Workplace safety signs and tags play a key role in helping prevent accidents to workers and visitors alike.
To make the most effective use of signs and tags in your facility that comply with OSHA regulation (29 CFR 1910.145), we’d recommend that you follow these guidelines:
- Identify all hazards throughout the workplace. In addition to obvious dangers, include those that are out of the ordinary, unexpected, or not readily apparent.
- Select or design signs and tags. Make sure they conform to OSHA requirements and are consistent in format.
- Use proper wording. According to OSHA, “the wording of any sign should be easily read, concise, and contain sufficient information to be easily understood.”
- Position signs carefully. Signs should be placed so that they’re easy to see and read from a distance and draw maximum attention to hazards.
- Identify safety and fire protection equipment clearly. This includes such items as eyewash stations and safety showers, as well as fire extinguishers and hoses.
- Employ tags properly. OSHA requires that “tags shall be used as a means to prevent accidental injury or illness to employees who are exposed to hazardous or potentially hazardous conditions, equipment, or operations.”
- Review your program whenever new hazards are introduced. If you just put up signs and tags and forget about them, your facility probably won’t be in compliance with the OSHA regulations. Check the program frequently to make sure that it’s still doing the job.
The workplace safety professionals at our agency would be happy to help you review your signage and tag policy. Give us a call at any time.
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Your business needs an employee referral system that rewards and encourages employee referrals properly. The feature story for Inc. Magazine Database, is to discusses how social media is replacing job boards as the primary outlet for sourcing candidates. According to the Aberdeen Group, 50% of companies with high retention rates decreased their investment in job boards last year. The most popular site use by recruiters is LinkedIn. The most popular tool used by job seekers to find work is Facebook. Interestingly, JobVite stated that employee retention rates skyrocket when they’re referred by other employees. After three years, 47% of referrals were still around, compared to only 14% of job board applicants, (not sure what happened here).
Interestingly, JobVite stated that employee retention rates skyrocket when they’re referred by other employees. After three years, 47% of referrals were still around, compared to only 14% of job board applicants were. As mentioned on this previously, have an employee referral system that properly rewards and encourages employee referrals.
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With so many demands on their time, many business owners find it difficult to learn enough about their insurance programs.
You’ve probably found yourself asking questions such as:
- Do I have the right coverages to protect my business from financial loss?
- Do I have any exposures to loss that aren’t covered and should be?
- Exactly what am I buying?
- Am I getting the best value for my premium dollar?
As insurance professionals, we help you answer these questions because we:
- Offer policies providing protection against a wide variety of risks that can threaten your business – everything from Accounts Receivable and Business Interruption through Employment Practices Liability and Glass Insurance to Theft coverage and Workers Compensation.
- Recommend an insurance company (from among the quality carriers that we represent) that will provide quality protection.
- Make it a point to learn how your business works so that we can pinpoint potential sources of loss.
- Design a program that minimizes the impact of these losses (incidentally, we don’t always recommend insurance).
- Provide comprehensive protect that’s tailored to your needs – and your pocketbook.
- Work with you to make sure that your coverage stays updated as your business grows.
In short, we take over one phase of your business for you, and work with you to accomplish your first goal – protecting your profits.
To help us help you make sure that your business insurance makes business sense, please feel free to get in touch with our agency’s professional at any time.
We’re here to serve.
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In one of my favorite new age books, The Alchemist, author Paulo Coelho discusses four obstacles to realizing the journey towards our Personal Legend:
- The first obstacle is resignation to failure. We’re told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. In many cases, we’re the ones telling ourselves this – and we believe it!
- The second obstacle is misunderstood love. Says Coelho, “We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream.” In a sense, we’re afraid to change because the people around us might not love us as much if we do. For example, they might view us as a threat, mirror our own inadequacies, or break away from the norm or culture. Coelho encourages us to accept that love is a stimulus; that the people who truly love us want the best for us: to be worthy of the miracle of life.
- The third obstacle is the fear of failure. According to Coelho, “We warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know that the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we might not understand how.” In my personal experience, when we follow our passions we get what we ask for – just not when or how we expect it. There is no journey without roadblocks, setbacks, and challenges. This is what strengthens us. Our character is no different than our muscles: You use it or you lose it.
