Workers’ comp claims decline after Zurich NA, Arrowsight pilot program

New technology is reducing workers’ compensation claims and fraud across industries.

But in construction, the results appear on camera.

Working with Arrowsight, a safety technology company that specializes in video-based behavior modification and training analytics, specialized cameras are installed around jobsites that catch workers ignoring safety rules, such as jostling under a load of lumber suspended from a crane or failing to buckle safety belts balanced above the ground. The videos are flagged by a team and reported to safety supervisors. Then the workers get proper feedback and training.

In New York, where the cost of workers’ compensation insurance and the frequency and severity of claims are among the highest in the country, safety improvements from camera surveillance have become so dramatic on construction sites that insurer Zurich North America announced Friday that it will only insure finished construction projects that have installed video analytics and training from Arrowsight.

A three-year, $2 billion pilot program at nine large-scale construction jobsites in New York City showed a more than 70% reduction in workers’ comp claims and the near elimination of extortion charges in New York City when Arrowsight video analytics and training were implemented, the insurer said.

“The exciting results underscore the power of combining human vision and technology to create measurable change,” Tobias Cushing, head of construction at Zurich, told CNBC. “We have seen the virtual elimination of serious injuries and deaths on projects using Arrowsight.”

Arrowsight uses movable, battery-operated, cell-powered fixed point cameras that can operate without electricity or internet.

“We have a whole program where we use civil engineers overnight to look at all of these high-risk work activities and then provide feedback, and kind of training clips just like you see in the sports center to help supervisors train workers to avoid taking these types of risks,” said Adam Aronson, founder and CEO of Arrowsight.

Worker safety compliance rates have increased from about 70% before Arrowsight was implemented to 97% to 100% in many cases, according to pilot program data.

Arosite’s technology was already in use in a range of other industries, from healthcare facilities to meatpacking plants, before Aronson identified construction as an industry that could benefit from video-based technology.

Posillico Civil was the first civil construction company in the United States to work with Arrowsight. The four-year pilot study resulted in the company’s Experience Modification Ratio (EMR), a key classification of claims incidents that takes into account workers’ compensation premiums, falling from 0.65 to 0.25. The EMR represents a relative safety score, with scores less than one being favourable.

Arrowsight also signed a master service agreement with Chubb this summer with a primary focus on construction.