While providing Apartment Guardian to your employees has many benefits, such as improving employee productivity and limiting your liability, it’s important to know that it might also save you money on your worker's compensation insurance. When the time comes to negotiate a rate with your insurance provider, mention the following benefits of Apartment Guardian. Or, if you prefer, connect them to us directly and we will negotiate on your behalf!
- Lowered risk for mental health claims. Workers’ compensation claims due to mental or psychological stress experienced at work, often known as “stress claims”, have been growing significantly in recent years. In fact, in California, “no physical injury/stress claims” grew 20% from 2020 to 2021 alone. “Stress claim” payouts are expensive, costing on average about 52% more than those for physical injury claims. Further, stress claims last about 63% longer, with an average payout period of 39 weeks for stress claims, as opposed to 24 weeks for injury claims. Those who have experienced violence or fear of violence in the workplace are most likely to receive “stress claim” payouts. Real estate professionals are among those who experience some of the highest rates of workplace violence and fear, with 42% of female real estate professionals reporting being the victim of an attack or feeling unsafe at work. This ongoing, pervasive fear of violence can lead to stress, burnout, and in some cases, a need to take off work and file a workers’ comp stress claim. A personal safety device like Apartment Guardian can contribute significantly to feelings of security and well-being. In fact, studies have shown that 80% of women provided with a security device report improved feelings of safety. This on the job security not only improves your employee’s relationship to their job, but also puts your insurance provider at a significantly lower risk of paying out stress claims caused by employees feeling unsafe at work.
- Discouraging negative events: One of the best ways to prevent a workers compensation claims is to prevent an attack or injury in the first place. Studies have shown that 60% of perpetrators will not attempt their crime if they identify an alarm onsite. Apartment Guardian provides clear signage for you to display as a deterrent to attacks. The device itself is also designed such that a would-be assailant cannot actually disable it in the field. Further, many situations are able to be de-escalated due to the ability of the Apartment Guardian device to quickly reach emergency services. Before a perpetrator even knows his or her would be victim has activated the button, police can already be on the way. Once the perpetrator discovers this, he or she often will remove themselves from the situation to avoid unwanted contact with law enforcement. By providing obvious security to your employees, you greatly reduce the risk that an attack will even take place, which significantly lowers your insurance company’s chance of having to pay out a workers compensation claim due to an injury received during a violent encounter.
- Reduced risk for significant injury claims: Because Apartment Guardian reaches emergency services up to 8 times faster than a cell phone, providing an Apartment Guardian to each staff member significantly reduces the risk of a serious injury related claim by limiting exposure to injury. Allowing the police to be quickly notified and arrive limits the amount of time a potential perpetrator has to cause harm to your employee. Should an injury still occur, Apartment Guardian’s precise location tracking makes it easier for first respondents to quickly find and aid an injured employee. Injuries that are treated quickly are much less likely to become serious. For example, the workers compensation claim paid out for a cut will increase an average of 12% if that cut becomes infected or up to 400% if that cut ends up requiring surgery. Apartment Guardian lowers the risk of high cost claims by reducing the chance of serious injury, which can significantly impact your e-mod score and lower your insurance premium.
Overall, investing in an Apartment Guardian device significantly decreases your risk of having workers compensation claims filed, which will improve your e-mod score and lower your workers compensation premium. How much can it be lowered? The amount varies by insurance company, but we know clients who have achieved an almost cost neutral benefit from implementing Apartment Guardian portfolio-wide.
If you would like to take the next step in improving your employee safety and lowering your insurance costs, get in touch with me! I can be reached at kate@apartmentguardian.com. I look forward to helping keep your community safe.