 comments

How to Maximize A Loss Control Visit

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

What feeling do you get when you learn that your insurance company wants to do a loss control visit with your tree care company? Hopefully a loss control visit would be met with high expectations of a collaborative relationship between your organization and the insurance company, however, we’ve found that most tree care owners are skeptical and even worried about what will happen during the visit. These feelings of skepticism and worry are completely normal and why I wanted to write this article.  

First, let’s talk about what a loss control visit  really is and why the insurance company would want to perform one. Simply put, a loss control visit is a meeting between a tree care company and the insurance company to learn more about the tree care company. The majority of the time this is an in-person meeting that happens at the office or shop of the tree care company and might continue in the field at one or two job sites. Loss control visits could also be done over the phone in certain circumstances. 

There are a few different reasons for the visit, but the underlying theme is to help the tree care company reduce the risk of injuries and accidents within their company. They also can be utilized by the insurance company to help in pricing of the insurance policy and where to guide the tree service for improvement. Sometimes the visit is set up before the insurance company even issues a quote for coverage or after you’ve had a large accident or claim. 

Unfortunately, most people have heard a  story or experienced a loss control visit that wasn’t productive or collaborative which has lead to the common skepticism and worry about these visits. Too often, these visits can be pencil whipping check box visits where the loss control rep is just checking items off a list without offering much help or guidance. 

One key to remember is you are already paying for loss control services with the premium that you pay for the insurance coverage. Whether it is your General Liability, Property, Auto or Work Compensation company that is doing the visit with you, their loss control services are already built into the price that you’re paying. 

So to help you get the most out of your next loss control visit, I’ve come up with these 6 tips. 

  1. Understand the Purpose of Visit – When asked by the insurance company to set up the visit, ask for clarification on what the insurance company wants from visit. If they are looking to learn about a specific part of your operation or the equipment you use? Perhaps they want to help mitigate any fire hazards in your shop? Whatever it is, understanding the insurance company’s purpose will set the meeting up for success and allow you to engage them in helpful conversations around those topics. 
  2. Who, How Long and Where – Along with understanding the purpose of the visit make sure to ask who will be performing the visit, how long they expect the meeting to take and where they would like to go.
  3. Make it Your Priority – Sometimes schedules don’t align perfectly, but as the leader of your organization, making the loss control visit your priority is vital. If your insurance company is coming to help your company out don’t you want to be the one to hear what they have to say and offer the appropriate information to them? 
  4. Engage your Agent – Some insurance companies are better at informing or involving their agents in the loss control process. That said, many times your agent won’t know that the visit has been scheduled, so whenever you get asked to have a visit done, contact your agent to discuss it with them. They may be able to join you for the visit or at the very least help you before or afterward the meeting. Remember they are your advocate to the insurance company and will be able to help during this process. 
  5. Be Prepared – Before the representative comes to visit with you, inform your team and ask if they have any questions they’d like you to bring up during the visit. Chances are no one on your team will say anything, but by asking them, you are including them in the process and helping to foster the safety culture you desire to have. You also should think about the insurance company’s purpose for the visit and what information you can get from them to benefit you the most in that area. 
  6. Keep an Open Mind – Lastly, please remember to keep an open mind with the objective of the meeting and with the loss control representatives themselves. I wish all representatives would “wow” their clients with their experience, knowledge and charm however, reality is they do not know the inner workings of your business as well as you do and while some representatives may get into preaching or even scolding mode, check your emotions to not take what they are saying personally or worse close off to them. Take the helpful nuggets from the representative that you can use and politely offer a different vantage point to them if needed and when appropriate. 

 Like most of the advice we give to tree care companies, the more prepared you are for a loss control visit the more successful the visit will be and the further ahead your company will be for it. With practice and attention to the bigger picture of loss prevention and risk reduction, loss control visits can become an integral part of your company’s success. 

Crisis Management

by | Apr 8, 2024 | Risk Management | 0 comments

Crisis Management

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

It seems like you can find a story about a business in crisis almost every day now. Whether it is a local social media crisis or a national news story, the businesses going through those events must handle them appropriately for their businesses to survive. 

At the TCIA Winter Management Conference  in Puerto Vallarta, we learned from Tara Goodwin, founder of Goodwin Consulting and Crisis Interception, Inc. on how a tree service can prepare themselves to be able to respond appropriately and decisively if they find themselves in a crisis situation. Because most of the attendees that I talked to about this presentation had not done any pre-crisis planning before I felt it would be a great topic to summarize for you in this article. 

Tara’s ultimate message to successfully navigate a crisis situation was to be prepared and have a built-in process for handling the situation. Every crisis will have high emotions and being able to default to a set process goes a long way in navigating the situation smoothly. 

