Indiana Code 27-7-2 states that the ICRB has a responsibility to maintain fairness and accuracy of Workers Compensation in the State of Indiana. Indiana Code 27-7-2-1 also indicates that the ICRB has the duty to conduct physical inspections of employer facilities and locations to ensure proper classification based on the exposures found. The ICRB is also required to report any physical or moral conditions that would cause a risk to be uninsurable to the Indiana Workers Compensation Board, see 27-7-2-31 of the Indiana Code. Based on these outlined rules, the ICRB utilizes an Inspection program to ensure the accuracy of both Voluntary Market and Assigned Risk policies.
At the direction of ICRB management and with the approval of the ICRB Governing Board, our Classification & Inspection Analysts perform physical inspections on both Assigned risk and Voluntary Market policyholders. Policyholders are chosen at random based on the following criteria:
- Newly experience rated employers
- Employers with experience modifications of 1.50 or higher
- Employers with frequently misclassified codes including Clerical, Property Management, Machine Shops, Store-Retail/Wholesale, and Trucking
- Employers paying $5,000 or more in annual premium
- Employers with a significant carrier audit adjustment and/or audit dispute
Physical Inspection- An ICRB Classification & Inspection Analyst visits the insured’s place of business and does a complete inspection of all work areas, activities, and occupational exposures. This is done to verify the accuracy of the current policy in terms of classifications of payroll, payroll allocation, and rates used. This also enables the ICRB to fulfill our responsibility of verifying that all physical and moral conditions are maintained to an insurable standard. The Classification & Inspection Analyst will complete an ICRB inspection form, including a detailed summary of operations and photographs for the ICRB file. Any corrections needed on the current policy will be communicated to the insurance carrier by the Classification & Inspection Analyst within 10 working days from the end of the inspection. The Classification & Inspection Analyst will follow up after 30 days to verify that the recommended corrections have or are being made by the carrier.
Classification corrections will follow the specific rules set forth in the Basic Manual Rule 1.F as outlined below:
- A classification change resulting in premium increase within the first 120 days of the policy will be made back to policy inception. After 120 days up to the last 90 days of the policy, the change will be made pro rata. During the last 90 days of the policy the change will be made at renewal.
- A classification change that results in a premium decrease will be made at the policy inception date.
Physical Inspections of employers will include a tour of the employer’s premise and will include an analysis of the work areas and job functions of each payroll classification. In order to complete the inspection, the ICRB may also request the following information from an employer:
- Payroll records (employee specific)
- Tax reports (Federal Payroll 940s or 941s)
- General ledger, subcontractor ledgers and journal (or 1099s)
- Certificates of insurance for subcontractors
- Workers’ compensation (WC) insurance policy
- Employee information
- Corporate officer information
- Subcontractor information
- Certificates of insurance for each subcontractor
- Copies of Safety Programs and Training Manuals
** Note- during the 2020 and 2021 years, we have allowed for employer’s that are uncomfortable with our staff to visit their premises due to the COVID -19 pandemic to have a virtual inspection tour with our staff conducted. This can be discussed with our Classification & Inspection Analyst and be determined on a case-by-case basis.
If you have any questions about our Physical Inspection program, we encourage you to contact either Vice President, Scott Lerew (slerew@icrb.net) or President, Paul Keathley (pkeathley@icrb.net) for additional details.
