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Monthly Archives

February 2015

Feb 02
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Do You Have to Buy Renters Insurance?

By Personal Perspective

Now that you found an apartment, it’s time to sign the lease. Before you move in, though, decide if you need to purchase renters insurance.

 

What is Renters Insurance?

 

Let’s say the roof leaks and floods your bedroom. Your landlord will pay for structural repairs, but you’re responsible to replace your personal property. That’s why you have renter’s insurance. It pays to repair or replace items that are damaged or stolen.

 

Is Renters Insurance Required?

 

Your lease may include a clause that requires you to carry renter’s insurance. It protects him or her from a lawsuit you may file if your personal property is damaged or stolen. Additionally, the building’s mortgage holder or insurer may require tenants to carry renters insurance. However, there is no universal law that makes renters insurance mandatory for all tenants.

 

Decide How Much Insurance Coverage You Need

 

Although you have the option to choose or decline renters insurance, it’s a wise investment. A small grease fire and the smoke and water damage that result can quickly ruin everything you own. If you can’t afford to replace your property, purchase renters insurance.

 

Determining how much insurance you need to buy can be tricky. First, decide if you want full replacement cost or actual cash value (ACV).

 

* Replacement Cost pays for you to buy new items at today’s cost no matter what you paid for the item. So even though your laptop is six years old, you can buy a new one with replacement cost renters insurance. This type of policy is a bit more expensive than actual cash value.

* Actual Cash Value (ACV) ACV covers the item’s current worth at the time it’s lost, stolen or damaged. This option is affordable, but if a fire damages your secondhand futon, you only receive a few bucks, which won’t be enough to buy a quality replacement. 

 

Next, figure out the value of what you own. Make a detailed inventory list and assign each item a fair value. With this list, you can decide on a coverage amount that provides the protection and peace of mind you need.

 

You’re now ready to choose a deductible. Higher deductibles usually mean lower premiums, but make sure you can afford the higher deductible.

 

Finally, talk to your insurance agent. He or she can help you find the coverage that fits your budget and needs. While renters insurance is usually optional, it’s a wise investment that you’ll probably be glad you made.

Feb 02
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Umbrella Insurance Offers Libel and Slander Protection

By Personal Perspective

During a party at your home, you get caught up in the moment and say something that’s untrue about a friend. Or you write a letter to the editor and use unfounded statements about someone. Unfortunately, everyone makes mistakes. You might find yourself facing a libel or slander lawsuit, though, because of your judgment lapse or other mistakes. An umbrella insurance policy can protect you.
What is Libel and Slander?

 

Libel and slander fall under the category of defamation. Typically, libel covers written statements and slander covers speech. Because both forms of defamation damage a person’s reputation, the victim could file a lawsuit that threatens your home, financial savings and other assets.

 

You Need an Umbrella Insurance to Have Libel and Slander Coverage

 

Whether you committed libel in a written letter or email or spoke slander at a party or during a phone conversation, your homeowners or renters insurance policy probably doesn’t protect you. However, it might if you:

 

*Sign a personal injury endorsement that covers unintentional acts of libel or slander.
*Obtain personal injury coverage that offers additional liability coverage for at-home or off-site remarks that are considered libelous or slanderous.

 

For maximum and guaranteed protection, buy an umbrella policy that covers personal injury. It’s an additional endorsement that takes effect after your homeowners insurance is exhausted.

 

Your umbrella policy can also provide financial protection and pay for defense costs if you’re sued in certain cases. Those cases include invasion of privacy, defamation of character or wrongful imprisonment.

 

How Much Coverage Should you Buy?

 

With help from your insurance agent, decide how much umbrella insurance coverage you need. If you have a large number of assets or a high net worth, consider purchasing a large umbrella policy to protect yourself. No matter how much money or valuables you own, however, consider purchasing this  beneficial coverage.

 

No one usually plans to commit libel or slander, but accidents happen. Umbrella insurance can protect you. Discuss your options with an insurance agent today, and think twice before writing or saying something that might come out the wrong way.

