An insurance company hopes to keep those working in the grain industry safe through a smart phone application.
Nationwide Insurance launches ?Hazard Spotter,? an interactive training application available to their agribusiness customers. Senior consultant for Nationwide Jason Berkland said the app addresses a need for better training of employees who handle grain on a daily basis.
?We?ve had losses in the past where ? its kind of trial by error ? people were doing things or not doing things out in the grain elevator. And sometimes those losses can be significant. People can get burned or explosions can happen, and we can have loss of property. We put this interactive training app together to give them a real life example, or virtual reality, where they can try different things and go through scenarios, and really learn what they should be doing,? Berkland said.
The app includes several scenarios including: housekeeping, preventative maintenance, hot work and more. Berkland said the first scenario, within housekeeping, is a work assignment related to a boot pit operation.
?If somebody goes down into a boot pit without testing the atmosphere, it shows real-life examples where that person is going to die or could die of suffocation. The person will start to get blurred vision, and if they don?t get out in time, there could be asphyxiation or suffocation. The selling point is this is virtual reality, where real-life scenarios play out from our claims experience, and it teaches that employee what to do correctly the next time.? Berkland said.
Nationwide?s gross incurred losses for workers? compensation claims stemming from grain elevators has doubled from roughly $10 million in 2009 to $20 million in 2016. Property gross incurred losses from grain elevators also rose from roughly $24 million in 2009 to more than $34 million in 2016.
