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By Christopher Dik Owners of landscaping companies often face challenges finding new employees and keeping existing ones. But what happens when an employee gets hurt at work? Keeping workers’ compensation costs in check can be yet another worrisome issue and insurance premiums can increase for a number of reasons. Knowing those reasons and implementing a game plan can help take control of the situation. Reported Losses First, look at how you are handling loss issues. Losses are a very common reason why premiums increase, but not all losses are created equal. In order to determine if losses are causing your premium to increase, examine the frequency versus the severity of your reported losses. Do you have frequent losses on a minor scale? If so, how can they be mitigated? Do you have one or two major losses? Could they have been avoided? Both types of losses can impact your premium. Order a loss history report. This report determines frequency versus severity, identifies open claims and losses and inflated loss reserves, and determines if any losses can be subrogated against someone else. If there are large reserves, be sure that someone on your team is following up on the claim at least once a month. A reserve has the same impact as a loss until it is reduced (see Case Study #2 below). Losses are going to happen. But developing an internal program to better handle future losses leads to better results. For instance, consider an occupational clinic, which provides medical ...