The Challenge
Integrating Benco Dental's workers' compensation program with its longstanding culture of caring was a natural next step—but one that took time. Over the last decade, Benco and its insurance partners, PMA Companies and Davis Insurance Agency, set a strategy in motion that made safety goals as important as sales goals. Frequent safety training, launching an online employee safety portal and an accident review committee, and flexible return-to-work initiatives all helped foster employee engagement. The results have been safer workspaces, fewer accidents, and sustainable total cost of risk reductions—all during a time of significant growth for the company.
Partnership Results
- Total injury frequency rate has decreased by nearly 50% since 2014
- Medical-only claims frequency rate is down 46% since 2014
- Lost-time strain frequency rate dropped by 75% in 2016
- $1.5 million in medical savings 2012-2017
- Flexible return-to-work initiatives keep approximately 50% of lost-time claims less than $25,000 per claim
- Average total cost of risk reduced by 26%since 2006
2017 Teddy Award Honorable Mention
Benco Dental was recently recognized by one of the most coveted award programs in the workers' compensation industry. For more than 20 years, Risk & Insurance has used its Theodore Roosevelt Workers' Compensation & Disability Management Award (Teddy Award for short) to recognize exceptional workers' compensation programs. Each year, the Teddy judges independently review applications, looking for innovation, flexible approaches, and sustainable results. Benco Dental's culture of caring, focus on employee safety, and continuous workers' compensation improvements landed them a 2017 Teddy Award Honorable Mention.
Benco Dental's broker says...
"Benco owners and senior leaders share the same philosophy and commitment that have led to their risk management success. For nearly 20 years, as the organization has grown, Davis Insurance and PMA have provided the guidance to help Benco establish itself not only as a successful leader in its industry, but also a best practice model for sustaining a safety-first employee culture."
Rob McCauley, ARM
Davis Insurance Agency
Benco Dental has been privately owned and operated since 1930 and is now the largest privately owned full-service distributor of dental supplies, dental equipment, dental consulting and dental equipment services. The company has remained family-owned and is in its third generation of leadership. During the company's 80-year history, Benco Dental has grown from a single storefront location in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, into the nation’s fastest-growing dental distributor, with 50 regional showroom locations and five distribution centers servicing over 30,000 dental professionals in 48 states and Washington D.C. In 2010, Benco Dental opened a new 280,000-square-foot corporate headquarters, distribution center and equipment showroom in Pittston, Pennsylvania. The new facility, CenterPoint, houses the largest dental equipment showroom in North America, featuring 25 fully functional operating suites, 13 operational digital imaging panoramic X-rays including 2D and 3D units, three sterilization centers, office design & lab concept suites, and a summit training center that will host continuing education courses. Benco Dental’s footprint includes four distribution centers, over 400 professionally trained sales territory representatives, and 300 factory-trained service technicians.
About PMA Companies
With over 100 years of experience, we are a trusted leader and recognized expert in commercial risk management insurance solutions and services. We specialize in workers' compensation and holistic TPA services. With a relentless focus on clients, we work with them to jointly tackle the risk management challenges that impact their total cost of risk and business results.
Our service-driven culture is one of accountability, teamwork, and performance—so every day, every employee is working hard on behalf of our clients.
PMA Companies includes PMA Insurance Group, PMA Management Corp., and PMA Management Corp. of New England. Headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, PMA Companies is part of the Old Republic General Insurance Group (www.orgig.com), the largest business segment within the Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE: ORI), one of the nation’s 50 largest publicly held insurance organizations.