- Finally, there’s the obstacle of self-sabotage. As Oscar Wilde said: “Each man kills the thing he loves.” According to Coelho, the mere possibility of getting what we want fills our souls with guilt. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be so fortunate when there are so many people in pain? Do I somehow think that I’m now better than other people because of my success?’ The ancient Greek term was hubris. When we become too full of ourselves and our accomplishments, the end is near. That’s why the journey is never about arriving, but traveling forever. Says Coelho, “I’ve known a lot of people who, when their personal calling was within their grasp, went on to commit a series of stupid mistakes and never reach their goal – when it was only a step away.” I know many of those people too.
When you think about your career, where have these obstacles shown up? Where do you have personal doubts about your ability to accomplish your Personal Legend? Who or what is attempting to hold you back from meeting these goals – or is this a story of your own making? Are you willing to accept that the journey toward success is guaranteed to come with more suffering than for those who are willing to simply be comfortable? Finally, are you willing to find joy in your success without the need to sabotage it?
Here are some Coelho quotes from The Alchemist:
- “If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”
- “There is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It’s your mission on earth.”
- “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation.”
- “The only reason why each day feels the same as the next is because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”
- “I’m an adventurer, looking for treasure.”
- “Making a decision is only the beginning of things. When you make a decision, you’re really diving into a strong current that will carry you to places you had never dreamed of when you first made the decision.”
- “When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream”
- “Every search begins with good beginner’s luck. Every search ends with the victors being tested severely.”
- “When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others about them, you are seldom believed.”
- “When something evolves, so does everything around it as well.”
- “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”
- “The world’s greatest lie is that we lose control of our own lives and must let them be controlled by fate.”
- “Be worthy of the miracle of life.”
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How can you oversee your employees’ use of company e-mails without violating their privacy?
According to a recent nationwide survey, more than 40% of businesses monitor their workers’ e-mails. If you’re one of these companies, a disgruntled employee might well sue you for invasion of privacy (the number of privacy lawsuits has skyrocketed by 3,000% during the past decade).
The best way to protect yourself against this risk is to create a written policy warning employees that you might be monitoring their use of e-mail. Bear in mind that because your business owns the e-mail system – software, network access, and computers – you have the legal right to oversee workers for misusing it to violate company policy or break the law.
The first step in implementing this policy is to have all employees sign a disclaimer that acknowledges the company’s right to monitor their e-mail. You can do this when an employee is hired, at contract renewal, or at a company meeting – and don’t forget to circulate any updates to the policy throughout the company. Apply e-mail monitoring as uniformly as possible, because singling out an individual without a clear reason to do so could leave you vulnerable to a discrimination lawsuit. Finally, be sure to have your attorney review the policy.
A comprehensive e-mail policy can:
1) provide an effective defense against invasion of privacy litigation
2) educate your employees on the proper use of e-mail – which should go far to reduce potential problems from misusing the system.
If you’d like to learn more about how to balance protecting the integrity of your company’s e-mail system with your employees’ right to privacy, please get in touch with us. As always, we’re here to help.
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Your last newsletter discussed the benefits of Building Ordinance insurance. If you’re planning to build on your property or adding to an existing structure, a related policy – Builders Risk – can protect you from losses during construction, helping make sure that you finish the project.
The amount of coverage should reflect the total value of the completed structure (including the costs of material and labor, but not the value of the land). In most cases, the construction budget will be the best source for calculating this amount.
The policy is usually written for a period three months, six months, or 12 months. If needed, the term can be extended once.
Builders Risk covers damage to the insured structure(s) from a wide variety of causes, ranging from natural disasters (wind, lightning, hail, and lightning) through accidental events (fire, explosion, or vehicle accidents) to human activities (such as theft and vandalism). Coverage usually also includes:
- Fire department service charges for saving or protecting property from a covered cause of loss.
- Removal of debris from property damaged by a covered loss.
- Losses from the backup of sewer and drains.
Most policies exclude losses from earthquake, flooding employee theft, mechanical breakdown, contract penalties, war, government action, or faulty design and workmanship. You might be able to add coverage for some of these exclusions – such as earthquakes and flooding – if the building is in an area that’s prone to one or both of these natural disasters.
Bear in mind that this policy does not provide Liability coverage for accidents or injuries on your property.
We’d be happy to tailor a comprehensive Builders Risk product that fits your needs – and budget. Just give us a call.
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