Case Study: Close Collaboration Improves Safety and Reduces Losses

The Adecco Group, a staffing company, employed four full-time safety managers to review more than 6,000 safety evaluations at its clients’ locations each year, resulting in time, effort, and an enormous amount of Excel spreadsheet and paper usage.

When Susan Shemanski took on the risk management role at Adecco almost four years ago, she realized that there must be a better way of doing things using technology. Following discussions with her Marsh client executive, our in-house risk management information system team together with a Marsh Risk Consulting (MRC) team led by Shanna Levesque was enlisted to build an online platform and mobile safety app that leveraged artificial intelligence to:

• Automate the review process.
• Identify and score job risks.
• Provide safety tips to client location managers.

By reducing the number of safety managers needed to review evaluations, the majority of the Adecco team along with MRC team could focus on reducing workers’ compensation losses and improving workforce and workplace safety.

The MRC team helped the Adecco team take a highly-focused and transformational approach to safety strategy. This included completing job safety analyses and developing ergonomic training to instruct associates on how to use good body mechanics to reduce ergonomic risks. Training also focused on avoiding injury in the first place and improving workplace culture. “Huddle” cards and complementary videos were created for use by client location managers with associates.

As loss data was analyzed more fully, it became clear that there was room for improvement in Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSDs) injuries. The MRC team then introduced wearable technology – Modjoul’s SmartBelt system – to Adecco. With the data collected by the SmartBelt and shared via live dashboards, Adecco and MRC were able to quickly correct behaviors through training and job modification/rotation.

The results of these efforts are impressive.

• During the first year of using the new platform and app, Adecco saw a 17% reduction in losses.
• With improvements to the technology over time, only 11% of reviews annually required manual/in-person follow-up.
• Over three years, there has been a 47% reduction in injury severity and a 23% drop in injury frequency.

Watch the video above to learn more about the close collaboration, strategic approaches, and impactful results delivered by the Marsh and Adecco teams and why Susan Shemanski was recognized as a 2019 Risk All Star by Risk & Insurance.