Her first suggestion was to create a crisis team. This is a group of trusted advisors and business leaders that will need to take action or give advice during the crisis. The team will contain people from inside your organization; company president, director of operations, marketing director, safety director for example and from outside your organization; insurance agent, corporate attorney, public relations consultant, etc. Assemble your crisis team now by asking them to be included and ensuring you have access to them whenever you need them. 

After you have your crisis team in place it’s time to create your response protocol. This starts by understanding when you need to act. There are four questions that Tara suggests you ask yourself to determine if the situation you’re facing deserves the crisis management attention. 

  1. Will the people that matter to our organization expect us to do or say something?
  2. Will silence be seen as guilt or indifference?
  3. Are any others speaking out about the situation?
  4. If we wait, will we lose the ability to respond?

If you answer Yes to any of those questions you must act on the situation. 

When creating your protocol you should outline the steps that you and your team need to go through, beginning with assessing the situation. Gather the fact about the situation and notify the key personnel involved and assemble your crisis team. Together as a team you need to determine what your options for response are and decide upon which response plan will be utilized. Before a response is made, make sure to prepare the materials or information that will be needed and appoint a spokesperson to funnel all outside communication to. The crisis team should remain in consistent communication to give feedback to the spokesperson so they are prepared for any updates that may be brought to them. 

 Once you (hopefully) successfully navigate the crisis get the crisis team back together and evaluate how everything went and make adjustments to your protocol in case you need it in the future. 

If you’re still reading this, I commend you and encourage you to take a couple of hours and prepare your company for the unthinkable as it just might save your company from ruin.

Stop Work Authority Policy

by | Mar 25, 2024 | Risk Management | 0 comments

Stop Work Authority Policy

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

Being able to effectively communicate is one of the most important skills that successful people possess. It’s why it is no surprise that it is also the foundation for a great safety culture. Effective communication requires both the sender of the information and the receiver to become actively engaged in what is being discussed. 

So how can you help encourage effective communication within your team while improving your safety culture? 

Implement a Stop Work Authority policy. 

A Stop Work Authority policy is a procedure that gives everyone on the jobsite the authority to stop the work being conducted due to an unsafe act or new unforeseen condition that has developed without fear of punishment or retaliation for stopping the work. Obviously, if everyone is empowered to be able to speak up and prevent a dangerous situation from getting worse, everyone on the team wins. However, implementing a Stop Work Authority policy does take some strategic moves to ensure it is successful.  

  1. Develop a Clear Policy – Create a written policy outlining the purpose of the policy, what circumstances under which employees are authorized to stop work and how they can stop the work being done. This does not have to be a lengthy section in your safety manual, but it should be in writing so that management can stress the importance of it and everyone can be trained on it.
  2. Communication – Ironically, when trying to improve communication and better the safety culture within your team, many tree care companies fail at properly communicating a Stop Work Authority policy to their team. Actually train all of your team members on your policy. Ensure they understand their responsibility to stop work if they identify any potential hazards or unsafe conditions and that they will not get in trouble when they do speak up. 
  3. Documentation – To further the impact of a stopped job across your organization, implement a process for documenting stop work incidents, including the reason for the stoppage, actions taken to address the issue, and any follow-up measures. Discuss this report at your next safety meeting so everyone in your organization can learn from it.
  4. Review & Refresh – Take time at least once per year to review and refresh the Stop Work Authority policy to ensure it remains effective as your company grows and evolves. Again, this doesn’t have to be a lengthy policy, but the impact that it has on your safety culture is immense, so make sure you are focusing on this fairly regularly.

Implementing a Stop Work Authority Policy within your tree care company will help improve communication within your team and more importantly, help avoid serious accidents from happening. If you are struggling with improving your safety culture or just are not sure if you’re doing everything that you can to get every employee home safe each night, reach out to an ArboRisk team member today to get started with our Thrive Safety Package today.

Why You Need D&O Insurance

by | May 19, 2023 | Risk Management | 0 comments

Why You Need D&O Insurance

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

Sure, you know that being a business owner is risky, but do you know you could get sued personally for the decisions you make for your company? Unfortunately, business owners of privately held companies can find themselves in a lawsuit from a business decision they made on behalf of their own company. Fortunately, you can protect yourself and the other officers of your company with a Directors & Officers Insurance policy. 

Often referred to as a D&O policy, this coverage is typically associated with large publicly held companies or non-profits, however every private company has some exposure that a D&O policy can protect against. 

