General Information
The dates for the 64th Annual Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference and 21st Annual Safety & Health Conference have been set for August 16-19, 2009. The conferences will be held at The Orlando World Center Marriott, 8701 World Center Drive, Orlando, FL. Overflow hotel accommodations have been reserved at the Caribe Royale All Suites Resort & Conference Center with shuttle service available for the convenience of attendees.
This nationally acclaimed annual conference remains the premier forum for
the study of workers’ compensation, workplace safety and health, and related
issues primarily because of the continued partnerships of state and national
associations, all being recognized as leaders within their industries.
Partners within this group include the National Underwriter Company, the
Florida Safety & Health Institute, the Florida Underwriter, the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Centers for
Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), and the original organizer, the Florida
Workers’ Compensation Institute. The National Council on Compensation
Insurance (NCCI) continues its sponsorship of the National Underwriter Award
for Excellence in Workers’ Compensation Risk Management. The Defense
Research Institute (DRI) will continue to hold its annual workers’
compensation conference in conjunction with this conference. Other
participating organizations include the Florida and National Association of
PEOs, the Florida Orthopedic Society, the Florida Chiropractic Association,
and the Florida Academy of Pain Medicine. For the first time, the National
Workers’ Compensation Judicial College will also be held as a part of this
conference. We welcome first time participants to the annual Moot Court
Competition, the Law Schools at Louisiana State University, Loyola
University at New Orleans, and the University of St. Thomas (Minneapolis,
MN.) Leading providers in the workers’ compensation system have become prime
sponsors of the conference and join the partnerships to create the most
comprehensive workers’ compensation and workplace safety conference in the
nation.
This year’s program offers creative and innovative presenters from
throughout the United States. The hottest issues in workers’ compensation
and safety will be discussed including national trends, evolving changes at
the state and national levels, and case law changes. All aspects of workers’
compensation and safety will be topics of discussion with breakouts for risk
managers, safety professionals, health care providers, adjusters, attorneys,
paralegals and legal assistants, medical case managers, rehabilitation
providers, professional employer organizations, and mediators. Ancillary
sessions will be held on the Longshore & Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act.
Expanded programs on workers’ compensation marketplace issues will be held
including topics on nationwide workers’ compensation reform, curbing medical
costs pricing, market conditions, and fraud. In addition to subjects of
general interest within the national workers’ compensation and safety
community, state specific workers’ compensation laws will be the subject of
a day-long breakout and will include presentations by the regulators and
other experts on the laws of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Texas. A live surgery will be
performed for the benefit of conference attendees. An all-day cutting edge
program on evidence based medicine will also be presented. In short, this
year’s program is an extremely comprehensive forum for discussing workers’
compensation and workplace safety and presents an extraordinary opportunity
to participate in an educational experience unparalleled in any other
conference.
This year’s conference will continue its expansion of breakouts dealing with
subjects of national concern to the workers’ compensation industry. In
addition to the annual breakouts sponsored by the National Underwriter on
national trends, we will again feature a stand-alone
conference sponsored by DRI. The National Institute for Occupational Safety
& Health (NIOSH), and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)
will sponsor segments of the conference dealing with safety and health
issues of national concern. Finally, this year’s conference will deliver a
bigger and better multi-state program that will delve into the workers’
compensation laws of multiple states which will include attorneys and
regulators from each of these jurisdictions explaining the nuances of
individual state workers’ compensation laws.
The National Underwriter Company will present its third annual “Award for
Excellence in Workers’ Compensation Risk Management” at this year’s
conference. This award, sponsored by the National Council on Compensation
Insurance (NCCI) in cooperation with the Florida Workers’ Compensation
Institute, recognizes risk managers on a national scale that have done an
outstanding job managing their workers’ compensation risks. This award is an
industry-wide recognition of truly outstanding risk management programs that
serve as role models for their peers and will be presented by Sam Friedman,
Editor of the National Underwriter Magazine and Stephen Klingel, President &
CEO, National Council on Compensation Insurance.
