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There are many reasons why your company needs a business continuity plan. Having a strategy – before an event happens – helps to maximize the chance your business can recover while minimizing the loss of property, life and assets. Developing your business continuity plan should be a thoughtful process resulting in a plan that can be beneficial to you if an event occurs. Start by assembling a team of key decision-makers who will lead your continuity planning efforts. Senior management, team leaders and anyone with in-depth knowledge about business operations should be included. Four Steps to Developing an Effective Business Continuity Plan Identify threats or risks Understanding the risks that could leave employees, customers, vendors, property and operations vulnerable is fundamental. Threats can include, but are not limited to natural disasters, malicious attacks, power outages and system failures. Identify the risks most likely to occur based on historical, geographical, organizational and other factors. Then weigh the probability of each event against its potential impact to your business, as well as your readiness to respond. Conduct a business impact analysis Identify the people, places, providers, processes and programs critical to the survival of your business. What functions and resources, if interrupted or lost, could impact your ability to provide goods and services or meet regulatory requirements? Consider who and what is absolutely necessary to restore critical operations. Then prioritize the need to restore each item after the event. Plan to use limited resources wisely. Complementary functions can always be restored later. Adopt controls for prevention and mitigation Prevention and mitigation planning and activities are intended to help prevent an event (such as a fire or explosion from unsafe conditions) as well as to reduce the impact or severity of an event (such as relocating critical equipment to a higher elevation in flood-susceptible areas). Your prevention and mitigation plans should address, among other things, emergency response, public relations, resource management, and employee communications. Test, exercise and improve your plan routinely A business continuity plan is an evolving strategy that should adapt to your company’s ever-changing needs. Test and update it regularly – yearly at a minimum – or any time critical functions, facilities, suppliers or personnel change. Train employees to understand their role in executing the plan, too. Exercises can include discussions or hypothetical walk-throughs of scenarios to live drills or simulations. The key is to ensure the plan works as intended.

Check out what's new on CompleteMarkets this week - December 14, 2018

Homes take a beating on the outside, from wind, rain, sun, insects and snow. Summer gives you a chance to repair damage, protect your home and keep its face to the world looking bright. Home maintenance is like housework, flossing and exercise: You might as well work it into your routine, because the penalties are worse than the jobs themselves. Here’s just one example: Cleaning the gutters costs nothing if you do it yourself, and roughly $100 to $200 if you hire a service. Ignore the job, though, and a ruined roof or damaged foundation could cost you thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to repair. Here’s why: Leaky or overflowing gutters can rot fascia boards (the roof edge under the gutters), soffits and rafters. Water may drip onto window trim, rotting it. Leaky gutters let water pool at the foundation, causing basement leaks, mold and even foundation damage. 1. Paint Fresh paint doesn’t just make your home look great. It’s a protective skin against UV light and moisture. Earth911 tells where to get free paint: Many household hazardous waste (HHW) facilities around the country have product exchange rooms, sometimes called swap rooms or swap shops. These rooms offer safe, unopened HHW items for public consumption, keeping them out of the landfill and letting you save some money. Call your city to ask about your local HHW facility. Other sources for cheap paint: Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores (find one near you) sell “gently used” tools and supplies for home projects at low cost. See EcoBusinessLinks’ national directory of recycled and surplus building materials and suppliers. Search online for a city’s name and “salvaged building supplies” or “recycled building materials.” 2. Mulch Laying a 1- to 3-inch layer of mulch on garden beds spares a lot of weeding. Mulch smothers weeds by depriving them of oxygen and light and it holds moisture in the soil, saving water and giving plants a consistent source of moisture. Mulch includes many materials placed on the ground to prevent weeds from growing, including rocks, gravel and plastic. Leaves, grass clippings and tree bark are organic materials most often used on garden beds. Hay and straw also are used in vegetable gardens. Organic mulch breaks down into nutrients that feed plants. Be careful in vegetable gardens to avoid mulch with pesticides, herbicides or other garden chemicals. Also, used incorrectly, mulch can damage or kill trees and ornamental plants by depriving them of oxygen, so leave a 3- to 5-inch space around stems of younger plants and give mature tree trunks eight to 12 inches. North Carolina State University’s Cooperative Extension Service explains how to safely use mulch. Free or cheap sources of mulch: Grass clippings. Let them cool down before mulching. Raked leaves. Shred first with a shredder or lawn mower so air and moisture can reach the soil beneath. Shredded wood or bark. Electric utility companies and tree services may have cheap or free wood chips or shredded bark. Also, some cities collect leaves and branches, chipping them for use by local residents. Cardboard. Ask recycling centers and appliance stores for free cardboard. Wet it down, cut it to fit and place it around plants, covering with soil or bark mulch. This is best in wet climates where cardboard breaks down into the soil. WikiHow gives instructions on using cardboard and has more ideas for cheap mulch. 3. Seal wood decks The cheap way to approach this job is to do it yourself. It’s not difficult, although it’s nice to have help. You’ll spend a couple hundred dollars on supplies and rented tools. Do it annually or every two to three years, depending where you live. Ignore the job long enough and you’ll need to replace the deck, at a cost of thousands of dollars. Read the entire article here. Read more at http://www.moneytalksnews.com/2014/06/02/12-cheap-and-easy-summer-home-projects/#4f2LmYs5xjDE2Rbw.99

