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Pacific Union Designates Five Million in California Workers’ Compensation Employee Safety Funds for School Improvement Projects By Faith Hoyt
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dventist academies and elementary schools are putting unused California Workers’ Compensation funds to good use through projects that increase campus and workplace safety. In 2015, the required reserves in the Self-Insured California Workers’ Compensation fund exceeded the requirement from the State of California, meaning excess monies were available to be returned or designated for special projects. The Workers’ Comp Board for the Pacific Union decided to create a renovation fund and made the funds available to schools within the four California conferences for safety enhancement projects. “This program has been a real blessing as there is more than one
San Antonio Christian School in Ontario, Calif., utilized approximately $48,000 of the Pacific Union renovation fund to install fencing on the school property.
benefit; yes, the primary goal is improving employee safety, but along with that it also improves student safety—and additionally, many of the projects visually improve the look of the campus,” said Stephen Mayer, treasurer of the Pacific Union. “In many cases, it has a three-fold benefit to our schools.” According to Mayer, data reveals that schools incur the most claims to the fund, Loma Linda Academy in Loma Linda, Calif., received and academies approximately $12,000 from the renovation fund for a comprised 79 scissor lift to enable employees to safely change light bulbs. percent of the those
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claims. The highest claim category for the Pacific Union are slips, trips, and falls. “The Workers’ Comp board really wants to see the amount of injuries reduced, and since there was extra funding, why not use these funds to try to prevent injuries?” Mayer said. The Union designated $2 million for Workers’ Compensation Employee Safety Funds in 2015, and in 2016, the Workers’ Compensation Board voted that $1 million more be made available for school employee safety projects. Due to the success of the program and ongoing successful reduction of claim costs, the board continued to allocate $1 million in 2018 and in 2019. Altogether, $5 million has been reinvested back into Employee Safety Projects.
