The growth rate of the rental equipment industry in the U.S. is skyrocketing by 24% a year, as more and more companies use the tax and other financial advantages of renting over purchasing. Renting also allows businesses to get the exact machine they need when they need it at a low cost, rather than spending a lot more to buy a device that would spend most of the time gathering dust.

On the downside, if using a piece of equipment that you have rented causes damage or results in legal liability, you could be out thousands of dollars - unless you carry Rental Equipment insurance.

This policy often costs less than similar coverage offered under your Business Owners Policy or standard Commercial Property insurance. Rental Equipment insurance gives you what you need, when you need it: you can match the length of coverage to the term of the rental, rather than that of your Property policy, allowing you to save money. In most cases, it also offers lower (or zero deductibles) than standard policies.

The policy includes both Property coverage that protects the equipment from damage and Liability insurance to protect the renter from legal claims based on the use of the equipment. It also streamlines the process of providing the Certificate of Insurance that rental companies usually require before releasing their machines.

To learn more about how Rental Equipment coverage can help you protect your business - and save money - just get in touch with the insurance professionals at our agency.

The widespread use of smartphones and tablets in the workplace is exposing more and more businesses to liability for sensitive data being compromised if these devices are lost, stolen, or hacked. How can your company protect itself against this threat - and how much authority do you have over an employee's personal device if it's also used for work-related activities?

What's more, because these gizmos are small and portable, it's easy to misplace them. (The federal Transportation Safety Administration recently leased a warehouse just to store those misplaced or left behind at airports.)

Another emerging risk linked to these devices is a "bring your own" policy that many companies have adopted as a way to save costs by having employees spend their own money on smartphones and tablets that are constantly evolving and updated. This approach raises questions about separating company data from personal information on the device. For example, when an employee leaves, does a business have the authority to wipe the information from his or her smartphone? According to some authorities, if an employee connects a personal device to a company network, the company has inherited responsibility for the data stored on it.

To deal with this risk, you need to provide every employee who uses these devices with training, updated annually, on how to respond in case of loss or theft. To minimize potential liability for lawsuits by customers and clients, make sure that the individual responsible for the mishap informs management immediately. The compromised information might include everything from sensitive data (financial or medical) contacts, photos, call history, personal notes - you name it.

You can also use insurance to protect yourself against losses from data breaches. A policy will provide Liability coverage that deals with legal costs and third-party expertise (such as forensics firms to analyze a breach and call centers to provide information and public relations. Coverage might also include services such as access to tools to estimate costs, a checklist for your planned response to a data breach, and access to experts who can answer questions and review your company's policies and procedures.

For more information, feel free to give us a call.

A pipe bursts and water ruins a corner of your Brazilian cherry wood floor. A windstorm tears off half of the vinyl shingles on one side of the house. A fire burns a couple of kitchen cupboards. Although your Homeowners policy will cover such partial losses, the extent to which the insurance company must go to make everything look just the way you'd like can be tricky.

Let's say that the new siding contrasts with the older, weathered shingles or that you can't find replacement kitchen cupboards that precisely match the originally. Your claim should put you back to pre-loss condition so the new part shouldn't stick out like a sore thumb. For example, this might mean replacing the entire floor of a room even if only a portion needs repair, or repainting all four walls after damage to only one. In some states, if replaced items don't match in quality, color or size, the insurance company must make "reasonable repairs or replacement of items in adjoining areas." Although other states don't have laws on matching, some Homeowners insurers have added similar "non-matching language" to their policies. Besides varying by state, insurer, and policy, the issue of patching versus full replacement can depends on insurance company adjusters. If you can't get make any headway with the adjuster on the repairs you want, consider going over his or her head to a supervisor, or file a complaint with the state insurance department. Another option is to hire a public insurance adjuster to work on your behalf through the claims process. These professionals usually charge about 10% of the final settlement.

