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Safety and Risk Unit
Overview
Major Program Areas
Primary Roles
SRU activities
Major Areas of Focus
Contact Us
Overview
 
The Safety and Risk Unit (SRU) works with agency executives, key managers, Safety Advisors and Risk Coordinators to help them establish effective safety and risk management systems within their agencies. These systems are designed to enable agencies to:
  • Identify risks
  • Analysis risks
  • Mitigate risk exposures (through the development of loss control programs) 
SRU consultants primarily focus on exposures covered by the self-insurance fund. This minimizes public funds diverted to pay for loss. By addressing risks associated with employee injury, tort liability and property assets, SRU assists agencies in maximizing funds for operations and services.
 

Major Program Areas

  • Employee Injury Risk
    Services are delivered to Oregonians through the knowledgeable, skilled employees who comprise state government’s workforce. Injury to employees is an operational risk with associated significant financial impacts. An employee injury disrupts operations and services, creates workers’ compensation costs, and results in soft, non-insured costs that can drain agency operating budgets.
  • State-owned Property Protection
    State property assets are a significant investment of public dollars. State property includes buildings, equipment, supplies and vehicles, all essential to provide services.
  • Avoiding Harm to Third Parties and Employment Practice Liability
    State agencies provide a wide variety of services to citizens and visitors. When an error occurs that causes harm and results in damages, the state´s self-insurance fund is tapped to pay for investigation, defense and resolution.
The Safety and Risk Management Consultants are available to help agencies identify, analyze and mitigate their loss exposures. This includes:
  • Using past experiences to identify system breakdowns that resulted in harm.
  • Applying an Incident Analysis process to identify all causes of the events that led to the harm.
  • Utilizing a Risk Assessment process to identify exposures, quantify the risk and choose appropriate risk control techniques.

Primary Roles
 
The Safety Management Consultant provides advice to key managers on preventing and managing work caused injury and illness among state employees. This consultant’s major duties include:
The Risk Management Consultants’ core responsibilities center around SRU’s role to protect state-owned assets and minimize lose to the state’s self-insurance fund. This includes:
  • Assist state agencies in identifying known and potential risks, review loss control measures, research and advise agencies on potential loss control techniques for their risk control programs.
  • Review of the Annual Risk Report (See Conditions for Payment, Property Self-Insurance Policy Manual) to identify adverse risks and advise agencies on implementation of risk control programs.
  • Analyze loss data and complaints, claims and suits to assess statewide risks and identify areas for improvement.
  • Advise on state self-insurance coverage and commercial insurance options for state exposures.

SRU activities

  • Establish statewide benchmarks, monitor and report on agency performance.
  • Issue the state´s self-insurance policy manual and special agency endorsements. 
  • Make loss data available to agencies enabling them to analyze and identify areas of loss, as well as, monitor effectiveness of risk mitigation and control.
  • Provide training and development of Agency Risk Coordinator and Safety Advisor staff  through:
    • Biennial Risk Seminar and the Loss Management in State Government workshop series.
    • New Risk Coordinator and Safety Advisor orientation.
    • Job Shadow at RM.
Contract liability is not covered by the state´s self-insurance fund.
SRU provides limited assistance in Contract Decision Making.

Major Areas of Focus
We can help agencies:

Check out our Internet Sites of Interest
 
 

Contact Us
 
Luella Ackerson
Work Comp and Safety Management Analyst, (503) 373-7003
 
Deb Bogart,
Work Comp and Safety Management Coordinator, (503) 373-7233
       
Holly Cooper
Work Comp and Safety Management Analyst, (503) 373-1253

 
Page updated: August 28, 2008

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