Developing a Small Business Disaster Recovery Plan

Article from www.iii.org website

Businesses that are forced to close down following a disaster run the risk of never being able to open their doors again. While there’s no way to lower the risk of a natural disaster like a hurricane, there are critical measures that can be taken to protect your company’s bottom line from nature’s fury. A disaster plan and adequate insurance are keys to recovery.

Develop a Disaster Recovery Plan

No matter how small or large a business, a business impact analysis should be developed to identify what an operation must do to protect itself in the face of a natural disaster. Large corporations often hire risk managers to handle this task and some companies hire consultants with expertise in disaster planning and recovery to assist them with their plans. But small businesses can do the analysis and planning on their own.

STEPS FOR DEVELOPING A BUSINESS RECOVERY PLAN 

• Set up an emergency response plan and train employees how to carry it out. Make sure employees know whom to notify about the disaster and what measures to take to preserve life and limit property losses.
• Write out each step of the plan and assign responsibilities to employees in clear and simple language. Practice the procedures set out in the emergency response plan with regular, scheduled drills.
• Compile a list of important phone numbers and addresses.Make sure you can get in touch with key people after the disaster. The list should include local and state emergency management agencies, major clients, contractors, suppliers, realtors, financial institutions, insurance agents and insurance company claim representatives.
• Decide on a communications strategy to prevent loss of customers. Post notices outside your premises; contact clients by phone, email or regular mail; place a notice in local newspapers.
• Consider the things you may need initially during the emergency. Do you need a back-up source of power? Do you have a back-up communications system?
• Human Resources. Protect employees and customers from injury on the premises. Consider the possible impact a disaster will have on your employees’ ability to return to work and how customers can return to your shop or receive goods or services.
• Physical Resources. Inspect your business’ plant(s) and assess the impact a disaster would have on facilities. Make sure your plans conform to local building code requirements.
• Business Community. Even if your business escapes a disaster, there is still a risk that it could suffer significant losses due to the inability of suppliers to deliver goods or services or a reduction in customers. Businesses should communicate with their suppliers and markets (especially if they are selling to a business as a supplier) about their disaster preparedness and recovery plans, so that everyone is prepared.
• Protect Your Building. If you own the structure that houses your business, integrate disaster protection for the building as well as the contents into your plan. Consider the financial impact if your business shuts down as a result of a disaster. What would be the impact for a day, a week or an entire revenue period?
• Keep Duplicate Records. Back-up computerized data files regularly and store them off-premises. Keep copies of important records and documents in a safe deposit box and make sure they’re up-to-date.
• Identify critical business activities and the resources needed to support them. If you cannot afford to shut down your operations, even temporarily, determine what you require to run the business at another location.
• Find alternative facilities, equipment and supplies, and locate qualified contractors. Consider a reciprocity agreement with another business. Try to get an advance commitment from at least one contractor to respond to your needs.
• Protect computer systems and data. Data storage firms offer offsite backups of computer data that can be updated regularly via high-speed modem or through the Internet. 

REVIEW YOUR INSURANCE PLAN

Make sure you have sufficient coverage to pay for the indirect costs of the disaster—the disruption to your business—as well as the cost of repair or rebuilding. Most policies do not cover flood or earthquake damage and you may need to buy separate insurance for these perils. Be sure you understand your policy deductibles and limits.

New additions or improvements should also be reflected in your policy. This includes construction improvement to a property and the addition...

Read More at www.iii.org

5 ways to prepare your business for tornado season...

Thursday, April 04, 2013 via Secura Insurance 

Peak tornado season runs from mid-spring through early summer and, if a tornado strikes near your business, you need to react quickly. That’s why it’s crucial to develop a severe weather plan and safe areas for your employees. Follow these steps to get your company and employees ready for storm season:

1. Determine how much space you’ll require. You should have enough safe areas to fit all employees and any guests who may be in the building at the time of a tornado. Use the following guidelines from FEMA for how much space you need:

  •  Occupants (standing and seated): 5 square feet per person
  •  Wheelchair users: 10 square feet per person

2. Walk through your building to identify the safest areas. The basement typically is best. If your building doesn’t have a basement, select an area on the lowest level. Ideally, this space should be a small interior room or corridor. Avoid areas with windows and rooms with high ceilings or outside walls — these are more likely to be damaged during a storm.

3. Assess the exterior of the building. Look for trees, poles, and other items that could fall or hit the building. Don’t choose safe areas near these hazards.

4. Hold tornado drills often. Employees in all parts of the building should know where to go and practice the paths to get there.

5. Monitor the weather. A tornado watch means conditions are right for a tornado and there is a high probability of one in the surrounding area. A tornado warning means a tornado has been sighted in your county, or one is moving toward your area. It also could signify that weather radar indicates a high probability of a tornado.

Someone in your building should have access to a weather radio to listen for severe weather alerts. They also should monitor local radar information if a watch or warning has been issued and provide alerts and/or directions to employees.

For more information, visit www.disastersafety.org/tornado/protecting-employees or www.ready.gov/tornadoes.

Labels: Protect your business, Safety tips

Please 

Reduce Work Comp costs with a proactive approach to treating injuries

hursday, January 31, 2013 from Secura Insurance

When injuries happen on the job, they can turn into expensive claims, ultimately driving an employer’s Work Comp insurance premiums higher. There are, however, ways to keep costs in check. The key is taking action before non-emergency work injuries become insurance claims.

Value-added features offered by select insurance companies, such as SECURA’s Nurse Hotline, connect employees hurt on the job with registered nurses via a 24-hour phone line. The goal of the service is to provide workers with immediate answers to the best way to treat their non-emergency injuries. These minor strains, sprains, and such respond well to simple treatments. That means no visit to the ER or a battery of expensive diagnostic tests.