Many companies use "lean manufacturing" procedures to streamline production by reducing wasted time and motion. Although these changes often show up in the bottom line as black, their long term repercussions on workplace safety – higher accident rates and workers comp premiums –could put a business back in the red. "Approximately 65% of workers compensation claims are for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)," says Chris Shulenberger, Technical Director for Ergonomics with Bureau Veritas North America Shulenberger. However, many employers might not make the connection between their lean manufacturing procedures and high rates of sprains and strains, overexertion injuries, and cumulative trauma MSDs among their employees. If you streamline your manufacturing, beware of these potential pitfalls that could turn "leaner" into just plain "meaner:" Excessive Overtime. Lean manufacturing depends on a smooth supply chain. When there are glitches, workers need to pick up the slack with increased production and longer hours, both of which contribute to MSDs. Hyper-efficiency. For some employers, the drive to improve employee productivity ignores human limitations. Removing the waste from jobs eliminates essential time for workers' bodies to restore themselves, which can reduce disabling MSDs. Working through pain. Some supervisors in lean manufacturing facilities are slow to respond to worker reports of fatigue, discomfort, and/or pain: the earliest symptoms of an MSD. In other cases, there’s "working through pain" culture which encourages employees, like high-performing athletes, to ignore early symptoms – which can easily lead to a MSD. Make sure that your workers report any MSD symptoms and supervisors know how to respond to these complaints. Micromanagement. Increasing the intensity of work reduces employees’ control about how they do their job – a proven risk factor for MSDs. Our risk management professionals would be happy to review the potential impact of your manufacturing procedures on workplace safety.

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Air, water, and soil pollution pose a serious financial threat for contractors. One small misstep can require thousands - or even millions - to clean up. Consider these scenarios: Remodeling a school kicks up dust. Using construction materials generates fumes that pollute the air. Hitting an underground storage tank leads to the release of liquid pollutants. Spraying to remove a bees' nest from a work area releases insecticides. Tying into a sewer line improperly causes sewage to back up. Your Comprehensive General Liability (CGL) policy provides severely limited protection against these types of pollution claims. Not to worry! Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL) insurance can protect you. (These policies are sometimes written together with Contractors Professional Liability coverage - see the previous article). CPL covers Bodily Injury and Property Damage - whether by settlement or verdict - as well as the expenses of investigating, defending, or settling claims. Most policies also cover the costs of removing or neutralizing pollutants and restoring the damaged property. CPL policies usually include a "hammer clause" that works like this: if the contractor chooses to fight a claim, rather than settle it, the insurance company's liability for damages and claims expenses is limited to what it would have had to pay if the contractor had approved the settlement. As you can imagine, most contractors choose to settle when their insurer recommends this approach. As with Contractors Professional Liability coverage, CPL policies are usually written on a case-by-case basis, with the size of the policy depending on your situation (for example coverage might be worldwide or limited to the U.S). Our agency would be happy to work with you, and the quality insurance companies we represent, to tailor a program suited for your needs. Feel free to get in touch with us at any time.

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You can't eliminate the stress that your employees bring to work - but you can offer them these guidelines to help manage workplace stressors on their own: Prioritize, streamline, delegate, and discard. When facing a task, ask if it's really necessary to do immediately. Break things up. Take two - to three - minute breaks every hour and commit to doing at least one fun thing every day. Make time. Build time into your schedule for creative expression, healthy eating, moderate daily exercise, hanging out with friends, and enjoying nature. Be on time. Build in cushion time between appointments to allow for traffic and the unexpected. Send negativity flying. If a co-worker is on the warpath, visualize an airplane with an ad banner over the person's head, with each negative word floating up into the banner and out of view. Relax and watch what happens. Do mini-meditations or mindful breathing while you're between tasks or in line at the cafeteria. Get essential nutrients. Go beyond vitamins and begin to think about daylight and laughter as integral parts of your daily life. Consider what you're consuming. Sugar, caffeine, and alcohol can increase stress levels. Watch your words. Don't let negative internal chatter and self-recrimination distract and demoralize you. Be kind. Do something nice for a different co-worker every day until it becomes second nature to reduce stress for others. Sleep on it. Sleep deprivation a major culprit in stress is Try to get restful, restorative slumber every night, and watch your stress level decline.

You already know that you need homeowners insurance to protect this huge investment that you've made. Since fire is one of the catastrophes that this type of insurance covers, you might think that you are in the clear and that you don't have to worry. There are some instances, however, during which your insurance company might not pay out as you expected. Replacement Cost While you might think that your homeowners insurance allows you to replace your home and its contents, chances are that your insurance company will pay out only the actual cost. The discrepancy between the two values could lead you to having to come up with some money out of pocket to rebuild your home. In order to make sure that your insurance pays out at the replacement value of your home and belongings, speak to your insurance agent about a policy rider that you can purchase. Historic Options Homes that are historic in nature or that have customized interior work might need to be covered with special insurance coverage. A standard homeowners insurance policy will pay only to have the industry standards replaced within your home. This could result in either a reduction in the value of you home or a significant out-of-pocket expense for you to restore it to its prior state. Debris Removal Clearing out the debris caused by a fire is something that is typically only partially paid for by a standard homeowners insurance policy. This is especially true if your home is deemed to be a total loss that must be demolished or if you live in a mobile home whose value is negligible.

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