Frankfort, KY: Governor Ernie Fletcher announced today that his administration will immediately institute workplace safety procedures to reduce injuries, and the resulting excessive workers’ compensation claims in all Cabinets of state government, as a result of a study conducted by the Department of Parks. Governor Fletcher ordered the Department of Personnel to immediately launch an investigation into all Cabinets to curb the excessive abuse of the Worker's Compensation Program and the ensuing claims. This effort is two-fold in that the Governor is seeking to weed out the abuse of the system, and also to ensure that state employees have the safe and secure workplace they deserve.
Commerce Secretary W. James Host said he discovered shortly after taking office that the Parks Department had paid a disproportionate number of workers’ comp claims, when compared to state government as a whole, a similar government agency, or the private-sector hotel business.
"I was shocked to see how many claims the department paid out last year,” Host said. "It was clear that commonsense business principles were ignored, to the detriment of the department and the taxpayers of the Commonwealth.”
Newly appointed Parks Commissioner George Ward said the department's claims history is abysmal, compared to the private sector. Ward is former co-owner of a hotel management company.
"I simply couldn’t have stayed in business with this kind of workplace injury history,” Ward said.
Comparisons with other state agencies offer some perspective. In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2003, some 3,332 workers’ comp claims were filed with the state self-managed workers’ compensation program. Of that total, 201, or about 6 percent, originated in the Parks Department. Yet the department's total payroll is only 2 percent of the total workforce.
In state government, one out of every 19 employees filed a claim, according to data provided by the state Department of Personnel. For Parks, the ratio was one in 6.5 employees.
The Department of Parks has roughly the same number of employees as the parks and recreation division of Louisville Metro Government. Yet Louisville Metro park workers accounted for only 150 claims in fiscal year 2003, or 51 less than the state parks department's total.
A comparison with the private hotel industry also sheds light on the problem. According to a 2001 report by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the hotel industry experienced 67 claims per 1,000 workers. Using that proportion, the Department of Parks would have seen roughly 90 claims, instead of more than twice that many.
Closer to home, the entire Kentucky hotel industry reported 182 compensation claims for workplace injuries in calendar year 2001. Compare this with 236 claims in Parks at an average cost of $2730 per claim, in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) reports the national incidence rates for the hotel industry as 6.6 for every 100 employees and in Kentucky, OSHA reports the incidence rate for the hotel industry at 5.9. The State Parks incidence rate is 23.02 for every 100 employees.
All told, the Department of Parks paid $314,000 in workers’ compensation claims for the 2003 fiscal year and has budgeted $1,070,064 in anticipated claims, Commissioner Ward reported.
Commissioner Ward continued, "There should be no more than $100,000 budgeted for claims if the proper safety programs are in place.”
Of course, the claims cost is the tip of the iceberg, Ward noted. It doesn’t account for the loss of productivity suffered when a worker can’t do his or her job or the temporary staff that may be used to during the interim.
Unfortunately, 2003 was not an unusual year for the park system. Claims rates have varied from 204 to 239 since the fiscal year that ended in 1999, according to data supplied by the state Department of Personnel. The overall state government rate has stayed within a range of 3,400-3,600 during those years.
How did the department get in this situation? Lack of accountability seems to have been a big problem, Ward said. It appears that no one was in charge of ensuring workplace safety.
"I was reviewing records at one park and saw that there were repeated instances of cuts and burns among the food service staff, "Ward said. "I asked the park manager what sort of worker safety training he provided to prevent such injuries, and he told me he didn’t have one.”
At Kentucky Dam Village State Resort, for instance, a park administrator reported that worker safety training meetings had not been conducted in seven or eight years. In one recent year, Kentucky Dam had the highest number of accidents, 37 in all.
A small park also has a high claims history. Despite having only 33 full time employees, Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort recorded 32 injuries in the fiscal year that ended June 30, despite having one of the smallest resort staffs, Ward reported.
Park managers had access to Department of Personnel quarterly and annual reports that show a park's claims record. Such information would be useful in tracking the types of injuries at a park to help design appropriate training. Department of Personnel officials say park managers never asked for such report.
Another service available to state agencies and previously not used by the Department of Parks is a program that encourages an injured employee to get back to work as soon as medically cleared, possibly carrying out restricted duties until he or she is fully recovered.
A change is coming, Ward said. An important part of Deputy Commissioner Jerry Blanton's job will be worker safety issues, he said. The department already has appointed a workplace safety officer in the central administrative office who will see to it that every park manager carries out a uniform workplace safety training program. A significant portion of a park manager's job evaluation will rest with safety issues. Moreover, every resort park will have a safety committee that will be held accountable for reducing injuries.
"We will design a comprehensive program that will yield immediate results,” Ward said. "Our park workers will receive all the training they need to carry out their jobs safely.”
By slashing workplace injury costs, the department will be helped down the road to its goal of eliminating a $29 million state subsidy for the park system. The bottom line is that employees have been getting hurt on the job and the State has not managed the risk, which has unnecessarily cost state government.
Ward added, "I want to point out to our guests that the administrative issues that we’re facing shouldn’t affect their travel experience. Our visitors have every reason to expect an outstanding travel experience when they visit a state park.”
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