CHICAGO — While rival sports organizations compete fiercely on the field, they can work together effectively to battle risk management concerns they have in common, including workers comp issues, three baseball risk managers said.
And the data-heavy analysis that clubs use to optimize players’ performance extends into other areas of their operations and is used to help reduce workers compensation claims and other potential liabilities, they said Thursday during a session of Chicagoland Risk Forum, sponsored by the Chicago chapter of the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.
“On the field everyone’s super competitive in the league, but off the field there are things you can learn from each other and share,” said Anthony Avitabile, New York-based director of industry risk management for Major League Baseball.
MLB has a group insurance program in place covering all the clubs and their affiliates for most lines of coverage, including workers comp, general liability and property. In addition, the program includes a Vermont-based captive, Mr. Avitabile said.
One initiative that MLB put together was the league’s Workers Compensation Quality Council, where best practices are shared, he said.
Clubs also collaborate and hold conference calls on safety, said Darius Anderson, manager-risk management for the Milwaukee Brewers.
In recent years one of the main issues of concern has been heat awareness for ballpark employees and fans, he said.
“Those calls are really, really helpful to share best practices and stay ahead of the curve,” Mr. Anderson said.
Information is also shared informally between risk managers in the sector, he said.
“Sometimes you’re like an island right within your organization, so I need to pick up the phone and call another club,” Mr. Anderson said. Discussions often center around particular workers comp claims or mitigation strategies.
Similar to their on-field strategies, clubs access significant amounts of data for risk management purposes.
“Data has been very important to the Milwaukee Brewers in terms of assessing our potential claims or near misses,” Mr. Anderson said.
However, other factors also should be considered, he said.
“You can get lost in data real fast and kind of lose touch with some of the personal side of things — especially the workers comp side. I always tell our club trainers, ‘Take care of the player first, figure out the rest later,’” said Dino Stiris, manager of risk management for the Chicago Cubs.
Focusing on overall workers comp results can sometimes lead to decisions that are not in the interests of injured individuals, he said.
“If you get into the data, you can really just steer in a direction that is not a positive for the associate because you’re just so focused on ‘we need to get here,’” he said.
Medical science that the clubs use can also be useful for risk mitigation, Mr. Stiris said.
For example, identifying a player with a weak shoulder can help trainers mitigate the issue by building up the player’s muscle before an injury occurs, he said.
“It’s helped us in many situations, especially with pitchers,” Mr. Stiris said.