Following these principles of leadership will help you and your employees focus on job safety:

1. Don’t walk by. It is everyone’s responsibility to prevent any potentially unsafe acts and conditions they witness from turning into accidents.
2. STOP! Encourage employees to stop working whenever they feel unsafe, no matter what reason they give.
3. Focus on a safe working environment. If you expect your workers to work safely, make their workplace as safe as possible.
4. Don’t blame the worker first. Unsafe ways of working, accidents, incidents, and ill health aren’t necessarily the worker’s fault. The problem often comes from less obvious causes, such as decisions by management.
5. Use your workforce for ideas. Employees often have a more accurate idea than you or your managers about which safety and health practices will work, because they deal with these issues every day.
6. Be patient. Don’t expect quick wins. Improvements will emerge over time, but only if you stick with them.
7. Explain your decisions. Just telling workers that something is wrong or a safety risk isn’t enough. If they’re to act on the information you provide, they need to know why and how to avoid harm.
8. Lead by example. Your behavior sends powerful signals. If you carry out your job in a safe way, your workers are more likely to do the same. If you don’t, they won’t imitate you.
9. Focus on co-operation. Treat your subcontractors in the same way as employees by encouraging them to communicate with each other.
10. Don’t neglect occupational health. If you look after the health, as well as the safety, of your workers today, you’re less likely to create problems for them or your business tomorrow.

Sound advice!

No matter how prepared you are – or believe you are – you can still suffer a cyber-security breach. What you do next can have a profound impact on the reputation of the business, customer loyalty, employee morale, and, ultimately, your bottom line.

An effective communication strategy should follow these guidelines:

1. Notify key regulatory and legal authorities as soon as possible, unless this might impede a criminal investigation. Even if notification isn’t required by law, it’s an important courtesy.
2. Make sure that staff roles and responsibilities for communicating the breach are outlined and understood clearly.
3. Tailor the notification process to the audience – high-value customers, senior employees, or individuals who might particularly vulnerable (such as the elderly, the disabled, and minors) and to the nature of the breach; handle the theft of confidential client information differently than stealing employees' Social Security numbers.
4. Have legal counsel review the method and content of all communications.
5. Prepare for media inquiries to deliver a clear message for parties affected directly or indirectly. Be sure that your spokesperson is qualified and trained to deal with the media.
6. Provide ways for victims of the breach to ask additional questions and/or learn how to minimize potential harm.
7. Test the plan: If you had to execute it, how well did it work, and how did you update it? Many businesses have discovered holes in their response plans after failing to consider the impact of a cyber security breach on daily operations, or underestimating the attention the event drew.

To learn more about spreading the word after a data breach, please get in touch with us.

It’s the Holiday season and we just wanted to say ‘ Thank You ’ and that... It’s been a pleasure working with you this year... Hope you and your family have wonderful Holidays and... A Happy New Year.

A recent study by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) spotlights the value of employer sponsored disability coverage in helping meet the health and financial well-being of workers.

According the Social Security Administration, one in every four employees will use their disability coverage at some point.

Despite this need, the nationwide survey found that fewer than two in five workers (39%) in the private sector have short-term disability (STD) coverage through their employers and only one in three (33%) have employer sponsored long term disability coverage (LTD).

Studies by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Mathew Greenwald & Associates have found similar rates of participation in these programs.

CFA Executive Director Stephen Broback says, “Surveys have shown that disability insurance is a critically important part of the social safety net”. . . “that plays an essential role in protecting the emotional and financial lives of workers.” Based on the study’s findings, he urged “all employers to offer the option of obtaining disability coverage.”

The survey also found that when businesses don’t offer LTD, many workers would buy it for themselves if they could receive the lower group rates available through employer sponsored coverage. Most disability plans cost workers between $10 and $30 per month, and the average monthly premium for STD coverage comes to $18.

More and more employees are benefiting from these plans, an estimated 650,000 disabled workers received employer sponsored LTD payments last year.

If you’d like to offer your employees this valuable “peace of mind” benefit, or for a complimentary review of your disability plan,– feel free to get in touch with us at any time. It’s our pleasure to serve you.

Employers and employees aren't seeing the health and productivity boosts of using their vision plans, especially with an aging workforce. According to Transitions Optical, Inc., nearly half of workers fail to take advantage of their vision benefit, either by not enrolling (24%) or not using their benefit to get an eye exam (32%).

