Taking Care of Business

In general, businesses that deal with hazardous materials or if there is the risk of harm being caused by contaminants or corrosives such as chemicals, toxic gases or fuels could be held responsible for clean-up costs and damages.  This can include transportation businesses or contractors working in the construction industry, both commercial and residential.  Companies that are engaged in demolition services or excavation work may also need this gap coverage.  With more awareness of environmental issues and with such damages not covered by general policies, it can be beneficial to work with your insurer to devise a customized policy to ensure the best coverage.  Some pollution liability insurance in New Jersey policies will also cover legal defense costs and you should make sure that you know if this is included in any policy you take out.

Beyond the Bottom Line

No one wants to cause harm to people or the environment during the course of running their business.  In addition to work disruptions and costly legal claims, pollution-related incidents can cost a company dearly in terms of public relations.  Having pollution liability coverage not only protects you should an incident occur, but it can also be a shield against negative public relations which can cost you future business.  Being insured can demonstrate that you are a responsible business owner.

• Ease of use
• Accuracy
• Flexibility

Ease of Use

A good insurance rating system is fast and easy to implement. Very little training is needed because the system is intuitive. No computer programming skills will be needed. Some systems have the ability to import rate tables from spreadsheets, or else are browser-based, so the rates are automatically updated. Other important features are the ability to

• Save profiles and make changes to them later, without having to re-enter data again.
• Print reports, coverage scenarios, policies, and more
• Generate worksheets and side-by-side coverage comparisons

Accuracy

The accuracy of the system is important, considering that it directly affects your financial bottom-line. Rates that are too high can cause you to lose current and potential clients. Rates that are too low can cause your loss-to-revenue ratio to be too high.

Flexibility

A flexible insurance rating system allows you to add new lines of coverage, customize your own set of rating rules, and expand your client base as necessary.

Keep in mind these important characteristics as you investigate Insurance Rating Systems.

Creating an Up-to-Date Website

Insurance website design experts recommend that a website receive a design evaluation every one to two years. This periodic informational audit will identify changes and updates that need made. Pay particular attention to:

• Employee names. Are the people named on your website still employed at the organization? Do they hold the same position or do they have a different job title? Make sure the names on the site reflect current personnel.
• Contact information. What phone numbers and email addresses are listed? Are the mailing addresses and physical street addresses correct? Outdated contact information is a top customer complaint.
• Insurance policy and product descriptions. Insurance agencies sometimes shift their service offerings and their insurance website design needs to reflect those changes. Do the product and policy descriptions on your website accurately reflect your current offerings?
• Technical compatibility. This portion of a website audit should be done by design experts. People use laptop computers, desktops, smart phones, and tablet computers to access the Internet; this leads to conflicts in compatibility. There are now design strategies that can compensate for these conflicts.

Arranging for Website Redesign

If you’re ready to update your website, contact an insurance website design company. They have experience working with agencies like yours and can develop a professional site that’s compatible with current Internet technology and that has the information your customers are looking for.

In addition to being held liable for the safety and care of employees like teachers, administrative staff, and maintenance crews, most schools are responsible for the health and well being of students as well. Public school insurance in Indiana, for example, may include coverage for everything from auto protection to molestation claims. And given that many private, charter, and fine arts schools retain minor children as students, they are accountable as guardians of sorts for the protection of their students.

Other unique circumstances that might be considered in regards to education insurance packages include factors like travel and property protection. School functions, fundraisers, and field trips may take place off-campus, but the school can still be held liable for the protection of its students and staff. Similarly, the destruction of personal property may be charged against the school if it takes place during a school-sponsored event or activity.

The specialized care and service that many schools offer place them in a position to require the appropriate levels of insurance coverage to protect teachers and students alike.

What Is There to Fear?

While there is simply nothing that can beat the view from most coastal properties, history has shown nature’s tendency to send unexpected surprises. Severe weather, including winds, rain, floods, and more, can happen almost instantly, and leave you with a lot of damage. Having the right coverage means that your company can literally keep its head above water, in case of disaster.

Being Prepared

Working alongside a high quality insurance company can help you to secure the safety of your property, financial investments, and future. As part of your coastal property insurance plan, include things like

• Thorough assessments of risks
• A detailed disaster recovery plan
• An outlined post-event staff response plan
• Adequate coverage that will preserve company assets

It is important to be aware of the risks and possible damage before they even happen. By doing this, you equip yourself with the ability to deal with such an event, if any should happen. With a dependable insurance plan to back you up, you can protect your coastal investment in complete confidence.

Here are some stats that indicate how serious the problem is: Among adults 65 or older falling is the leading cause of injury death. Falls are also the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma recovery care. In 2009, for example, 2.2 million nonfatal fall injuries among older adults were treated in emergency departments and more than 581,000 of these patients were hospitalized.

