Karen Surca, of Insurance Business America, sat down with Emilio Figueroa, chief insurance officer with Foresight Insurance to discuss putting technology in the hands of insureds to help carry out daily risk management practices
There will always be hazards on the job site. The trick for insurance providers, armed with the task of mitigating worksite risks, is to utilize the resources and tools necessary to help prevent accidents and mishaps from routinely taking place.
Insurance providers working within the workers’ compensation channel need to be cognizant of the pitfalls for construction managers and their employees hired to carry out sometimes dangerous worksite activities.
For one leading workers’ compensation insurance provider, the preferred solution to reduce the number of worksite claims lies in utilizing the latest in technology to predict, prevent, and report any worksite-related hazards.
Foresight – getforesight.com – believes that risk mitigation can be put directly in the hands of workers by implementing technology on devices as simplistic as smartphones and tablets and distributing these to the workers on a given construction project. This allows for some employee autonomy and helps construction supervisors carry out diligent risk management practices.
“Foresight exclusively partnered with the risk management platform, Safesite which is tailored to change and mitigate risk for middle-market businesses,” Emilio Figueroa (pictured), chief insurance officer, Foresight, stated.
“Our mid-market clients in construction, manufacturing, light industrial, and agricultural must maintain a safe work environment across multiple sites while under tight project timelines and in the midst of a labor shortage,” Figueroa stated.
Foresight reduces the overall cost and time burden of maintaining and exceeding OSHA compliant job sites so that companies can remain profitable while upholding the health and wellbeing of their employees.”
Digital risk management at workers’ fingertips
Top of the list of priorities for Foresight, Figueroa pointed out, is “making it natural for clients to engage with risk management.”
While traditional legacy-based systems are usually paper-driven, which often entails placing a person physically on the job site working off predetermined lists and manually making risk-based observations, Foresight has chosen to take a digital and proactive risk-mitigation approach with its higher-hazard industry clients.
“For us, it is important that we engage the customer, not only from the top down but from the bottom up,” Figueroa said.
“The supervisors can quickly document what’s happening on the job site and, as field data is logged automatically, the home office team can identify heightened risk early on and take preventative measures.”
Foresight’s method of choice for delivering the risk management practices directly to the workers’ fingertips is an app that can be downloaded on standard everyday devices.
“Providing an app that they [workers] can use the same way they’re using other apps on their phone -taking photos or completing forms, for example – empowers employees to improve the culture of safety where they go to work every day,” Figueroa highlighted.
“The application can be used to minimize their risk management challenges and maximize their results.”
Engaging in risk technology
When asked what Foresight’s site technology specifically does for the client, Figueroa answered without hesitation.
“The risk management technology that we created, which is exclusive to Foresight workers’ comp offering, provides risk mitigation controls for clients to log observations, log hazards during inspections, conduct safety meetings, and log incidents within the application,” Figueroa answered.
“It saves hours per week.”
To further engage all the participants, from the construction manager through to the hired labor on a higher-hazard worksite, Foresight has made its risk management technology platform available in multiple languages.
“Most risk management technologies are tailored to people who speak English and not the full range of cultures and languages represented in the workforce,” Figueroa explained. “Any employee can choose from several preferred languages within the app.”
In addition to ensuring that safety checks are carried out through the app, Figueroa explained that automated notifications are also built into Foresight’s technology platform to serve as client reminders to carry out risk practices effectively.
“We are making sure that tech-enabled safety programs are attainable,” he said.
New digital directions
Cognizant that the technology path is the route of choice for insurance providers moving forward, Foresight continues to streamline its applications and is actively rewarding platform adoption by its clients.
“Foresight is changing the dynamic,” Figueroa stated.
“We want to make sure that they [clients] are safe during their work practices so they can go back home and enjoy time with their families,” he concluded.
Emilio Figueroa is a property and casualty insurance thought leader with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. He’s worked in nearly every aspect of the business, as a broker, with an MGA, and in reinsurance. At Foresight, Emilio serves as chief insurance officer, overseeing the development and management of its workers’ compensation program that helps policyholders drive down incidents with proprietary risk management.
Courtesyt- https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/workers-comp/putting-risk-management-practices-in-the-hands-of-the-workers-401466.aspx