Florida Pool Pro
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• October 2014
17
By David Griffiths, Insurance By Ken Brown /
Trends in claims and injuries in the
swimming pool industry
INSURANCE UPDATE
A few times a year we meet with our Insurance by Ken Brown/Florida
Swimming Pool Association team at the Amerisure Insurance Company to
discuss specific claim activity. As most of you know, Amerisure is the insurance
provider for a majority of the swimming pool industry throughout Florida and
the southeast. Our meetings have a very specific agenda aimed at finding
trends and discussing ways to better serve FSPA members.
In addition to areas of service, coverage, safety/loss control and pricing, we
look very carefully at claims. In fact, we review essentially every single claim.
As we review these claims we look for trends and commonalities. When those
are discovered we look for possible ways to mitigate those claims. Here are
a few examples and suggestions:
Workers’ Compensation
Eye protection: We have seen a jump in injuries resulting from the use
of bleach and acid. In each instance the employee had not been wearing
any eye protection. In one
instance, acid has caused
an 80 percent loss of
sight in one eye. Please
mandate employees wear
eye protection. A good
exercise would be to have
employees wear a patch
over one eye for a period
of time (outside of work)
to experience the effects
of living with one eye. Try
it yourself; it is amazingly