Furthermore, the chances of falling and of being seriously injured in a fall increase with age. In 2009, the rate of fall injuries for adults 85 and older was almost four times that for adults 65 to 74.3. People age 75 and older who fall are four to five times more likely than those age 65 to 74 to be admitted to a long-term care facility for a year or longer. Women are more likely than men to be injured in a fall. In 2009, women were 58% more likely than men to suffer a nonfatal fall injury. And rates of fall-related fractures among older women are more than twice those for men. (Based on statistics from the Centers of Disease)

But luckily falls are largely preventable. What can you do to prevent against falling as you get older and prevent the need for trauma recovery care? Here are some tips:

• Be sure to exercise regularly, with a focus on increasing leg strength and improving balance. Exercises should get more challenging over time.
• Ask your doctor or pharmacist to review all your medicines, including prescription and over-the counter, to determine if any of them may cause side effects or interactions such as dizziness or drowsiness.
• Go for an eye check-up at least once a year and update your eyeglasses to maximize their vision. Consider getting a pair with single vision distance lenses for activities such as walking outside.
• Safe-proof your home – reduce tripping hazards, add grab bars inside and outside the tub or shower and next to the toilet, add stair railings and improve the lighting in their homes.

• Lower hip fracture risk, by getting adequate calcium and vitamin D—from food and/or from supplements; perform weight-bearing exercise; and get screened and treated for osteoporosis.

American football player Dave Duerson killed himself, and left his brain to science so that research could be done to determine the impact the sport had on his diminished health, which including lapses in memory, the mood swings, the piercing headaches on the left side of his head, the difficulty spelling simple words, and blurred eyesight. He asked, “Please see that my brain is given to the NFL’s brain bank.” He hoped that the findings would help in recovery trauma.

The “brain bank” is the Center of the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. What the doctors found when examining Duerson’s brain was shocking. According to Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist who jointly heads the lab at the Center, “This is an extreme case,” she says, “but it is also very characteristic.” She points to the triangular hole, consisting of the lateral ventricles, which shows tremendous disruption. According to Dr. McKee, there should be a membrane separating the two ventricles, but it has been so battered by the footballer’s repeated blows to the head that only the thinnest of filaments is left. The two oval holes are the ventricles of the temporal lobe and they too are extremely enlarged to compensate for tissue lost from the lobes themselves, another classic sign of having your head bashed repeatedly. “The temporal lobes are crucial to memory and learning and you can see they are very, very small, as miniaturized as possible.”

Dr. McKee goes on to say: “This is a brain at the end-stage of disease. I would assume that with this amount of damage the person was very cognitively impaired. I would assume they were demented, had substantial problems with their speech and gait, that this person was Parkinsonian, was slow to speak and walk, if he could walk at all.”

The National Football League (NFL) over the last several years has been taking a lead in research in traumatic brain injury (TBI). A study commissioned by the NFL reported that Alzheimer’s disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league’s former players vastly more often than in the national population — including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49.

Recommendations made as a result of a study to the League to help mitigate the consequences of TBI in football and assist in recovery trauma include:

• Conduct prospective longitudinal studies evaluating the value of clinical tests, serum biomarkers, imaging, and electrophysiological tests in a) differentiating players with and without traumatic brain damage, b) detecting the effect of preventive/therapeutic interventions, and c) predicting long-term cognitive and behavioral outcomes.
• The need for MRI and PET studies to determine in vivo morphological and functional correlates of physical impacts, concussions and long-term post-TBI cognitive decline.
• The need to implement MRI and electrophysiology studies to identify mechanisms of neural plasticity following MTBI.
• The development of a longitudinal concussion and “hits” database to capture prior and present episodes, quantify symptoms, document evaluations for return to play and document rehabilitation strategies.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, unintentional injury kills more people between the ages of one and 44 than any other disease or illness. In fact, more years of potential life are lost due to injury than to heart disease or cancer. Here are some common causes and stats to consider:

• Drowning is the fourth most common cause of unintentional injury death for all ages, ranking first among person’s ages 25 to 44 and second for ages five to 44.

• Falls are the second-leading cause of accidental deaths for persons age 45 to 75 and the number-one cause of unintentional death for persons 75 years of age and older. Alcohol and drug use are directly or indirectly responsible for 75-80% of these injuries, and require trauma recovery.

• About 1.4 million people in the United States have Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) each year.  Of these, 50,000 of die and 235,000 are hospitalized and require trauma recovery. A TBI is caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain. Not all blows or jolts to the head result in a TBI, with the severity of a TBI may range from “mild,” (a brief change in mental status or consciousness to “severe (extended period of unconsciousness or amnesia after the injury).

• A breakdown of the leading causes of TBI is as follows: about 28% of the cases result from falls; about 11% of the cases result from assaults; about 20% of the cases result from motor vehicle-traffic crashes; and about 19 % of the cases result from being struck by/against.

• In every age group, TBI rates are higher for males than for females.

• Males up to 4 years of age have the highest rates of TBI-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, trauma recovery care, and deaths.