How six Risk All Stars overcame work comp challenges with strategic solutions

Each year, Risk & Insurance magazine recognizes risk management professionals for outstanding achievements in building effective risk management programs. The article profiles 13 risk management professionals as 2025 Risk All Stars. Here are summaries of six profiles that demonstrate how innovative approaches to risk management can transform workplace safety and reduce costs while building trust between management and employees.

To read more and learn about the seven other all-stars, click here .

1. Rosie Partida (Save Mart Companies - grocery retail)

   Problem: Industry-wide labor shortage and rapidly climbing work comp claims and costs. There was also significant variation in risks among store locations. The company had a traditional, reactive approach to claims management.

   Solution: Instituted a partnership with a TPA to develop a comprehensive strategy focused on injury prevention, early clinical intervention, strategic claims resolution, and cross-functional collaboration. It included rigorous accountability measures such as root cause analysis for every incident and direct training for managers from environmental health and safety consultants with a focus on safety risks specific to their stores. Training programs were tailored to address known high-risk factors, particularly musculoskeletal injuries and cuts. High-risk stores received intensive training, and Ms. Partida engaged with store leadership to ensure alignment with corporate objectives.

   Nurse triage processes helped maintain productivity while reducing the need for medical care. To keep employees engaged during recovery and reduce indemnity costs, injured employees were offered transitional roles aligned with their medical restrictions.

   Collaborative roundtable discussions that brought together the company's risk management team, the TPA's claims professionals, and defense counsel replaced standard file reviews. This resulted in more strategic claim planning, accelerated litigation decisions, and streamlined settlement processes.

   Result: In 2024, there was a 25 percent decrease in new claims across its operations. The five highest-claiming locations saw claims drop by an impressive 43 percent compared to 2020 levels, excluding COVID-related incidents. Sprains and strains decreased by 40 percent, and lacerations declined by 19 percent. The average cost per claim fell by 20 percent and claim settlements increased by 50 percent.

2. Dr. Deeba Siddiqui (Hackensack Meridian Health- network of healthcare providers)

   Problem: Significant growth and health care consolidation meant diverse entities operating in silos with different policies and approaches to risk. The pandemic intensified the challenges. The organization needed to function as a cohesive whole, standardize risk reporting, improve response mechanisms, and proactively address risks across the entire network.

   Solution: In a comprehensive overhaul of the organizational structure, culture, and technology infrastructure, Dr. Siddiqui created two network divisions - safety and emergency management. Standardized job descriptions were developed and roles and reporting lines clarified. Over several years, 384 hospital-level policies were transformed into a single network-wide policy, laying the groundwork for electronic consent systems.

   Significant improvements in data management and accessibility have driven the infrastructure changes. This has enabled proactive risk mitigation, faster information delivery, stronger analytics, and enhanced care quality and outcomes.

   Recognizing that cultural changes were critical, she championed psychological safety and encouraged open, transparent reporting. This approach embraced errors as learning opportunities and balanced accountability with learning and improvement.

   Result: There was a 19 percent increase in safety and near-miss reports and a 25 percent increase in "Good Catch" submissions in 2024, reflecting the cultural shift toward transparency and early intervention. From 2022 to 2024, targeted prevention strategies and collaborative safety efforts drove a 17.3 percent reduction in the Total Recordable Case rate and a 25.4 percent reduction in the DART rate. Operational efficiency gains included achieving a 96 percent harmonization rate in 2024 across ERM and a 56 percent improvement in team health & safety through withdrawal of 246 outdated policies.

3. Melissa Hollingsworth (LA Unified School District - massive public school district)

   Problem: The second largest school district in the nation, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), faced rising premiums and outsized jury verdicts, creating an undue financial burden. A feasibility study in 2016 examined alternative risk-transfer mechanisms.

   Solution: Last summer, the district domiciled a captive in Vermont. "Forming a captive meant looking at the district's risk appetite, its financial strength to back a captive, and what it would mean to take this large public entity into this new stage of risk management." It had the infrastructure, built-in governance, and accountability to its constituents and taxpayers to launch a captive. Setting up a captive can be daunting, and the major challenges include analysis paralysis and funding for reserves to pay claims.

   With $1 billion in startup funding, the district placed general liability, worker compensation, and commercial auto risks in the captive. It added property risk in January 2025, but according to the magazine article, when the wildfires erupted, the peril was excluded. Future plans are to add cyber, OCIP, and eventually health and benefits.

   Results: "The captive has also shown promising results moving forward, having saved LAUSD hundreds of millions in premium costs in just a single year."

4. Timothy Adam (ULCS / Asplundh - electric and gas utility construction and maintenance services)

   Problem: Serious safety issues and a fractured culture were ballooning work comp costs. It wasn't just a compliance problem requiring procedural fixes, but there was a breakdown of trust between workers and leadership.

   Solution: Mr. Adam conducted the organization's first company-wide culture survey, which revealed employees didn't feel heard, valued, or invested in their work. This led to disengagement, distrust, and silent erosion of safety standards. To bridge the gap between labor and leadership, he implemented a multi-faceted strategy. This included annual culture surveys, leadership training, field technology upgrades for real-time communications, clear core values, and a mandatory two-day safety leadership training for all supervisory personnel. An apprenticeship program and bootcamps develop internal talent and provide advancement pathways. During the COVID-19 pandemic, crew-level prevention plans and tracking systems helped reduce the exposure.

   Results: "Within 18 months, workers comp costs plummeted from over $1.6 million to just $400,000, representing a 75 percent reduction that significantly improved the organization's financial risk profile. The following year's culture survey validated the organizational shift, with employees reporting higher satisfaction levels, stronger connections to leadership, and renewed pride in their work." Employee turnover rates decreased by 40 percent.

5. Joselle Bamford (Erickson Senior Living - long-term care facility)

   Problem: Ineffective recovery-at-work policies, limited access to high-quality care, and high litigation rates were driving work comp costs.

   Solution: Strengthened return-to-work policies with customized templates for various occupations and transitional duty assignments across all company campuses. Improved claims management by expanding on-site care and staffing 15 locations with certified registered nurse practitioners. Implemented the TPA's 24/7 nurse line and field case management services.

   Results: Lost-time claims declined from 15.76 percent in 2021-2022 to 9.44 percent in 2023-2024. Litigation rates dropped from an average of 31 percent in 2021-2022 to 22 percent in 2023-2024.

6. LaVeta Breath (Oklahoma City - city)

   Problem: In May 2024, the state adopted an assumption of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for first responders under workers compensation. The city had a limited mental health network in its comp program.

   Solution: Credentialed the city's Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providers into the workers compensation network, significantly expanding access to mental health support. Added telecare mental health services and implemented Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD), which provides early intervention for trauma from events such as fires, violence, or severe injuries. Initiated a statewide collaboration with other municipalities, third-party administrators, and legal experts to share insights and co-develop a scalable, replicable framework.

   Results: "While it is still early in the program's implementation, preliminary feedback from department heads and clinical teams highlights reduced stigma, stronger engagement in mental health services, and fewer escalated claims."