if I have an employee who spends 80% in office drafting, computations and admin and 20% in field surveying, is that person rated (for workmans comp) as:
'Drafting/Clerical" or a 'Surveyor'?
or are they rated 'Drafting/Clerical' 80% of their payroll and 'Surveyor' 20% ?
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If memory serves, the cost for surveyor ratings is essentially the same as drafting/clerical.?ÿ Historically pretty low.?ÿ I guess I would ask the provider or the broker.?ÿ Lots of surveyors are in the office full time, not sure that changes their rating in the way that it would for an ironworker or electrician who puts on his house slippers.
The bulk of the regular duty should rule, just make sure you disclose everything. The insurance company may squawk if your drafter impales himself on a machete running from the rattlesnake that just bit him...
I've always been impressed at how low the rates for field personnel are, given that they're regularly exposed to so many hazards.?ÿ I always figured that the ratings people don't understand what the life of a field surveyor is really like.
I can use some help as Virginia rates are:
drafting/clerical $0.11/$100 payroll and
surveyor $1.79/ $100 payroll
Just doesn't seem right to pay almost 2% for workman's comp insurance.
Or, do I have this all wrong?
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@hpalmer I did some googling and found similar results to yours.?ÿ The surveyor rates are much higher than I remember.?ÿ It's been quite a while since I had to do this.?ÿ I now wonder if my insurance broker did me a "favor" by rating everyone according to straight office worker arch/eng/drafting rates.?ÿ I wouldn't have known to double check on my own.
Seems like the coding for surveyors is lumped in with timber cruisers and the like these days, which certainly makes the flavor of risk more realistic for the muddy boots types.
1.76% of payroll is high and especially for someone who only spends maybe 20% of their time in the field.
?ÿI did some searching to include NCCI?ÿ and wonder if field crew marijuana use is why the rate is so high - I'm in Virginia and we are a recreational state.
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@hpalmer The rate has probably been influenced by my efforts earning my internet handle...
Back when I had multiple employees, I was informed by my WC carrier that anyone that spent time in the field on a regular basis needed to be insured as a surveyor which was about 0.625% in my case.?ÿ As Mr. Bionic pointed out, it is all based on the dangers associated with our profession.
While as an owner I am not required to carry WC on myself.?ÿ I'm glad someone brought this up because I just looked at my current reports and apparently my classification has been changed to 8601 or engineering/architecture vs 8602 surveying.?ÿ I'm going to need to talk to someone about that this week.