A D&O policy is a liability policy designed to protect the personal assets of the directors and officers of a company if they are sued by interested parties for actual or alleged wrongful acts in managing the company. Employees, vendors, competitors, investors, or customers all could bring a case against the directors of a tree service for a decision or series of decisions that they make on behalf of the company. 

The D&O policy pays for defense costs that the directors incur as well as any damages that are awarded as long as the lawsuit wasn’t from an illegal act. There are a number of reasons a director could be sued individually, however a few of the more common are:

  • Decisions that lead to financial loss or bankruptcy
  • Overstating company’s financial strength or assets
  • Poor use of company funds
  • Lack of company oversight (corporate governance)
  • Failure to comply with workplace safety and employee management laws

In today’s world there is more focus on personal accountability and more and more people are attempting to hold business leaders accountable for their actions. This happens not only from an employee or investor standpoint, but also from the customers and other competitors if the neglect is bad enough where they can show how they were financially damaged from the tree service owner’s decision or lack of action. 

Tree care companies experiencing rapid growth also are subjected to greater exposure from these types of lawsuits as they navigate their way through all of the change that their company is going through. Most business owners have not been through rapid growth before and certainly make mistakes along the way. Sometimes those mistakes end up hurting others financially. 

D&O policies have a number of coverages that can be included in the policy. For instance, many D&O policies will give have the option to include Employment Practices Liability for hiring/firing, discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuits. You may also be able to purchase Fiduciary coverage to protect the person in charge of the retirement account and company funds. Some D&O policies will also include Crime coverage, protecting the business from theft of funds or company assets.

Because each D&O policy is unique, make sure you talk through your concerns with your insurance agent or reach out to an ArboRisk team member today. If you are struggling with developing a risk management program for your company, check out our Thrive New Heights Risk Management Package today!

How Industry Credentials Help Lower Insurance Cost

by | May 8, 2023 | Risk Management | 0 comments

How Industry Credentials Help Lower Insurance Cost

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

One of the most common questions that I get asked is “Eric, how do I lower my insurance cost?”. While there are many factors that go into the pricing of an insurance policy, it really all boils down to one thing:profit for the insurance company. The insurance company needs to make a profit to be able to deliver on their promise; to pay for insurance claims that their policyholders experience. 

To provide the lowest insurance rates possible, an insurance company must feel confident that they will make a profit on a given tree care company. It is the responsibility of the tree care company to prove why they deserve the insurance company’s confidence and how they will not have claims in the future. When the insurance company understands who the tree care company is and the internal risk management practices that they are consistently performing, then they will offer the best rates possible. Unfortunately, most insurance companies and agents don’t understand the tree care industry enough to ask the right questions and, without intentional communication about the credentials and the expertise of the tree care company, the insurance company just goes off of general answers to general questions.

Developing a good relationship with the insurance company and an agent is crucial in getting a good rate and coverage. Additionally, looking for insurance companies that understand the profession and specialize in it is also helpful. 

Before we get into how you position yourself to the insurance company, I want to explain a bit more about the insurance company. The insurance company makes a profit either by collecting more premium from their policyholders than what they have to pay out in claims plus their operating expenses or by using the premium dollars to make investment gains before they need to pay their policyholder’s claims. 

Historically, insurance companies in the United States need about forty percent (40%) of your insurance premium just to cover their operating expenses, which leaves sixty percent (60%) left to pay for actual claims. Because the insurance companies cannot exactly predict the future, they use volumes of data to try and estimate the amount they will pay in future claims and price their policies accordingly. Unfortunately, data not only comes from professional tree care companies, but also illegitimate businesses and homeowner’s trying to do tree work themselves. This can create an unbalanced approach to pricing the insurance policy for a professional tree care company if they don’t provide specific information on their business to the insurance company. 

To truly control your insurance cost, you must provide proof to the insurance company on why you are different from the masses and why you will not have as many claims as others. Help the insurance company see what risk management practices you are performing so they can offer the lowest insurance premium to you. 

Whenever possible, I recommend ensuring that you discuss the following three points with your insurance agent. 

1. Industry Credentials – The most important data that helps insurance companies predict future losses for tree care companies is the experience and knowledge level of the people inside the business. I have not met one arborist who does not believe that their past work experience makes them a very safe insurance risk, however, their personal belief about themselves and their company does not go far with the insurance company. This is why credentials from the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and other industry organizations are vital to receiving the lowest insurance pricing. Showing what ISA credentials you and your teammates have is the foundation for building trust and confidence with the insurance company. A credential from the world’s largest arboricultural association shows the insurance company that you are a serious professional and company, who wants to perform tree work correctly and continue to learn by keeping the credential valid. Insurance companies want to see that you are committed to professionalism within your trade. Ensure your insurance company knows how many ISA Certified Arborists®, ISA Board Certified Master Arborists®, ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification holders, ISA Certified Tree Worker Climber and Aerial Lift Specialists® you have on staff and what percentage of your crew has a professional credential. 