This is the 21st anniversary of the existence of the Safety & Health
Conference. Originally created as a stand-alone “Governor’s Conference on
Safety”, the Florida Safety & Health Institute partnered with the Florida
Workers' Compensation Institute
to establish one of the most comprehensive safety and health conferences in
the nation. Priced at a cost affordable to industry, educational offerings
provided to front-line safety professionals offer an educational opportunity
unsurpassed by other offerings within the safety and health industry. In
addition to the usual breakouts on safety, a 10-hour General Industry course
will be presented. An OSHA completion card will be issued to those who
complete the full 10 hours of instruction. Registration for this special
course offering is required.
Click here for registration form.
One of the fastest growing industries affecting workers’ compensation and
safety issues relates to PEOs or employee leasing companies. This new
business arrangement allows for increased coverage opportunities for
employers nationwide, but at the same time, presents special concerns in the
field of workers’ compensation and safety. This year’s conference
will present an expanded breakout session on this growing business platform,
with emphasis on developing trends, abuses, and concerns. Recognized in many
instances as a primary source of coverage for small or more difficult to
insure employers, unique problems exist in utilizing these arrangements,
which will be discussed by nationally recognized experts in this field. The
conference welcomes the National Association of Professional Employer
Organizations (NAPEO) and the Florida Association of PEOs (FAPEO) as program
participants this year.
Last year’s conference featured the third year of providing educational
opportunities for specific state workers’ compensation laws, including
presentations by individual state regulators. Realizing that many workers’
compensation and safety professionals deal with more than one state, this
breakout was designed to provide information on multi-state workers’
compensation laws. This unique program has been so successful that this
year’s conference has been expanded to include a more expansive discussion
of the workers’ compensation laws of the states of North Carolina,
Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, and
Texas. Handouts for this session will include copies of the laws of these
various jurisdictions. Depending upon the continued success of this
educational experience, these breakouts will be expanded in the future to
include discussions of the laws of other states of interest to attendees.
Regulators from each of these jurisdictions will be present to discuss each
state’s laws and regulations.
Rule 6A-22.002(2), Florida Administrative Code, “Re-employment Services”
requires that rehabilitation providers biennially renew their licenses and
submit proof of attendance at an approved workshop. The special Breakout for
Rehabilitation Providers at this year’s conference meets these certification
requirements. Consult your program for this opportunity.
Terry Fleming is the Director of the Division of Risk Management at
Montgomery County, Maryland. He is responsible for all aspects of the
county’s $100 million risk management program, including the purchase
of insurance, risk financing, loss control, and management of the county’s
self-insured property and casualty operation covering more than 50,000
employees, in a pool management arrangement consisting of 13 public entity
participants. He is currently Vice-President of RIMS and has been a member
of the RIMS Board of Directors since 2004. He is a former president of the
Public Risk Management Association (PRIMA), Maryland chapter.
Keynote Speaker:
Emmitt Smith, the National Football League’s all-time leading rusher and a
three-time Super Bowl champion, previously served as a football analyst for
both ESPN and the NFL Network. A first-round pick in the 1990 NFL Draft,
Smith was the cornerstone of the Dallas Cowboys’ offense for 12 seasons. The
eight-time Pro Bowler was the first player in NFL history to rush for more
than 1,000 yards in 11 consecutive seasons and on October 27, 2002 he
surpassed Walter Payton as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher. Smith finished
his 14-year career with 18,355 rushing yards and led the NFL in rushing four
times; he was the league MVP in 1993, MVP of Super Bowl XXVIII and helped
guide the Cowboys to three Super Bowl titles. His 175 total touchdowns ranks
second in NFL history. He was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame
in 2007 and will be eligible for induction into the Pro Football Hall of
Fame in 2010. Smith’s post-career experience includes winning the third
season of ABC’s popular primetime reality show Dancing with the Stars in the
fall of 2006.
Entertainment:
The legendary Eddie Money brings his own rock and roll review to this year’s
Monday night reception. With hits like “Two Tickets to Paradise,” “Baby Hold
On,” “Walk on Water,” “Think I’m In Love,” and “Shakin,” he has been an icon
in the music industry since the mid 70s. He has recorded over a dozen albums
and has done numerous projects in television and film. Performing 150 or so
shows every year, Eddie is always touring, somewhere. “My fans are the best,
most loyal fans a guy could ask for. They keep coming back for more...”
