THE
RISK ASSESSMENT
STEPPING UP TO THE CAMERA
By David McLean Region 3 Field Representative
At Forestry Mutual, while one of our goals is to keep the cost of workers’ compensation claims low, our primary goal for our members and their employees is preventing injuries and fatalities from occurring at all. We sincerely strive for every policyholder and employee to return home each day in the same condition as when they left home that morning. With that goal in mind, Forestry Mutual has always been a strong supporter of safety training efforts. While we have often supported other organizations with their training efforts, direct training from the Forestry Mutual staff has been and will continue to be our leading method of educating others on safe work methods and injury prevention. Over the past 50 years, our staff has developed an abundance of safety handouts, classroom training, presentations, and videos. We have conducted numerous training events directly with our policyholders as well as through cooperation with other associations in the forestry industry. All of this training has certainly paid off over the years in terms of reduced injuries.
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However, while we have seen good progress in reducing the number of claims, the costs of all claims have risen dramatically. We at Forestry Mutual know that continuing to do the same thing will produce the same result – and we therefore recognized a need to do something different to make an even more substantial impact in keeping our policyholders and their employees safe. In the fall of 2018, we developed our Training Video Committee (TVC) to take the “next step” in enhancing our training program. The goal of this committee was to create short videos that were impactful – they needed to be “on target” with our audience. The TVC began with 5 members of our staff and eventually grew to 7 members as we realized the challenge, while well defined, was actually a major undertaking and would take
