Roughly 374,000 fires occur in homes across the U.S. each year, 54% of them occur in the winter. Protect your home and family from being a statistic when you create a fire emergency plan. It helps you stay safe as you recognize Child Safety Protection.
1. Discuss Fire Safety Tips
Obviously, you want to extinguish candles, cigarettes and other open flames immediately. You also need to supervise meal prep in the kitchen to ensure nothing catches on fire. However, did you know that fabric can be flammable when it lies near the heater? Teach your family to prevent these and other fire hazards.
2. Hang Smoke Detectors
To ensure everyone can safely escape a fire, place smoke detectors on every floor of your home where you can hear them day and night. Since smoke rises, place them on the ceiling or high on the walls.
3. Locate Fire Extinguishers
Fire extinguishers need to be accessible. Place one in the kitchen under the sink or in the pantry. Other smart locations include near the entrance and exit doors and at least one on each floor. Once they’re securely attached to the wall, ensure your adult and teen family members know how to use them.
4. Choose the Exits
Your home’s layout determines where you can safely exit. In each room, choose two door or window exits that assist your family in safely escaping a house fire. If you have a second story, store an escape ladder near the window, and make sure you know how to use it properly.
5. Designate an Outdoor Meeting Spot
Whether your family meets at a neighbor’s house or a tree across the street, designate an outdoor base camp. Call 911 from this spot after everyone safely escapes the fire.
6. Practice the Plan
Even the best fire emergency plan will be ineffective if your family members don’t know what to do when a fire starts. Test the fire alarms and teach your kids what they sound like. Then, practice escaping out of the nearest exit and meeting at your designated spot.
Your family’s fire emergency plan can keep you safe as you recognize Child Safety Protection Month. Additionally, talk to your insurance agent and ensure you have adequate home insurance for your house and possessions. Insurance won’t prevent fires, but it will give you peace of mind this month and year round.
Read more
The holidays are 
upon us and alcohol will be flowing at company parties throughout the land. Beware! If an employee or guest gets inebriated at a social function sponsored by your business and then injures another person, you could be held liable.
Consider this scenario: After polishing off four eggnogs in an hour at the company’s Christmas party, one of your workers toddles off to his car. The employee almost makes it home when he runs a red light and T-bones a car. The car is damaged and injures the driver. The driver then sues your business for negligence in allowing the employee to drive home although he was clearly “under the influence” at the company party.
What’s more, under state and local “social host” laws, your business might face a fine or even imprisonment for continuing to serve alcohol to an adult who is legally drunk.
Under your comprehensive general liability policy is a clause for host liquor liability. The insurance company will pick up the tab for property damage and bodily injuries, up to “each occurrence” or “general aggregate” limits for the CGL. This coverage will also pay for court costs, legal fees, and other expenses – and these payments will not apply to the limits.
Be sure not to confuse host liquor liability insurance with Liquor Liability coverage, which protects businesses that manufacture, serve, or sell alcoholic beverages (such as liquor stores, bars, and taverns) against claims for injuries caused by intoxicated customers. If you’re in one of these businesses, you’ll need both types of policy.
To learn more, feel free to get in touch with our agency at any time.
Read more
It’s the beginning of fall and apple picking season is in full effect. And the place to be is Clearview Orchards.
Organic Fuji and Gala apples are specialties of Clearview Orchards, although they also offer a number of other apple varieties.
Bring your family and your picnic basket. Once you are done enjoying a picnic on our lawn, feel free to pick your own apples. Other delicious items you can pick up at Clearview:
- Honey.
- Pumpkins (we have red, white, or pink)
- Dried lavender
- Apple cider
- Apple pops
Want a getaway? We can do that too. We offer a luxury yurt that boasts such amenities such as a queen bed, a full kitchen, sofa, and full bath with shower. The yurt is centrally located amongst lavender fields, flower gardens, avocado, and Fuji trees. An array of wildlife including deer, coyotes, raccoons, and hawks can be viewed from the yurt. This would be a perfect getaway for you and your partner looking for a romantic country getaway.
What: Clearview Orchards for picnicking and apple picking
Where: 646 Trabing Road in Watsonville
When: Saturday and Sundays from 10:00 am-5:00 pm through Sunday, October 26th.
Cost: $2 a pound for apples
Who: Everyone!
