When you think of fraternal organizations, insurance may not be a topic that immediately comes to mind. But, it should be. While you may not think of these organizations as having “employees”…they most definitely do and steps should be taken to ensure the organization (or even local chapter) is safe should an injury happen.

What am I talking about? Workers’ compensation…and it’s just like it sounds. Workers’ compensation laws protect the financial interest of people who suffer injuries on the job. Without these benefits, thousands of workers would fall into insurmountable debt every year. Workers’ compensation benefits go beyond the payment of medical bills, as disability benefits, loss wage benefits, and death benefits are provided as well.

Our Holmes Murphy Fraternal Practice has experienced an influx of workers’ compensation claims involving employees of fraternal organizations. Similar to claims in other industries, the proximate cause of incidents and subsequent injuries continue to be related to the condition of the physical location coupled with unsafe acts of employees.

It likely comes as no surprise that common causes of loss include slips, trips, falls, sprains, strains, and falls from heights. Our team is making a concerted effort to work with our clients to do the fundamental things necessary to reduce the probability of incidents occurring and injuries being sustained to employees of fraternal organizations. We have developed loss prevention recommendations, which are truly necessary to ensure the safety and monetary security of all parties. These include:

Based on our review of fraternal workers’ compensation claim experience, implementation of some or all of the above loss preventions measures could potentially have a material impact and reduce the workers’ compensation claim frequency and severity for your organization.

If you’d like to find out more information or have questions on how it all works/how to get started, don’t hesitate to comment below or reach out to our team directly!