Is every workers' compensation injury OSHA recordable?
I was having a conversation with a client today about their workers' compensation experience modification factor (mod) going up. If you are not aware, understanding your workers' compensation mod is essential due to the fact that once you reach a certain premium level, there is a mod attached to your workers' compensation policy that affects your premium. Your insurance agent will be able to tell you how this affects your organization (negatively or positively) and also be able to project your future mod and premiums based off of current and/or past losses. If they can’t, you need to consider working with an agent is able to do so (shameless plug)! If you do not want to leave your workers' compensation premiums solely up to the marketplace, controlling your mod is where you can dictate how much money you are leaving “on the table” as an organization.
Example: Contractor A has an identical insurance program and company as contractor 
B . Contractor B has a 1.5 (debit) modification factor effecting their premiums negatively where contractor A has a .83 (credit) effecting them in a positive way. Contractor A’s insurance costs are 67% less than contractor B, and they are most likely going to be able to outbid contractor B and be more profitable because they are paying less premiums on their workers compensation product. In this scenario it is clear that Contractor A is finding themselves in a more profitable situation compared to Contractor B.
What this boils down to: Control your losses, control your mod, control your premiums.
The client I was speaking to has a problem with frequency (in regards to losses), and a small claim that had turned out to make a big difference on their mod. As we spoke about the incident I realized he could have self insured this claim, which would not have ended up affecting his modification factor. In NH & VT, you can self insure a single medical incident up to $750. After taking a second to ponder on this occurrence, ensuring I did not misguide my client, I recalled that I previously had sent the content to them a few months back (which can be accessed here). Although the OSHA flowchart differentiates from Workers compensation in content, they still find themselves tangled in an everlasting dance at an insurance prom. Therefore, it is beneficial to all to understand how both correspond with each other in order to cover all your bases, so to speak.