Content provided by Transformer Marketing.
Sources: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3111208?s=QpQT and http://www.clearvieworchards.com/index.html
Read more
Are you looking for something to do and a way to break out of your comfort zone? Look no further than Specialized Aviation.
Specialized Aviation offers a multitude of tours that you can choose from including wine tasting tours, coastal tours, and air charters. Take a look:
Coastal Tours
Leaving from Watsonville Airport this charter offers four tours to choose from. Head up the Santa Cruz coast line. Want to venture further out? You can also choose from the Big Sur Coast, Carmel Coast, or an airplane charter. Pricing ranges from $99/per person to $299/per person and runs from 20-60 minutes. You will enjoy breathtaking views that you normally would not be able to see anywhere else.
Wine Tasting Tours
This tour is like no other. Head up in the helicopter and enjoy. The wineries that we tour include Wrath Winery, Talbott Winery, Heller estate tour, or the Scheid Vineyard. Pricing ranges from $350/per person-$475/per person.
Air charters can range from $700-$995/per hour and can host up to 4 passengers.
The next time you are looking for something fun to do and you are ready to do something unexpected, contact Specialized Aviation.
Specialized Aviation also offers training on helicopters and airplanes. Go on and live life!
Content provided by Transformer Marketing.
Source: http://www.specializedheli.com/
Read more
The modern world prides itself on advances in technology and progress. Two impactful transformations are the automobile and mobile phones – the cellular phone appeared decades after the first vehicle. Today, those two inventions cross paths as the demand for constant communication leads to cellphones being utilized in the car for speaking, texting, social updates, email and more. The question worth exploring is are these uses a necessity or a driving distraction?
Fully grasping this question, it’s worth agreeing that driving requires attention for optimum safety. That being said, even without technological devices accidents still occurred. The fact that attention is diverted is not a valid reason for labeling phones a distraction. On the flip side, many raise that mobile communication while driving is a business necessity and the benefits outweigh those accidents caused by phones. This also cannot be entirely relied upon, because there are many who use phones on the road without any real importance. A different perspective can shed light on this topic.
Clearly, each point on both sides can be countered. That being said, the stronger more emotional pitch is that phones are distractive and the driver’s shift of attention is the direct cause of accidents, outweighing any business necessity. Looking at this issue differently reveals a similar result for a different reason. It’s that mobile phones are a necessity and driving can be distractive to important communications that demand full attention. Drivers should take into account the obvious, that phones distract attention from driving, but the business addict arguing necessity should recognize that one cannot fully focus on the conference call, email, or text when the brain is balancing the coordination and attention to the road. The balance can be having the access to phones while adhering to local laws and bowing to the fact that necessary communications and driving are both derailed by the combination of mobile phones and cars – just not a winning pair.
Content provided by Transformer Marketing.
Read more
Owning a home is a lot of responsibility and with that comes great reward too. Many love the sense of security home ownership offers as well as the financial benefits of maintaining an asset over the long term. However, there are many headaches and challenges that potentially can arise with owning a property – there’s no landlord to call. Many homeowners carry an insurance policy to protect their assets if an unfortunate event occurs – water damage, broken pipe, structural damage, fire, or other unforeseen circumstances. This has become common knowledge, but are personal belongings and valuable collections also covered?
At the basics, a homeowners policy is in place to reimburse owners for damages caused to the property and belongings in that property. For example, if a home has a small electrical fire, in which the smoke caused terrible damage to the walls and furniture. The likelihood is that repainting and cleaning expenses are covered under the policy, in addition to structural repairs. A home guards valued possessions and even prized collections. What protects those collections if water damage destroys an art collection, gun collection, or other valuables? Is a homeowners policy enough to protection? The answer is, no. When a collection grows past a basic threshold, typically $1,000, the items must be listed in a separately purchased rider for the collection.
The situation of improper insurance coverage typically occurs because homeowners set it and forget it. This means that the policy is purchased at the time the home is purchased and year after year the same policy is renewed. Having a policy is better than no policy, the problem is that the home evolves, assets grow and the original policy becomes outdated. This is why it is vital to have an insurance agent periodically review your policy. Having a professional evaluate a homeowners current state of affairs is the best way to prevent unfortunates scenarios of improper coverage.
Content provided by Transformer Marketing.
Read more
