Newly hired general aviation industry workers are most at risk for suffering on-the-job injuries, according to a study released recently by United States Aviation Underwriters (USAU). In an attempt to categorize the areas where most injuries and worker-compensation claims occur in the GA industry, USAU studied the last 10 years of insurance claims from its clients. USAU manages the pool of insurers that make up the United States Aircraft Insurance Group (USAIG), the nation’s largest aviation insurance organization, which has provided coverage to the National Air Transportation Association’s workers’ compensation plan since its inception in 1975. As a result, USAU was able to draw upon thousands of claims from participating NATA members in its study–ranging from FBOs and charter operators to airport authorities and MRO providers–and divide them into categories such as the overall most expensive and most frequent types of accidents from the viewpoint of workers’ compensation.
“We did it because we wanted to make NATA members aware of the types of claim that they are having,” said John Matthews, senior vice president at USAU. “All these customers are interested in controlling their losses and doing what’s best for their employees and their businesses. We want to draw attention to where the claims are coming from, and also to let them know that we are there to partner with them to find ways to control those losses.”
