Accident Prevention Committee

Preventing accidents and injuries to Elk members and their guests is at the heart of the Accident Prevention Committee’s mission, and the Accident Prevention Committee stands ready to help.

Every Elk Lodge is required to have an accident prevention program and a Trustee to actively manage that program. This includes understanding the Elks Accident Prevention Manual, establishing policies that reduce accidental injuries, familiarization with the Elks Liability Insurance program, responsible beverage service, and conducting periodic inspections of the Lodge building and grounds for safety issues.

Many members do not understand that the Elks are self-insured, and that any claims against the insurance fund will not only hurt the Elks financially, but eventually the individual member themselves. The Insurance fund needs to maintain a sufficient amount of money to pay for claims, and if that fund depletes below the threshold, the money to replenish the fund has to come from somewhere. That somewhere is the Elk member through increases in the Per-Capita fees charged each year as part of your membership dues.

You may notice that the Grand Lodge Per-Capita fees for Insurance had just been raised by $5 dollars this year, and it is expected to increase another $5 dollars next year. This is due to the insurance fund being depleted below the safe threshold. Why? Because several Elk Lodges across the country have been careless with safety issues and responsible beverage service.

To help keep the Per-Capita fees from increasing, every member needs to help with accident prevention. How? By pointing out safety issues to the Lodge’s Accident Prevention manager, and monitoring beverage service that may involve over-serving.  If this is done properly, the number of claims can be reduced, and ultimately, your dues payments will go down. A win-win situation for the Elks and the membership.

Accident Prevention News