2. Internal Risk Management – In addition to industry credentials that you and your teammates possess, make sure you provide copies of the written programs and policies that you have in place that help minimize accidents and injuries. Insurance companies want to see that you have a training and development plan for each employee, written safety program, policies on driving record management and vehicle usage and jobsite assessments in place. These risk management practices enhance the insurance company’s confidence in your company, bettering your chances of receiving the lowest insurance price possible. 

3. Special Insurance Programs – In the United States,there are a handful of insurance companies that only work with tree care companies that have an ISA Certified Arborist on staff. It is their first qualifier for coverage as they understand what the credential means and how it relates to maintaining a profitable business. Make sure you ask your agent if there are any insurance companies that they work with that will only allow professional tree care companies into their client portfolio. 

Don’t let the insurance company make assumptions about your business when they are pricing your insurance coverage. Control the narrative by providing them with the data that will help them understand how you can help them make a profit by having less claims in the future.

Taking risk management seriously will help you build a stronger company that will be more resistant to negative situations that arise. If you are struggling with developing a risk management program for your company, please reach out to an ArboRisk team member or sign up for our Thrive New Heights Risk Management Package today!

Simplify Risk Management

by | Apr 11, 2023 | Risk Management | 0 comments

Simplify Risk Management

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

Whether you’ve been following ArboRisk for a while or are fairly new to our weekly business tip, you’ve probably noticed that we like to talk about Risk Management a lot! The main reason is that while as a concept it is fairly easy; the process of preventing or minimizing injuries and accidents, in practice it can feel overwhelming at times. 

In this article, I will give a way to simplify risk management for your tree care company so you are prepared before something bad happens. 

With your leadership team, take each of the categories below and think about each of them as they pertain to your business. Think about what could go wrong in those areas and what could be (or is currently being) done to minimize the risk. I have included examples inside of each category to help you get started. 

 

Five Categories of Risk for your Tree Care Company:

1. Other People – How can other people affect your business? Think about your customers, the general public, state and federal governments. Common exposures result from injury or property damage to others, lawsuits and penalties and fines. 

Ex: Customer – their property is damaged while working on their tree in their yard. 

Risk Management Solution: Create/review job briefing to ensure proper jobsite set up to minimize property damage while the work is being done.

2. Your People – How can your people affect your business? Think about your employees and subcontractors that you work with. What happens when they get injured, leave unexpectedly or file an employment lawsuit against you? 

Ex: Employee – a group of employees decide to leave your company unexpectedly to start their own business. 

Risk Management Solution: Create a career path to show employees how they can advance within your company to build loyalty. 

3. Your Stuff – What physical assets does your business own? Think about your shop, equipment, tools, your brand, etc. 

Ex: Building – fire or tornado damages your shop building 

Risk Management Solution: Purchase an insurance policy with property limits to cover the building and all items inside. Make an inventory list to assist in the recovery process.

4. Your Vehicle(s) – What vehicles and trailers does your company own or use? Think about all vehicles including rented trucks and employee’s vehicles. 

Ex: Flood – major storm enters your area and floods your yard which damages vehicles

Risk Management Solution: Create an emergency plan to move vehicles to a safe spot before the storm hits your area. 

5. Yourself – What could happen to your business if you, the owner, are not around or not physically able to do everything that you do for the business? Think about each of your responsibilities and how someone else would have to take them on for the business to continue.

Ex: Disability – a work related injury causes you to be physically unable to work for 3 months

Risk Management Solution: Create an internal employee development plan that teaches certain team members how to do the physical tasks that you are responsible for.

 

And this list is the start to your risk management program! 

If you want to dig into it deeper, you can rank each risk that you have listed from the most likely to happen to the least likely to happen. It also may help to put a severity rating on them; something that is most likely to happen, that has potentially severe results, should be dealt with right away. A severe auto accident is an example of this type of risk to your company. For more information on categorizing each risk, read our article on Insurance is NOT Risk Management to find a risk matrix. 

After you have the risks ranked, delegate each of them to your team members to begin to manage. This is now the beginning of your risk management plan! The only thing left to do is to set a follow up time for your leadership team to circle back on these items to ensure they get taken care of or to make adjustments where needed.

Taking risk management seriously will help you build a stronger company that will be more resistant to negative situations that arise. If you are struggling with developing a risk management program for your company, please reach out to an ArboRisk team member or sign up for our Thrive New Heights Risk Management Package today!