Manufacturing in Southern Indiana is not a generic exposure. A 35-employee fabrication shop in Jeffersonville, a plastics processor in Clarksville, and a metal stamping operation in Sellersburg all carry different combinations of hazard, equipment, and workforce — and underwriters know it. The carriers writing manufacturer programs in Clark and Floyd County are pulling loss runs, walking facilities, and asking detailed questions about the operational details most owners assume don’t matter at renewal.
They matter. And five risk areas in particular consistently come up where manufacturers either lose pricing leverage, get nonrenewed, or end up paying for losses long after the claim is closed. Here is what to look at before your next renewal cycle.
1. Machine guarding — the single most-cited issue in OSHA inspections of manufacturers
Machine guarding violations are routinely among the most frequently cited general industry standards by OSHA, and for good reason: a missing or bypassed guard on a power press, conveyor, mixer, grinder, or saw is one of the highest-severity exposures in any shop. The injuries — amputations, crush injuries, lacerations — are catastrophic for the worker and for the business.
What carriers and loss control engineers want to see:
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A documented machine guarding inventory by piece of equipment
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Written verification that point-of-operation, power transmission, and ingoing nip points are guarded
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A process for reviewing guarding any time equipment is modified, replaced, or rearranged
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Supervisor accountability for catching bypassed guards before they become normal practice
The practical move: walk your floor with a printed guarding checklist this quarter. Photograph each major piece of equipment. Note any missing or modified guards. Fix the easy ones before the underwriter walks the same floor.
2. Lockout/tagout — where many programs exist on paper but not in practice
Lockout/tagout is the second area where manufacturers consistently get marked down. The standard requires more than a binder. It requires equipment-specific written procedures, authorized and affected employee training, an annual program audit, and a real culture of de-energization before service or maintenance.
The gap most shops have:
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A general lockout/tagout policy exists, but equipment-specific procedures don’t
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Maintenance staff have been trained, but production operators (the affected employees) have not
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The annual program audit hasn’t been done, or hasn’t been documented
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Quick adjustments and minor servicing happen without lockout because “it only takes a minute”
The minor-servicing exception is narrow. Carriers know that, and a serious injury during a non-locked-out adjustment is one of the costliest claims a manufacturer can have. A real lockout program protects workers and protects pricing.
3. Forklift and pedestrian separation — the loss everyone underestimates
If forklifts and people share the same floor in your facility, you have a severity exposure that won’t show up on a loss run until it does — and when it does, it is almost always a serious one.
The basics that should be in place:
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Painted pedestrian lanes separated from forklift travel paths
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Mirrors and warning signage at blind corners
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Posted speed limits and a written forklift policy
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Daily pre-shift forklift inspections, documented
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Operator training and three-year evaluations on file for every operator
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A written rule for pedestrian right-of-way at intersections
Underwriters look for evidence that this is operationalized, not just policy language. The shops that quote and renew best are the ones whose floor visibly reflects the program.
4. Ergonomics and material handling — the slow drip on your work comp loss runs
The loss data on most manufacturers tells a consistent story: severe injuries grab attention, but the volume of work comp dollars often comes from cumulative trauma, lifting injuries, and repetitive motion claims that build over years. These don’t get fixed with a poster on the wall.
What moves the needle:
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Job hazard analyses on the highest-frequency manual handling tasks
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Mechanical aids (lift assists, conveyors, hoists, height-adjustable workstations)
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Job rotation on highly repetitive work
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Early reporting of discomfort — before it becomes a claim
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Stretch and warm-up programs at shift start, especially for older or returning employees
Carriers track frequency. A manufacturer with one big claim and clean trends is often a better risk than one with no severe claims and a steady trickle of strain-and-sprain. Manage the trickle.
5. Experience mod management — the cost you keep paying after the claim closes
Your experience modification factor follows your business for three policy periods. A single severe injury in a small or mid-size shop can move that mod meaningfully — and once it moves, you pay for it on every premium dollar until it works back out.
The levers that matter most:
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A real return-to-work and light-duty program. The dollars on a claim drive your mod, and lost-time days drive the dollars. Bringing an injured worker back on modified duty is the single biggest lever on a mod.
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Post-injury response. The first 24 hours after an injury — nurse triage, transportation to an occupational medicine provider, communication with the adjuster — shapes the outcome of the entire claim.
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A written claims protocol so supervisors know exactly what to do when an injury happens, including who to call and what to document.
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Annual mod reviews with your agency before renewal, not after.
Manufacturers who treat the experience mod as something that just happens to them are the ones who pay for it for years. Manufacturers who treat it as something they actively manage end up with pricing leverage their competitors don’t have.
What an actual manufacturer risk review looks like
A meaningful risk review for an Indiana manufacturer is not a renewal questionnaire. It looks like this:
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A walk of the production floor with someone who knows what to look for
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A review of the safety manual, lockout/tagout procedures, and training records
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A loss run analysis broken down by frequency, severity, and cause
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A property valuation review using current replacement cost
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A contractual liability review on customer agreements and supplier terms
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A clear set of priorities for the next 90 days, ranked by impact on losses and on premium
We do this for manufacturing clients across Clark County and Floyd County as part of our service. If the last review your operation had was a phone call before renewal, that’s a different conversation than the one we’d be having.
Reach out at or 812-671-9335 to get a manufacturer risk review on the calendar before your next renewal cycle.
Not just insured. Truly protected.
