This episode is brought to you by IPFS Corporation, a premium finance billing and document signature and collection company. Visit IPFS.com to learn more. You're listening to Rancio Mesa's Studio One Podcast, where each week we break down complex insurance and safety topics to help your business thrive. I'm your host today, Megan Lockhart, and I'm joined by Jeremy Huhan, partner with Rancio Mesa.
So today we're going to talk about how California's janitorial industry will be affected by recent pure premium increases. Jeremy, welcome to the show. Hi, Megan, it's great to be here. Thank you.
Glad to have you. Now, we've been hearing about California's workers' compensation pure premium increases for a few months. Will you explain how the increase will impact janitorial companies in the state? Absolutely.
So as many of our listeners have heard, you know, the workers' comp marketplace in California is definitely hardening to the point where recently insurance commissioner Laura recommended an 8.7% increase on all face rates across the board. Now, diving in specifically to the janitorial industry, it's even affecting these types of businesses even more, because the pure premium rate actually went up by 11%. Okay, so these rate increases will seem to hit the industry especially hard. And since the janitorial work is physically demanding and full of potential hazards, that hopefully we can help mitigate what are the most common claims you're seeing affect workers' compensation.
I'd say the top five frequent types of workers' comp claims in the janitorial industry are one, your basic slip, trip and falls, and that could be equated to, you know, wet floors or cluttered hallways, tripping over vacuum cords, things of that nature. Two would probably be lifting or overexertion. So oftentimes janitors are put with a task of lifting heavy objects that can cause painful back, shoulder, or even knee injuries. I'd say the third most common are repetitive motion type injuries.
Those are things from, you know, basic tasks like mopping, vacuuming, scrubbing that can result in just repetitive strains or injuries over time. And these injuries can, you know, can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis or discronic back pain. I'd say the fourth most common are chemical exposure, so just regular use of cleaning agents like bleach, ammonia, and disinfectants can lead to rashes, you know, eye irritation, things of that nature. I'd say the fifth most common type of injury are cuts and punctures, and that can be from sharp edges, broken glass, things of that nature.
Okay, so we know the most common. What are the most severe claims? I'd say the most severe type claims, probably number one, is attributed to falls from height. So in certain cases janitors might be put with a task of using a ladder.
So falling from a ladder, probably the most serious type that we see, not can lead to fractures, head trauma, or even spinal damage. Second most severe type of injury would be back injuries, herniated did as spinal injuries, and those can sideline employees for months or even, you know, in their career. The third most severe type of injury that we see are chemical exposures, you know, accidents with strong cleaning agents that can cause permanent lung or even permanent eye damage. Okay, so what do you recommend genitalial business owners do to help mitigate these types of claims?
Well, I think first and foremost, it starts with a change in the mindset of safety in the workplace from, you know, being compliant to really thinking of it, thinking of safety as a financial strategy. You think about it, you know, the safer you are, the less claims you're going to have, which results in lower premiums. But there are some really key risk mitigation strategies back to the, you know, the most common types of injuries that slip and falls. So, you know, simply placing well at floor signs can immediately help reduce the slip and falls.
The use of slip resistant shoes can help, you know, prevent that as well. Next, teaching smart lifting, you know, provide training on proper, you know, body mechanics and lifting methods, use carts or dollies whenever possible instead of manual lifting. And, you know, in situations where there's a heavy object to lift, you know, consider using the body system. So utilizing two people instead of one person trying to do that on their own.
Another strategy is to reduce repetitive strains. So, you know, rotating task to reduce strains in lieu of having somebody do the same task each and every day, make sure that they're rotating between, you know, their fellow employees, provide ergonomic tools like lighter weight mops, you know, backpack vacuums and things of that nature will definitely help reduce those types of injuries and, you know, protected against chemicals. So, train your employees on safe handling, storage and mixing of cleaning agents, making a PPE non-negotiable. So making sure that each and every employee is utilizing the PPE properly will certainly help.
And then finally, just, you know, being hyper-aware of situations where sharp objects are around. So if a janitor is cleaning up broken glass, making sure that they have, you know, puncture resistant gloves and safe disposal containers, not only for glass, but for needles and things of that nature, that will go a long way. Okay, well, sounds like having a workplace safety program is going to be key to mitigating the worker's compensation increase. And I'll just add, Rinso Mase's Safety 1 platform is designed to administer an effective workplace safety program to ensure employees are getting the proper safety training, identifying hazards before an incident occurs and investigating incidents to ensure that they don't have it in the future.
And clients can reach out to our client technology team to get started with Safety 1. Jeremy, if listeners have questions about how their janitorial companies can best navigate the peer premium increase, what's the best way to get in touch with you? Yeah, you can reach me at 619-937-0174 or jhoolahannatrancionisa.com. Alright, well Jeremy, thanks for joining me in Studio 1.
It was great to be here, thanks Megan. Thanks for tuning in to our latest episode produced by Studio 1. If you enjoyed what you heard, please share this episode and subscribe. For more insights like this visit us at ranchionisa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.