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[spb_text_block animation="none" animation_delay="0" simplified_controls="yes" custom_css_percentage="no" padding_vertical="0" padding_horizontal="0" margin_vertical="0" custom_css="margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;" border_size="0" border_styling_global="default" width="1/1" el_position="first last"] There is always the chance of being injured while on the job. Workers compensation insurance is how employers protect their employees from any injury sustained while on the job. Naturally, some industries carry a higher degree of risk than others. For example, the common injuries incurred by office workers differ from common injuries sustained by security guards. Workers compensation claims for security guards often fall into seven categories of on-the-job injuries. Being aware of these potential injury types can raise awareness of common job injury risks and how to prevent them. 1 – Slip and Fall The most common Worker’s Compensation claim for security guards involves slips and falls. This includes falling to the same surface that the employee is on, or a fall to a lower level, such as down stairs. Common injuries seen with this type of workers compensation claim includes injuries to both upper and lower extremities, back and spine injuries, neck and head injury, breaks and fractures, bruises, sprains and dislocations, punctures and cuts and concussion injuries. Common factors are wet floors, snow and ice on walkways, uneven floor surfaces, broken handrails or railings, pathways that are not clear and trip hazards such as electrical cords, floor mats or blocked pathways. For snowy and wet surfaces, proper footwear will eliminate most claims. Slip-resistant shoes with rubber soles are necessary for these conditions and are recommended year round. It is also important to immediately replace shoes with worn soles. Due to the variety of locations security guards are stationed at, wet floors will always be a common problem, both inside and outside so slip-resistant footwear should be mandatory. Prevention can prevent a significant amount of these types of claims. Snowy walkways should be cleared frequently and mats placed at entrances to prevent slips on wet floors just inside the entrance. Areas with poor lighting, especially on upper levels or in stairways, should be addressed to include adequate lighting.  Hazards such as ladders or stools in walkways should be moved when not in use. Guards should be constantly aware of the surfaces they are walking on to avoid trip and fall hazards. 2 – Bodily Reaction Injuries (other than a fall)  It does not require a fall to be injured. Bodily reaction injuries are incurred due to a sudden action/reaction such as trying to break a fall or losing your balance or anything that forces your body into an unnatural position. These are indirect trauma injuries but are still one of the top causes for workers compensation claims for security guards. Common injuries are pulled and twisted muscles and tendons and sprains and strains.  Making sure employees are physically able to perform the job can help prevent injuries. Jobs that require a lot of walking or movement can easily cause muscle fatigue, which increases change of injury, as does not having muscle strength or flexibility. Something as simple as warm up stretches before a shift and/or strength training can help prevent this injury type. Because trying to regain balance after tripping is the most common cause, extra care must be taken when conditions are icy or wet and the protocols and prevention techniques listed above apply. Locating and avoiding potential trip hazards will help prevent this as well. 3 – Vehicle Accident (including motorized carts)  Injuries sustained in a vehicle accident while working are another common claim seen with security guards. This can include collisions with cars and objects, rollovers and being struck by a car while on foot. Wearing a seat belt and making sure no loose objects are on the dashboard will help minimize injuries in the event of an accident as well as taking care to not drive while fatigued or distracted.  4 – Overexertion  This type of claim is often seen in security guards and police due to the physical nature of their job. It can occur with excessive walking, pursuits and chases, or anything that causes a joint or muscle to move beyond its normal range such as twisting to get in or out of a car, or sitting/standing too long. To prevent this, make sure employees have adequate rest breaks when the job is physically demanding. Good posture and strength training can also help.  As with bodily reaction claims, ensuring employees are physically able to do the job is a good idea. 5 – Workplace Violence The risk of injury from violence is an inherent risk for security guards.  The best way to prevent it is to have a workplace violence program with crisis procedures and protocols for employees to follow. Training on risk identification, threat handling and de-escalation is highly recommended. Threats should be replied to immediately and all incidents, large or small, need to be noted. 6 – Exposure to elements Working in temperatures that are too hot or too cold carries risk. Security guards work no matter what the outside temperature is like and with some knowledge and preparation, can limit their risk of being injured due to exposure to sun or from the cold such as from heat stroke, heat exhaustion, sunburn or hypothermia. For cold, it is important to protect the ears, face, hands and feet. Boots should be worn that are slip resistant, waterproof and insulated. Clothing should be in loose layers that does not restrict movement. Tight layers will restrict blood circulation in the body. For working in the sun, the use of sunblock and making sure to stay hydrated is necessary. For anybody not used to working in the heat, gradual increase in their exposure to the sun will help them tolerate it more. Sudden prolonged sun exposure can trigger heat related illness. 7 – Environmental Conditions Injuries of this type include injuries from the working environment. They can include smoke, chemical burns, injuries from contact with objects that are extremely hot or cold, steam burns, vapor/fumes or gas related injuries or electrical burns. There should be safety equipment appropriate for the location that is easily accessible and in multiple locations to help minimize injury in the event of an emergency incident. There should be frequent site safety and hazard checks and security guards should be trained in proper safety and emergency protocols. Overall, employees should be fully trained and prepared for a variety of on-site hazards and situations. Being distracted or careless accounts for a significant percentage of all injuries sustained by security guards and there should be a no tolerance policy for these behaviors. Pre-work physical screenings for strenuous jobs are recommended as are employee screenings for all employees. Cultivation of a work culture that places and emphasis on safety and with open communication will help employees and owners identify and handle any potential hazards. [/spb_text_block]

