01 Jul Brownsville Marine’s Journey To Adopt The Synergy of Safety Model The Initial Road To Safety, Part I
Brownsville Marine’s Journey To Adopt The Synergy of Safety Model
The Initial Road To Safety, Part I
Brownsville Marine is a leading manufacturer of marine vessels located on the Monongahela River in Brownsville, PA. As you can imagine creating a safe work environment was a big challenge for a company that has hundreds of employees, complicated and dangerous equipment and large manufacturing pieces. Even with a leadership team that maintained over 200 years in combined manufacturing and maritime experience in 2008, they struggled to maintain a culture of safety.
Tim Scheib came on board as President & CEO in 2009 of Brownsville Marine and he immediately engaged in a safety program that helped keep the workers safe and improve efficiency in the manufacturing plant. As Tim puts it “When I arrived, there was a very lax safety protocol, and many workplace injuries. I knew immediately that we needed help in order to establish a safe work environment and keep our team accountable to continued safety measures.”
Shortly before Tim arrived, Brownsville determined they needed to do something to lower their experience mod and develop a culture of safety. Synergy Comp was a natural choice due to their partnership with SOS Consulting. With Tim’s new leadership to the organization and the Synergy of Safety Model, Brownsville quickly started to see results.
SOS got started right away with the team at Brownsville following their 8 step approach to reducing workers’ compensation claims, experience mods and workplace injuries. Over time employees of Brownsville who didn’t fit into the new culture of safety departed the company and the overall efficiency of plant and management increased.
In 2010 Brownsville decided to market their workers’ compensation insurance. They ultimately made the decision to depart Synergy for another lower cost provider who claimed they also assisted in risk management. Tim stated “The other carrier simply came and picked up medical bills, the team at Synergy and SOS got themselves personally invested in the process and lowering out our claims. This is a true partnership where all parties want the same thing, a safe workplace with a reduced experience mod over a 5 year plan.”
Tim will gladly tell you, “Synergy is a true partnership, they helped everyone from my staff, managers and even myself develop a safer work environment. I didn’t feel like they were a vendor, they were part of our team.” In 2012, Tim insisted Synergy come back as their workers compensation and risk management provider. In 2010, Brownsville had a 1.831 experience mod, in 2015 that dropped to 1.357 with the help of Synergy’s Workers’ Compensation Programs. To learn more read the Brownsville Marine case study.
You can watch Tim tell his story in his Synergy Video Testimonial. Also, look for “The Initial Road to Safety, Part II” where we review how Synergy helped reduce workplace claims.