Risk Management Report 2009
Presented below is Clackamas County Risk Management’s Annual Report. It contains graphs and statistics spanning the five-year period of July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2009.
The purpose of this report is to provide information, both programmatic and statistical, to help us understand and incorporate risk management measures into the everyday tasks we perform. Some general and unique challenges that have faced Clackamas County will be addressed as well. Knowing there is no crystal ball for forecasting the future needs of the County, we must rely on the experiences and statistics of previous years to project potential areas of future loss.
General Overview
Clackamas County has 380,430 residents living within an area of 1,879 square miles. The county is primarily rural but does include 17 cities and local governments. Clackamas County employs approximately 2,202 full-time, part-time, and temporary employees, along with many volunteers. County government consists of departments organized to provide the following services: transportation and development, sewer, public safety/law enforcement, tourism, public and governmental affairs, libraries, community health (public/mental health) and social services, taxation and assessment, as well as internal administrative services.
It is the intention of Clackamas County to preserve and protect the assets of the County from accidental loss at the most economical cost. Also, just as importantly, the County’s goal is to provide a safe, secure and healthful working environment for its employees. The County has elected to retain exposure to loss primarily through self-insurance and transfer exposure through purchased insurance only when the premium cost has been determined to be cost-efficient compared to the exposure.
The management and control of the County’s risk management program is a function of the Risk and Benefits Division, within the Department of Employee Services. A Risk Management Committee provides oversight of this function with the day to day management provided by the Risk Manager. Our philosophy is that risk management must be so much a part of County culture that it becomes a value rather than merely a priority that shifts as other priorities change. The primary areas managed through this program are: liability, workers’ compensation, vehicles and unemployment claims administration, loss control services, insurance, and contracts.
To compare our program with like entities, we calculate the cost of risk as a percentage of budget and payroll. Costs include actual claims expenditures, insurance premiums, staff salaries and benefits, materials and supplies, consultants and contractors. The slight increase in FY 05-06 is due to some fairly substantial increases in insurance premiums. The increase in the FY 07-08 budget percentage was primarily due to a reduction in the County budget, with Risk-related expenses increasing only slightly.
Services to the Organization
Risk Management staff provide the following services to the organization:
- Internal consulting services for departmental staff on preventing and controlling risks, including risk assessments;
- Workers’ compensation, liability, vehicle, property and unemployment claims administration;
- Marketing, purchasing, and administration of property, excess liability and workers’ compensation, and other miscellaneous insurance policies and bonds;
- Review of County contracts for insurance requirements and indemnification language;
- Employee and supervisory training on risk-related topics, including tort liability, workers’ compensation, loss control and employee safety;
- Coordination of modified duty assignments and physical rehabilitation programs for injured workers;
- Loss control consultative services for employee safety and environmental issues;
- Ergonomic consultations.
Executive Summary
The claims trend continues down in the number of worker's compensation claims as shown in the Summary of All Claims Filed chart. The number of liability claims took a considerable jump (39%) primarily in the number of property damage claims - mostly due to a large number of flooding claims that haven't been determined to be the County's responsibility.
Also, the number and cost of vehicle claims increased - primarily due to driver error.
The good news is that, so far, the increased number of liability claims hasn't resulted in an increase in cost. In fact it decreased. This will be discussed in the liability section.
Claims data reflects that from FY 07-08 to FY 08-09 costs changed by the following:
- Liability decreased by 80%
- Workers’ Compensation decreased by 58%.
- Vehicle increased by 46%.
The OSHA Incidence Rate graph shows how we are doing on preventing injuries. The rate increased just slightly from the prior year. If the number of OSHA incidents (greater than first aid) is declining or low, we are being successful in preventing costs before they can begin.