Feb 02
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Steps to Take When Your Vehicle Breaks Down Along the Highway

By Personal Perspective

Despite regular maintenance, you can’t predict when your vehicle’s tire might blow or when your car will simply stop working. The Insurance Information Institute suggests several important steps that keep you safe if your vehicle breaks down.

 

Pull Over

 

You never want to leave your vehicle in the middle of the road. Drive it to the right shoulder or other safe spot before you attempt to figure out what’s wrong with it or call for help. This way, your vehicle won’t obstruct traffic, and you have a clearer line of sight when you’re ready to return to the road.

 

Warn Others

 

Tell other drivers that you’re immobile and warn them to slow down when you place flares or reflective triangles on the road at least six feet behind your vehicle. Turn on your hazard lights, too.

 

Stay Inside

 

It’s tempting to stand outside and flag help or attempt to fix your vehicle, but this choice is dangerous on busy highways. Remain in your vehicle until roadside assistance or a helpful friend arrives.

 

Turn on the Lights

 

If you don’t set up flares or reflective triangles, other drivers won’t see you at night until the last minute. Increase your visibility and safety when you turn on the interior lights.

 

Hang a White Marker

 

A white fabric square, scarf or paper hanging from the driver’s side window alerts other drivers that you’re broken down and immobile. Secure a white object into place and then wait for help.

 

Call for Help

 

Roadside assistance from your insurance company or auto club is available 24/7, so call them on your cellphone as soon as your vehicle is safely off the road. You can also use a call box if it’s located near your vehicle. If you don’t have a phone or a nearby call box, wait for highway patrol to find you.

 

Breaking down on the highway is no fun, and it’s dangerous. Enroll in a roadside assistance today. Your auto insurance company might offer this coverage, so check your policy or call your agent. This coverage won’t prevent break downs, but it will give you peace of mind if you’re ever stuck along the road.

Feb 02
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Home Insurance Facts for Your New Engagement Ring

By Personal Perspective

Did you buy or receive an engagement ring recently? Congratulations! Now, learn how to insure your valuable investment and protect your new heirloom.

 

Get an Appraisal

 

Before your insurance company will add your engagement ring to a policy, it needs to know your ring’s worth, brand, condition and description. If your ring costs under $5,000 and you bought it from a jeweler, the insurance company will probably accept the purchase invoice or receipt. Visit your jeweler for an official appraisal, though, if you bought the ring at an estate sale, inherited it from your grandmother or ordered a custom-made piece.

 

Purchase Insurance

 

After getting an appraisal, talk to your insurance agent about insuring it. You may be able to add your ring to your existing homeowners or renters policy. In cases, however, you’ll need  to purchase a rider that provides additional coverage.

 

Additionally, consider the coverage details. Does your policy cover the replacement cost of your ring if it’s stolen, damaged or lost? Do you have to use a specific jeweler for ring repairs or a replacement? Will you need an annual appraisal? These and other details help you choose the best policy.

 

Store Your Ring for Safekeeping

 

Of course, you or your fiancé plan to wear the engagement ring regularly. When you need to store it, though, implement a few safekeeping techniques that protect your ring’s value and deter theft and  damage.

 

First, use a sturdy case with a hard shell and a soft or padded lining. Then, store the case in a dry environment that features low humidity and a stable temperature.

 

Next, follow your jeweler’s guidance for your specific ring. Different gems and metals require different storage solutions. For instance, soft pearls are best protected when they’re placed in a soft bag that offers protection from dust, and silver retains its shine when it’s stored in a tarnish proof case.  Likewise, many gems crack or scratch easily, so separate your engagement ring from other items in your jewelry box as you protect it.

 

Finally, consider locking your ring in your home’s safe or bank’s lock box if you need to store your ring for extended periods of time.

 

Your engagement ring symbolizes your love. Protect it when you insure it. Your insurance agent will provide additional information as you care for your new ring forever.

Feb 02
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Cybersecurity Risk Management: Should You Delegate It?

