SHENANDOAH HEIGHTS - Due to their successful efforts in reducing workers' compensation costs, West Mahanoy Township and WSA Insurance Weiss-Schantz Agency Inc. earned an award from a national association in June.
The Controllable Premium Reduction National Education Association issued the award to the township and insurance agency for reducing the "controllable portion" of the insurance premium by 45 percent over the past five years.
The reduction goes against the trends when it comes to municipal expenditures in the last five years, the association said the workers compensation costs dropped for the township by $11,960 versus what it was paying in 2010.
WSA Vice President of Sales and Marketing Timothy W. Schantz II spoke of the work done at the municipal level to keep costs down.
"Township Secretary/Treasurer Michael Michalik and police Chief Shawn Tray have been instrumental in their focus on workplace safety and reducing claims," Schantz said. "What many employers and municipalities often overlook is how much of their insurance premium is controllable and, to a large degree, avoidable."
According to the association's website, the CPRNEA mission is to educate, authenticate and celebrate the successful teamwork of advisers and employers in their effort to eliminate waste in the workers compensation system by addressing "controllable premium" embedded in each and every worker's compensation policy.
Businesses, municipalities and others who have a three-year track record of reducing or eliminating the "controllable" workers' compensation premium are eligible for the CPR Improvement Award.
The 45 percent improvement in West Mahanoy's experience modifier since 2008 has resulted in a savings of the controllable portion of the premium of $42,898.
The savings realized helped the township with a major purchase, according to Michalik.
"The fact is that our taxpayers win because worker safety and claims management are generally hidden as line items in the budget and no one thinks about these savings," Michalik said. "This reduction has essentially helped West Mahanoy in purchasing a new police vehicle at no additional cost to the taxpayers."
Township Chairman Paul "Pepper" Martin said, "I have to give a lot of credit to Mick (Michalik) for doing the investigation in trying to save the township money. I hope the residents appreciate it. That's a big savings for the township."
"I just kept an eye on safety procedures for the workers and police in order to limit accidents as much as possible," Michalik said.
"It's a direct result of the amount of claims they've had," Schantz said. "The amount of claims is down sharply, and the amount that has been paid out on claims is down drastically, which is causing the 'experience modification' factor to be cut in half, which has saved them $42,000 over the past six years. It's a component of the township being safer by working hard to keep the amount of accidents down."