Mobile devices are the mighty double-edged swords of today's workplace. On the one hand, they provide greater integration of information, on the other, they could be your business's one-way ticket to a catastrophic security breach. This week we had the amazing opportunity to speak with Anthony Kinney, Microsoft's Verizon Partner Manager, about mobile security and the ways to mitigate data risk in a BYOD environment. According to Kinney, the three main security risk areas associated with BYOD are: Data loss prevention, which has to do with securing the data on a device in the case of it being lost or stolen. Data in transit, which is most often protected by encrypting information to ensure that all communications between the device and backend infrastructure are secure. Data leakage, which is about keeping a user's work and personal information separate. In other words, "protecting users from themselves." We asked Kinney what Microsoft is doing to make sure that moving to a pocket office doesn't mean introducing security risk. He discussed how our multilayered approach to security makes adopting a BYOD policy far less of a risk, with solutions like Secure boot technology, remote "wipe" capabilities, and automatic cloud storage (among other security solutions). What makes the greatest difference, however, are the actions a company takes to ensure that their data is secure. The way Kinney sees it, employees jailbreaking and rooting devices is one of the largest risk factors for companies who allow employees to BYOD. What those companies do is implement third-party services to "containerize the data," so it never actually goes onto the local device. According to Kinney, Windows Phone solves for this by protecting the data at the data center level before it even gets to the device. This means each document can have specific edit/view/share settings so that when it's accessed on a mobile device it can't be 'saved as' or forwarded to another cloud service, depending on what the settings permit. This way the phone fully understands the corporate policies on the document, helping IT to provide security—even at the file level. This level of device integration with your data allows your company to consider a BYOD or CYOD policy without the need for third-party security solutions—which themselves offer another point of potential failure and risk. By working with your existing desktop OS, email, and other systems, the native Windows Phone OS helps mitigate data loss risk for your pocket office by preventing it in the first place.

Mobile devices are the mighty double-edged swords of today's workplace. On the one hand, they provide greater integration of information, on the other, they could be your business's one-way ticket to a catastrophic security breach. This week we had the amazing opportunity to speak with Anthony Kinney, Microsoft's Verizon Partner Manager, about mobile security and the ways to mitigate data risk in a BYOD environment. According to Kinney, the three main security risk areas associated with BYOD are: Data loss prevention, which has to do with securing the data on a device in the case of it being lost or stolen. Data in transit, which is most often protected by encrypting information to ensure that all communications between the device and backend infrastructure are secure. Data leakage, which is about keeping a user's work and personal information separate. In other words, "protecting users from themselves." We asked Kinney what Microsoft is doing to make sure that moving to a pocket office doesn't mean introducing security risk. He discussed how our multilayered approach to security makes adopting a BYOD policy far less of a risk, with solutions like Secure boot technology, remote "wipe" capabilities, and automatic cloud storage (among other security solutions). What makes the greatest difference, however, are the actions a company takes to ensure that their data is secure. The way Kinney sees it, employees jailbreaking and rooting devices is one of the largest risk factors for companies who allow employees to BYOD. What those companies do is implement third-party services to "containerize the data," so it never actually goes onto the local device. According to Kinney, Windows Phone solves for this by protecting the data at the data center level before it even gets to the device. This means each document can have specific edit/view/share settings so that when it's accessed on a mobile device it can't be 'saved as' or forwarded to another cloud service, depending on what the settings permit. This way the phone fully understands the corporate policies on the document, helping IT to provide security—even at the file level. This level of device integration with your data allows your company to consider a BYOD or CYOD policy without the need for third-party security solutions—which themselves offer another point of potential failure and risk. By working with your existing desktop OS, email, and other systems, the native Windows Phone OS helps mitigate data loss risk for your pocket office by preventing it in the first place.