By Risk Management Bulletin

The recent security breach at Sony underscored not only the need for better security in protecting sensitive internal documents and information, but also the appalling lack of care being taken on an individual level to protect passwords and take other steps to protect (or remove) sensitive conversations and data. Despite a litany of other widespread and serious data breaches in recent years, many businesses still don’t seem to be taking cybersecurity as a serious issue that not only could affect them, but very well may.

 

As a business owner or manager, you’ve heard time and again how important it is to delegate in order to streamline processes and be more productive – and more profitable. But delegating does not mean turning a blind eye; and when it comes to cybersecurity issues, unless you have a dedicated chief information security officer, you need to take an active role in ensuring your data is adequately protected.

 

The key to effective management begins with understanding the types of threats that exist and how they’re evolving, as well as identifying new threats as soon as they begin to emerge. At the same time, management needs to develop actionable steps to counteract potential breaches, looking for weaknesses at every level, from individual employee passwords and use of personal devices like smartphones, to the way data is encrypted and stored, both in the cloud and on any on-site or remote servers.

 

Strong, company-wide policies backed up by employee education programs and Q&A sessions are the cornerstones of an effective cybersecurity policy; managers must clearly communicate to employees – at every level – the vital roles they play in protecting the company from cyber threats so they see BYOD and other policies as being protective rather than punitive.

 

Involving employees in cybersecurity discussions also helps ensure their cooperation and compliance.
One more lesson from the Sony breach: Unlike other cybersecurity attacks that have targeted customer identification and banking information, the Sony attackers also focused on employee emails, revealing information that proved both embarrassing and potentially costly. Many businesses fail to consider emails and personal files when considering cybersecurity measures, leaving themselves wide open to similar breaches.

 

In a nutshell, companies that assess and manage cybersecurity issues as vigilantly as they do financial, operational and reputation-related risks have the greatest chance of thwarting attacks and breaches. Start today to plan how to avoid breaches as well as how to respond if a breach does occur.

Feb 02
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Why You Need a Workplace Assessment

By Risk Management Bulletin

In last month’s newsletter, we looked at some of the risks associated with obesity in the workplace. This month, we’ll focus on how to conduct a workplace assessment to identify and mitigate a wide range of health issues so you can reduce your overall health-related risk exposure.

 

The Value of Workplace Assessments

 

The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) promotes workplace assessments to help businesses understand the issues their company is facing with regard to lost productivity and workers’ comp issues, as well as potential discrimination claims that can arise when workers feel they’re being targeted or their health needs are not being met.

 

According to the CDC, “Employee health is determined by a complex set of interactions between the individual and their social, cultural, and physical environments and can be influenced in many ways.” That means that to be effective, your workplace assessment must involve much more than a cursory review of your company’s past healthcare expenditures.

 

Conducting Your Assessment

 

Most evaluations begin with a site visit and evaluation with a focus on identifying health risks like low lighting or habits that can promote problems like low back pain. The evaluation should also include interviews with managers and employees and a review of any health promotion programs or incentives that may be in place.

 

Employee questionnaires are another important component, providing a first-person perspective on health and safety issues, employee satisfaction and any other health-related concerns.

 

Reviews of both health claims and pharmaceutical costs from the past few years can provide important information about the prevalence of medical issues and whether your company is moving in the right direction with its health policies. You can also identify which employees have the greatest number of claims and highest costs to pinpoint occupations that may be most prone to injury. Similar data can be extracted from records of employee sick days and absences.
Once data are gathered and evaluated, a decision can be made regarding the value of your current health plan and whether or not it needs to be altered, as well as any steps you can take on site to reduce injury and illness.

 

One word of caution: When developing employee health questionnaires ore reviewing medical claims data and sick days, be sure your actions don’t run contrary to any privacy or HIPAA regulations to avoid potential claims of discrimination or other violations. The CDC offers a comprehensive guide to workplace health assessments for businesses with single or multiple locations to help guide you. You can find an overview of the guide here, as well as a list of supporting documents and guides to help you carry out your evaluation.