The front band for the Monday night
entertainment is The Groove Merchants. The Groove Merchants specialize in
high energy performances with a vast repertoire of cover song selections.
Not your typical event band, they make corporate events, parties, and other
social events come alive with electric, energized performances.
The shuttle service will be provided between the Marriott and the overflow
parking lot on Monday through Wednesday. Adequate space is available at the
Marriott on Sunday. The Caribe Royale will provide overflow
parking and shuttle to their guests Sunday through Wednesday. (New Location
For Overflow Parking - click here for details.)
Orlando World Center Marriott valet parking is available at the main
entrance of the hotel for hotel guests. There is a daily fee. Self-parking
is available on the property of the hotel for no fee. Complimentary
self-parking is also provided at the Caribe Royale, for hotel guests, with
complimentary shuttle service to the Orlando World Center Marriott,
beginning Sunday, August 16. Special arrangements have been
made for offsite parking. Transportation to the conference facilities from
offsite parking runs continuously, and will be provided to attendees at no
charge. Click here for the map and bus
schedule.
The Orlando World Center Marriott and The Caribe Royale represent and
warrant that, as a place of “public accommodation”, they are in compliance
to the extent applicable with the provisions of Title III of the Americans
with Disabilities Act. Hotel facilities, including meeting space, restrooms,
dining areas, other common areas and sufficient guest rooms shall be
reasonably accessible and usable by persons with special needs. If you
require special accommodations for activities related to your hotel stay,
please consult with hotel staff. If you require accommodations to
participate fully in activities of the conference, please indicate your
special needs in the space provided on the registration form or contact
FWCI. We will make any reasonable accommodation possible.
If additional information is needed about any aspect of the conference,
please contact the Florida Workers’ Compensation Institute (FWCI) at (850)
425-8156, email Shirley Kendall at
shirley@fwciweb.org,
or mail your inquiry to P.O. Box 200, Tallahassee, FL 32302-0200, or
physical address 1709 Hermitage Boulevard, Suite 100, Tallahassee, FL 32308,
FAX (850) 521-0222.
The Florida Workers’ Compensation Institute partners with Florida
Underwriter magazine to produce a special supplement to their August issue
solely devoted to workers’ compensation issues – The Annual Report to the
Industry on Workers’ Compensation. This special magazine supplement includes
informative articles and opinion pieces from many of the state’s leading
workers’ compensation experts. This is a unique opportunity to attract the
attention of 20,000 readers (includes pass-along readers) and Conference
attendees by advertising in the supplement. The supplement is included in
each registrant’s package. Space is limited, so send in your advertising
space reservation today. For more information, please contact Joe Maty at
727-869-0765, or by email,
jmaty@nuco.com.
The National Workers’ Compensation Judiciary College will hold its annual
educational session in conjunction with this year’s Conference. The College
is sponsored by the National Association of Workers’ Compensation Judiciary,
Inc. and is designed to provide educational opportunities exclusively for
judges that preside over workers’ compensation matters. The college focuses
on issues that are unique to the field of workers’ compensation and includes
judges both at the trial and appellate levels. This year’s Conference
welcomes the College as an important new addition to our efforts to offer
expanded instruction in all areas of workers’ compensation. Consult your
program for further details related to the Judiciary College.
The Conference features a daily “newspaper” providing attendees a look at
featured breakout sessions and a review of other conference activities each
morning of the Conference. Sponsored by The National Underwriter Company,
the Daily News is delivered to the hotel rooms of all conference attendees
at both conference hotels, and will be available for distribution in the
registration area. Maximize your presence at the Conference by advertising
in the Daily News, or sponsoring the room to room delivery. Please contact
Joe Maty at 727-869-0765, or by email,
jmaty@nuco.com, for
additional information about this unique opportunity to promote your company
to conference attendees.
Many new and exciting things are occurring in workers’ compensation almost
on a weekly basis. We look forward to sharing these events with you at this
year’s educational conference.
James N. McConnaughhay,
General Chairman