That’s unfortunate, because helping employees see well offers a number of benefits:

• Good eyesight boosts productivity. Nearly 35% of people age 40+ have trouble seeing print or numbers on reading materials, or signs, even with glasses, One in four employees age 45 or older take breaks to rest their eyes at work, because of fatigue or eyestrain. Uncorrected vision (so slight that an employee might not notice) can reduce productivity up to 20%.
• Mental health and eye health are connected. Vision problems can worsen mental decline. Older employees with poor vision are five times more likely to develop cognitive decline than their peers with good or excellent vision. Untreated poor vision in the elderly is also linked to dementia; older adults who have poor vision without intervention (such as eye care visits and cataract surgery) are almost 10 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s.
• Glare bothers most workers. Almost all people say glare affects their vision outdoors, and seven in ten agree that their eyes are sensitive to light. Glare due to reflections from a lens surface can also be present indoors, leading to eye fatigue. The right eyewear can help employees overcome their discomfort.
• Employees think vision plans are important. More than 90% of employees that agree this benefit will be more important to them as they age.

To learn more, just give us a call. We’re here to serve you.

"But he that filches from me my good name/Robs me of that which not enriches him/And makes me poor indeed." - Shakespeare, Othello, act iii. Sc. 3.

Identity theft is a huge problem in the United States. Did you know that identity thieves stole approximately $21 Billion from victims in 2012? This equates to one incident of fraud every three seconds. That’s scary. In every minute, 20 acts of fraud occur. When you keep adding up the numbers it looks horrific. Most victims don’t know until it’s too late that they have become a victim of identity theft. If you are one of the victims of identity theft, we have listed a few things for you to do:

• Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) whether online or by phone, 877-438-4338.
• If necessary, send mail certified and request a return receipt.
• Contact your bank and let them know of the fraud.
• Contact all of your credit card companies and credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union) and inform them of the situation.
• Contact your insurance companies and make them aware of the theft.
• Keep a detailed filing system. Keep all your originals, only send copies of originals to requestors.
• Follow all deadlines. Keep a timeline of when you spoke to a person and set up a follow up date.

Following the above guidelines will help minimize any future thefts. We hope that you never have to use this list.

Any travel during winter months is risky. Storms come out of nowhere, roads become icy quickly and inexperienced drivers take unwise risks. Be prepared to stay safe on the road thanks to eight winter driving tips. 1. Check the forecast. In less than a minute, you can find out if you'll be driving in fog, snow or ice. You can also discover which roads are blocked and if you need to find an alternative route to your destination. 2. Slow down. In snowy conditions, cut your speed in half to ensure you have adequate stopping distance. Don't go so slow, though, that you lose momentum on grades. 3. Know skid recovery. Braking on slippery roads can cause your vehicle to slide instead of stop. If this happens, you need to know how to recover. Stay off the brake and steer your vehicle the way you want it to go. 4. Stay smooth at the controls. Pounding on the brake, shifting hard and even clenching the steering wheel make winter driving harder than it has to be. Instead, use smooth motions and relax as you drive. 5. Check your tires. Proper tire inflation and tread improve your vehicle's traction and ability to stay on the wet or icy roads. Check the inflation of your snow tires frequently since cold weather decreases tire pressure, and make sure the tread is at least 1/8-inch. Carry snow chains, too, if necessary. 6. Know your vehicle. Every car and truck handles differently. Before heading out in winter weather, make sure you know how your vehicle handles. Know where the windshield wipers, defrost button and four-ways are, too. 7. Pack survival supplies. If you're stranded or in an accident, you need a few supplies. Definitely store a snow shovel, sand or litter and lock de-icer in your vehicle. Consider packing a portable power source, flashlight, waterproof matches, tow rope, first aid kit, energy bars and blanket also. If you do get stranded, wait for help to arrive. 8. Stay hydrated. Dehydration can make you drowsy and reduce alertness. Drink water before you head out and carry a bottle or two with you so that you can stay alert. Winter driving can be dangerous, but follow these eight tips to stay safe. Remember to check in with your auto insurance agent, too. Update your policy as you prepare for whatever winter throws at you on the road.