Public Risk Management

Chris Mandel, Founder, President and Managing Consultant for Excellence in Risk Management, LLC, discusses how workers’ compensation will look in ten years, through the lens of Dr. Richard Victor’s recently published book, “Scenarios for the 2030s: Threats and Opportunities for Workers' Compensation Systems”. There are four main forces causing the change: demographic forces, such as age of workforce - baby boomers reaching retirement, case shifting, social security and disability situation and the changed environment of workers compensation and reform. He highlights Dr. Victor’s most significant conclusions and data: work compensation costs could triple without a material change in benefits, state based systems being out of balance, a challenge within regulatory and legislative reform, increasing in claim frequency, and lengthening of disability by 21% as well as an 8.5% increase in the average payment. Additionally, Chris elaborates on four aspects risk managers and practitioners can implement with