Submitted
Loss control consultant Meredith Kaiser presents award a safety award that is based on a municipality’s annual loss experience in the self-funded programs. Wryley Bettis, mayor pro-tem, accepted for the city.
Venyke Harley, loss control manager for SCMIT and SCMIRF, and loss control consultant Meredith Kaiser visited the City of Greer’s Safety Breakfast to present the awards that are based on a municipality’s annual loss experience in the self-funded programs.
“Sometimes you see these awards sitting around at different municipalities or you see them being presented at meetings and what you recognize is that this is a big deal,” Greer City Administrator Ed Driggers said. “This is very important to us because it absolutely demonstrates our employees’ commitment to what we are trying to achieve. Resources are put into the pool and claims are then paid from that pool. The better we perform, the more likely we are to have returns or savings.”
Greer’s District 3 category includes municipalities with more than 150 full-time employees. The honors also earned the city $5,500.
SCMIT, the city workers' compensation insurance provider sponsored by MASC, determines its award winners based on loss experience for the current year and the prior three years.
SCMIRF, a self-insured pool that provides property and liability insurance to its member cities and towns and other governmental entities, determines its award winners based on lowest risk and claims.
Employees had 25 reportable injuries during the year, including one case that required time away from work and two others that required a total of 10 days of light duty. The latter was down from 41 days during 2014-15.
“Overall it was a very good year for us,” Driggers said.
“You kept employees safe and protected the city’s property, citizens and assets while delivering excellent public service,” Harley told city employees before presenting the awards to Greer Fire Chief Dorian Flowers, chair of the city’s safety committee, and mayor pro-tem Wryley Bettis.
City of Greer employees annually participate in MASC’s LocalGovU Online Training Center, which offers online safety training courses. During the 2015-16 year, Greer employees completed more than 1,200 classes through the program.