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Pop quiz time. What's more secure; financial records locked in a filing cabinet or financial records stored in the cloud? If you don't understand how cloud security works, you probably said the filing cabinet. It's time for a little mythbusting about how secure your paperless office could be. Last week, Cindy Bates posted on the Microsoft SMB Blog about the benefits of a completely paperless office. Like Delta Airlines, who recently switched to the paperless cockpit, it's possible for any office or organization to ditch the dead trees and move entirely into the digital space. One of the first questions decision makers ask when considering the paperless office is "how secure is this?" It's a fair question, so let's consider Delta's paperless cockpit example and overall data security. The problem with paper is that, well, it's paper. Paper gets lost, it burns, it can be misfiled and disappear. It's only as secure as its physical location. If that location is a locked filing cabinet (or a vault under Fort Knox), if someone really wanted to get to it, they could. A file in the cloud cannot burn, be stolen, accidentally left behind in a restroom, or any other number of things that could affect a hard copy of important information. For a recent example, take a look at the Internet Archive, whose scanning facility in San Francisco caught fire. Although no data was stored in their San Francisco office, if it had been, cloud redundancies would have prevented any loss. But what about a data center, such as what powers Windows Azure or Office 365? Let's start with physical security: data centers are monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. A team of ninjas could, in theory, break in, but they'd still have to know which of the thousand machines contained your exact data—so unless you've upset the cast of Ocean's 11, it's significantly less likely than an office fire that could destroy physical data. In addition, with Office 365, data transmitted across networks is encrypted—so if some agency (or other villain) happens to tap the wires, they still won't be able to read your files. While a move to a paperless office does not entirely guarantee data security—there are still those ninjas to think about—it is significantly more secure than leaving your information in paper form, where it could be destroyed or stolen with greater ease. It's just one more reason to go paperless.

Pop quiz time. What's more secure; financial records locked in a filing cabinet or financial records stored in the cloud? If you don't understand how cloud security works, you probably said the filing cabinet. It's time for a little mythbusting about how secure your paperless office could be. Last week, Cindy Bates posted on the Microsoft SMB Blog about the benefits of a completely paperless office. Like Delta Airlines, who recently switched to the paperless cockpit, it's possible for any office or organization to ditch the dead trees and move entirely into the digital space. One of the first questions decision makers ask when considering the paperless office is "how secure is this?" It's a fair question, so let's consider Delta's paperless cockpit example and overall data security. The problem with paper is that, well, it's paper. Paper gets lost, it burns, it can be misfiled and disappear. It's only as secure as its physical location. If that location is a locked filing cabinet (or a vault under Fort Knox), if someone really wanted to get to it, they could. A file in the cloud cannot burn, be stolen, accidentally left behind in a restroom, or any other number of things that could affect a hard copy of important information. For a recent example, take a look at the Internet Archive, whose scanning facility in San Francisco recently caught fire. Although no data was stored in their San Francisco office, if it had been, cloud redundancies would have prevented any loss. But what about a data center, such as what powers Windows Azure or Office 365? Let's start with physical security: data centers are monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. A team of ninjas could, in theory, break in, but they'd still have to know which of the thousand machines contained your exact data—so unless you've upset the cast of Ocean's 11, it's significantly less likely than an office fire that could destroy physical data. In addition, with Office 365, data transmitted across networks is encrypted—so if some agency (or other villain) happens to tap the wires, they still won't be able to read your files. While a move to a paperless office does not entirely guarantee data security—there are still those ninjas to think about—it is significantly more secure than leaving your information in paper form, where it could be destroyed or stolen with greater ease. It's just one more reason to go paperless.

A security officer’s duties change every single day, and it is important for their employer to be able to supply them with the insurance that they need in order to stay protected during any serious medical or legal ordeal. While the private security sector continues to grow and remains a lucrative industry, each of these companies will need a comprehensive and affordable insurance plan in order to stay protected throughout the years. The agents here at BSGIns.com are ready to work closely alongside you and your company to safeguard your bottom line with a custom-built policy created around your own unique needs. Insurance for private security companies isn’t one-size fits all Finding a robust insurance policy for any business can be a potentially time-consuming and expensive task that very few want to deal with. Unfortunately, these policies remain one of the most important components of a business and they could mean the difference between success and bankruptcy in the future. No matter how careful a company, its management, and its employees may be, accidents can take place at any point, and that is why we are here to help you find coverage ranging from general liability insurance to specialized policies to cover any gaps with your current provider. Local & Federal Insurance Laws One of the first places for a security company to look is local and federal laws that will dictate the absolute minimum coverage that any company needs. These basic policies will protect your company, its employees, and any other parties in the event of minor accidents and injuries. This liability coverage will quickly supply funds for medical bills that come as a result of injuries over the course of duty, accidents on the company’s property, and even collisions. Accidents can quickly move into the range of thousands of dollars, and these expenses never need to be assumed by the company alone. Protect your company from legal issues Your private security company insurance will also protect you in the event of any serious legal issues that could devastate your company’s resources. In today’s litigious climate, even the most cautious companies may need to deal with a civil trial, criminal trial, or out-of-court mediations that could tie up thousands of dollars in just a few weeks’ time. Any insurance agency can offer a policy to a private security business, but it takes a company that truly understands the industry in order to get the absolute best premiums while still maintaining the coverage that you need. BSGIns.com understands exactly how these companies work and the countless details that will affect your policy. This includes the amount of man hours worked per week, whether your guards are armed, how many individuals are on your payroll, the state in which you are working, if any vehicles are being used, and a number of other variables. With BSGI, you never need to worry that the company you have worked so hard to build could be at risk. Feel free to contact one of our experienced agents today for assistance with any number of policies including liability insurance, group health insurance, bonding, umbrella insurance, and much more.