Feb 02
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9 Tips for Keeping Insurance Costs Low

By Workplace Safety

Having the right insurance is an important part of protecting your business and managing risk, but if you’re like most businesses, you still want to keep your insurance costs as low as possible for the sake of your bottom line. Having a risk management plan in place is one important way to control your insurance expenses, but here are a few more quick tips to help you keep your costs as low as possible:

 

* Review your policy regularly. Make sure the deductibles you have in place still make sense based on the types and numbers of losses you’ve encountered during the last year or two. Also make sure the types and amounts of coverage you have in place still make sense for your risk profile.

 

* Make payments on time to avoid late fees and prevent a cancellation that could make it more difficult to get coverage in the future.

 

* Review your property values on a regular basis to ensure you’re not paying for too much coverage or putting your property at risk by having too little coverage.

 

* Perform a workplace health assessment to identify health-related risks and determine if you need to make changes in your health insurance plan and identify changes in your facilities that could help limit your risks.

 

* Consider physical upgrades like sprinkler systems or security alarms that could result in discounts on your premiums. When analyzing the return of these upgrades, compare the cost of installation with both the insurance savings you’ll receive and the potential reduction in risk to get the most accurate estimate of value.

 

* When a loss occurs, report it to your broker right away so you have a complete understanding of your rights as well as your obligations. Delays in reporting can result in a denial of your claim, and contacting your broker immediately also means you’ll have help in filing paperwork correctly and on time.

 

* Ask your agent or broker about potential discounts and be sure to keep your broker updated on any changes or improvements in your business, including loss prevention practices, that could qualify you for savings programs or reveal areas where your insurance coverage may no longer be adequate.

 

* Make sure to consider risk management in every business decision so you make the right trade-off between risk and opportunity.

 

* Finally, make sure you’re taking advantage of all the benefits your insurance company and brokerage offers, like free notary services or other perks. If you don’t ask, you could be missing out on some valuable benefits.

Feb 02
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Planning a Company Outing? Reduce liabilities with some sound planning.

By Workplace Safety

First, decide whether an outside professional group will plan the event or an internal group within the company.  The external group has advantages regarding reducing liability, but budget is a factor.

 

Regardless of the above choice, areas of concern include:

 

•             Is attendance mandatory or voluntary?
•             Are family members or customers invited?
•             Alcohol policy
•             Transportation policy
•             Conduct code – professional or fun
•             Events construed as sexual harassment or hostile
•             Social media aftermath

 

Mandatory attendance will be construed as work.  The company will be subject to hourly wages, workers’ compensation claims, and a variety of regulatory issues.  Opt for voluntary whenever practical.

 

Will employee’s families attend?  This question is the double edged sword.  Families love inclusion and self-govern behavior.  The bad news is families self-govern behavior.  What process is in place for a wild or disruptive spouse?  How about inappropriate airing of the family laundry?  Is there bad blood between a spouse and a customer?

 

The obvious answer is prohibition.  No alcohol permitted.  Sometimes, alcohol can be very appropriate as long as measures are in place to curtail excess.  One rule of thumb is to only allow work-like demeanor or behavior.  Under this rule, alcohol would be banned.

 

Not so obvious, suppose a spouse, child or customer is an alcoholic?  In some states, marijuana is now legal.  Does the alcohol consumption open the door for the pot?  Strictly from a liability viewpoint, drugs and alcohol should be banned from any company function.

 

Transportation can be arranged for group activities away from the work campus, but use caution.  Just as with mandatory attendance, the risk of transporting employees brings in workers’ compensation issues.

 

All the rules of the workplace, including sexual harassment and bullying, apply to the fun outings.  Communicate this fact to all employees prior to the event.

 

Posting reports and pictures from the outing is good for morale, but screen the social media for embarrassing or inappropriate content.

 

Think through these issues and decide what sort of outing is appropriate for your company.  Create a set of behavioral standards based on the event.  For example, competitive sports or team building may get rowdier than a night at the opera.  Communicate those expected behaviors for employees and their families.

 

Properly managed employee expectations will relax the group and put some fun into the company function.

