CIC celebrates success of workers' comp plan.

With Workers' Compensation insurance premiums now whizzing through the stratosphere. the Construction Industry Council just helped bring the prices down to earth for at least 28 area construction companies.

The New York State Insurance Fund announced last week that these companies, as members of CIC Workers' Comp Safety Group, will share in the Group's first-year premium dividend totaling $1,033,110.

The dividend was ceremoniously presented to the CIC and its Safety Group managers by Governor Mario Cuomo and Cecilia Norat, executive director of the State Insurance Fund, in Westchester County.

In addition to the up-front 20 percent savings in premiums members of the group received by joining the program, CIC group members are receiving a 30 percent dividend. Checks ranging from $15,000 to more than $300,000 will be presented to participants this month.

The CIC Safety Group was formed in response to the desire of construction companies to cut rising insurance costs. To illustrate these spiraling costs, companies throughout the state were hit with a 15.6 percent increase in premiums this past July, reflecting increases for medical costs and lost-time benefit level increases.

To help combat these higher insurance costs, construction companies have joined the CIC's workers' compensation safety group. This past December, which marked the first anniversary of the program, the CIC Safety Group No. 532 posted $5.02 million in premiums. Since that time, the premiums have continued to grow to nearly $6 million, said Ross J. Pepe, president of the CIC. He explained that the trade association's safety group is the fastest growing program in the state.

Since its inception, the group has also doubled its membership, and now lists more than 50 contracting companies, material producers and suppliers. The reason for the group's success is simple: Companies that join have saved thousands of dollars on their workers' comp premiums, according to the program's manager, Allied Coverage Corp. of Roslyn Heights, New York.

There are 91 safety groups active in the State Insurance Fund, which was established in 1914 with the enactment of the Workmen's Compensation Act. Companies in the same industry such as construction have the opportunity to combine their premiums and spread the insurance risk over a much large group of workers compared with a policy for a single company. Also, group members are eligible to participate in any group surplus that accrues as a dividend.

Written premiums in the state insurance fund in 1991 totaled $1.489 billion. Safety group premiums contributed $349.3 million, or 23.5 percent, up from 22.7 the previous year.

During its first year of operation, the CIC Safety Group began job-site safety training programs using a mobilized van which is fully equipped with video and television capabilities for tool-box safety talks. The CIC Safety Van, the only of its kind in New York State, has already visited dozens of jobsites of CIC-member hrms in Long Island, Westchester, Rockland and the Lower Hudson Valley region.

For more information on the CIC Safety Group, contact Mr. Frazier at [phone] or CIC President Ross Pepe at [phone].