Our commitment to foster safe environments for the industrial workforce is expanding. Beyond providing employers proven safety technology to reduce injuries, we’re now also providing one of the first technology-led, proactive workers comp insurance offerings in the industry.
Read on to learn more from co-founder and CEO Haytham Elhawary, including why he broadened the company’s focus to include insurance, and how he believes it will benefit both employers and frontline workers.
How does the new KINETIC Insurance workers comp product work?
I’m so excited to announce this new offering! In partnership with Nationwide’s E&S Specialty division, KINETIC Insurance is acting as a program manager to provide workers compensation insurance to employers in safety-critical industries. Our team works directly with KINETIC Insurance appointed agents to offer top-of-the-line coverage from one of the largest and strongest national brands in insurance.
What makes this new policy offering unique?
Traditionally, workers comp has been a reactive process, with employers trying to determine what went wrong after a claim was filed. But we’re taking a proactive approach by helping change the way workers move on a daily basis to prevent workplace injuries before they happen. We do this by equipping policyholders with our wearable tech, which is proven to reduce injuries by 50-60%, at no extra cost.
With this tech-driven, proactive approach, companies experience both a safer workforce and premium savings. Workers wearing the devices have less ergonomic injuries, in turn the company files less claims and policyholder premiums go down. We also have a dividend plan to reward policyholders with low losses.
Why did you expand into providing workers comp insurance?
Our mission is to improve the lives of frontline workers – in fact, we have a goal to reduce one million injuries in the next decade. And we believe expanding how many workers wear our product gets us closer to that goal. My hope is that by pairing our wearables with workers comp policies we make the tech more accessible and affordable to companies who otherwise may not have the resources for this kind of safety program.
While Fortune 500 companies have been successfully using wearables to maximize their safety programs, to build their safety culture and to reduce their injury rates, mid-market companies have not had the same access. By including it in workers comp policies, which all companies have already budgeted for, more frontline workers will get to wear the device. They will feel better and be more productive, which ultimately benefits everyone.
How did KINETIC’s partnership with Nationwide come about?
From the early days at KINETIC, Nationwide really believed in our vision of leveraging the latest advances in wearables and AI to prevent injuries in the workplace. That belief led their venture capital arm to invest in the company on numerous occasions. So when we decided to go into insurance, they were an ideal and natural partner.
Our policyholders can have peace of mind with a policy backed by a big national brand, and they get benefits like superior claims handling and easy online account access. And our appointed agents are able to offer a Nationwide-backed policy that provides A+ rated paper, brand recognition and top-notch loss control.
Who can purchase a KINETIC Insurance policy?
We’re specializing in a wide range of safety-critical industries, where our wearable tech has significantly reduced injuries among frontline workers. This includes wholesale and warehousing, parcel delivery, light manufacturing, auto dealers, healthcare (specifically nursing homes and assisted living), restaurants and agriculture. We’ll write workers comp in all states, with our initial launch in California.