Feb 02
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Understanding the Opportunity Side of Risk

By Workplace Safety

Personal development pioneer Earl Nightingale once said, “You can measure opportunity with the same yardstick that measures the risk involved. They go together.” In other words, risk and opportunity are deeply interrelated, and learning to balance the two is essential to the growth and development of just about any business.

 

Types of Risk:

 

Both risk and opportunity can be divided into categories:

 

Strategic risk is devoted to identifying and evaluating new services, products or other opportunities and deciding which ones pose the most potential advantage with the least risk. In most cases, the most novel opportunities are associated with the least-known and least-understood risks, so the potential for loss tends to be greater.

 

Operational risk looks at the processes currently in place and decides how to maximize opportunities by identifying and implementing the best practices, best employees and other best-of-breed business elements through a fine-tuned policy of regulations and rules.

 

Growth risk involves managing the scale of your business with your company’s ability to meet expanded goals; many new businesses fall prey to the temptation to expand too rapidly, finding out too late they’re unable to meet greater demand or meet the costs associated with an ill-timed expansion. On the other hand, growing too slowly – being too afraid of risk – can result in the competition winning over your market.

 

Financial risk is closely intertwined with the other three types of risk and can include investor risk, the cost of debt, revenue potential vs. expenses, and investments in employees and promotion.

 

Overcoming the Fear of Failure

 

Learning to embrace risk usually isn’t an easy task, even for seasoned business executives, but it’s essential for competitive growth and continued relevance within your market. The key is to look at “failure” as an opportunity for learning and for identifying the changes that need to be made in one or more areas of your risk-opportunity balance.

 

One of the best ways of learning how to manage strategic risk is to become one of your customers; devote yourself to understanding the customer experience firsthand so you can identify ways you can improve your product or service and the way it’s delivered. It’s also a good way to identify potential areas for growth and development of new products or services.

 

Accurately balancing risk and opportunity is the key to success for businesses of all sizes. Instead of running from risk, learn to understand its value so you don’t wind up leaving potentially lucrative opportunities behind.

Feb 02
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Driving Records: review them often and with your drivers

By Workplace Safety

Automobile accidents are the number one cause of liability claims in business.  Automobile related claims, especially drivers under the influence of alcohol and youthful operators, are the most devastating to families as well.

 

Every risk manager and fleet manager needs to check drivers’ records frequently.

 

Quarterly is not too frequent.

 

Sounds overly intrusive or expensive?  Consider that good driving records not only reflect good driving habits; they reflect vigilance in these habits.

 

Fleet managers must view on-time deliveries and vehicle upkeep as major issues.  Risk managers view safety and long-term costs as major metrics.

 

Quality driver management and the reinforcement of vigilant, excellent driving habits support both sets of goals.

 

Set driving record standards for moving violations and accidents.  Limit drivers to a maximum number of points or moving violations and at fault accidents.  Be sold on the idea of intolerance for lesser histories.

 

Assign some intervention tactic for any moving violation or accident, even not-at-fault.  The fleet manager or risk manager can debrief the driver on the circumstances and measures of avoidance which were missed.  From this conversation, training can be assigned.

 

Emphasize the importance of excellent habits and vigilant execution of these habits.

 

The more touchy subject is checking driving records for spouses or children of employees who may access the vehicle, with or without permission.

 

In closely held corporations or partnerships, do not hesitate to perform this task.  Driving while intoxicated and youthful drivers are the major devastating liability issues for families.  Healthcare bankruptcies are not liability claims for these purposes.

 

Do you want your choice of partner dependent on your current partners’ sixteen year-old child’s driving?  For closely held companies, this scenario is real.

 

The child speeds through a red light and badly injures several people.  The claim exceeds the family coverage.  Next in line – the business.  The debts may be paid by liquidating that partners share, the victims may become the new partners, or a forced sale of stocks may occur.

 

For a public company, shares of stock or a garnishment of wages may occur for a personal automobile claim; but the company car exposes all the company assets.

 

Banning family members or unauthorized usage is one answer, but teens will be teens.  Check the records, suggest interventions for family members too before bad habits lead to disaster.  And it’s always possible to restrict car use to business only with the car left on the business campus; or take away privileges completely to at-risk employees.

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