The rewards of Nurse Hotline extend to both employers and employees.

Benefits to the employer

• Reduced claims. Many injuries reported to the hotline can be
  treated simply with self-care methods. That translates into no
  hospital visit and no claim.
• Reduced costs. When claims are reduced in both number and
  size, premiums typically follow. 
• Reduced lost time. When injuries are treated immediately, workers stay at work or return to work sooner.
• Expert guidance. Highly skilled medical professionals are providing answers. No more supervisor judgment
  calls or overtreating injuries.

Benefits to the employee

• Instant care. Injured employees get sound medical guidance immediately.
• No stress. A skilled independent medical professional advises employees on treatment.
• A true benefit. Employees will see such a hotline as an extension of the benefits package a company offers.

A proactive approach focusing on early assessment of work injuries can have a significant impact on reducing a company’s insurance claims. However, in order to reap the benefits, organizations must be partnered with insurance providers that offer them access to these value-added features, and employees must use them.

For more information about the benefits of Nurse Hotline, view a short video.

Labels: Meet SECURA, Protect your business

Tips to make sure your bird is fully cooked

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

“My mother is such a lousy cook that Thanksgiving at her house is a time of sorrow.” – Comedian, Rita Rudner

Yup, the pressure is truly on for cooks of a Thanksgiving feast. Guests might overlook the poorly executed sweet potatoes. They might even hold off on panning the over-seasoned, soggy stuffing.

But cook that bird wrong and your dinner table will deflate faster than the Snoopy balloon after the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. However, with some careful planning and following of the tips below, you’ll ensure your bird is safely roasted.

•  First things first. Make sure your turkey is thawed before cooking. If thawing in a refrigerator, allow 24 hours for each 4 to 5 pounds. That means a 12- to 16-pound bird will need three to four days to completely thaw.

•  Heat it up. Set your oven temperature for 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

•  165 is the target. Use a meat thermometer to remove any guesswork. The turkey needs to reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees, which means a cook time of roughly three to four hours for a 12- to 16-pound bird.

•  Leave it unstuffed. While many stuff their birds, it’s recommended that stuffing be cooked in a separate casserole dish. If you do stuff the turkey, it will require additional cooking time. 

•  Know your variables. Among the variables that can impact cook times are the accuracy of the oven; whether the bird is stuffed or not; if the cook pan is dark or shiny (dark roasting pans cook faster). An oven-cooking bag also can accelerate the cook time.

For additional safety tips about cooking your Thanksgiving turkey, download a PDF from the U.S. Department of Agriculture here.

Check out more at Secura website 

NSC 2012: Preventing Serious Injuries and Fatalities

If occupational injury rates are on a downward trend, that’s good news, right? Well, yes and no – while minor and less severe injuries may be on the decline, serious and fatal injuries are not following suit. According to Colin Duncan, CEO of BST, a company that helps organizations improve their workplace safety performance, EHS professionals must start looking at fatalities and serious injuries differently.

“When we see a statistic that workplace fatalities are not going down at the rate that injuries are, we need to understand why,” Duncan said during the Oct. 23 occupational keynote at the National Safety Council (NSC) Congress and Expo in Orlando, Fla. “We need to accept that the things that lead to serious injuries and fatalities are not necessarily the same things we’ll see for non-serious injuries and fatalities.”

Last year, BST released a white paper suggesting that reducing minor injuries and illnesses may not translate to a reduced potential for fatalities or serious injuries. Duncan followed up on that research during his presentation at NSC, where he encouraged EHS professionals to focus the underlying causes and influencing factors that specifically surround serious incidents and fatalities.

To continue reading more please click here

JP Morgan's Tom Lee Has 10 Reasons Why You Should Get Bullish On Housing

Last week, JP Morgan's equity research team led by Tom Lee published a big 80-page report arguing that the U.S. is in the early stages of an up-cycle.

Lee included 10 reasons to support his argument:

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/jp-morgans-tom-lee-10-reasons-bullish-housing-2012-9#ixzz25h28UhIl

Work Comp Claims Reporting Made Easy

Taking the proper steps in your organization to ensure prompt reporting of all workers compensation claims is essential to helping control your claim costs. As an employer, there are several things you can do to ensure documentation and reporting of a claim goes smoothly.

Reporting requirements
The Division of Workers' Compensation requires that "an employer or its insurer report the injury, other than an injury that requires immediate first aid and no further medical treatment or lost time from work, to them within 30 days after knowledge of the injury. Employers have to report all injuries to their insurance carrier within five days of the date of injury or within five days of the date on which the injury was reported to the employer by the employee, whichever is later."

Missouri Employers Mutual encourages our policyholders to report all injuries, even if it only required immediate first aid. Reporting minor injuries allows for two benefits. First, when a claim is reported to us, we report it to the Division of Workers’ Compensation which establishes the beginning of the statute of limitations on the claim. Second, if the minor injury ends up requiring further medical treatment or lost time becomes a factor, the claim is already in the system and can be assigned quickly to a claims representative for handling.

Train management and staff on claim documentationThe proper documentation makes all the difference in successfully reporting a claim. Train your supervisors and managers about what documentation is needed when an employee reports a work-related injury. Start the process with basic but crucial questions including, were there any witnesses? If so, have the witnesses document exactly what they saw or heard and have them sign their statement. It is also very important to have the injured employee recount, in their own words, exactly what occurred and have them sign the document.

Documentation makes it easy to gather incident information including the date and time the injury occurred, where and how it occurred, the severity of the injury, and body part(s) injured.

Review personnel files annuallyAlong with the incident details, you will also be required to report some personal information on the injured employee. The information is required, so it is very important to keep all of your personnel files up to date. When reviewing personnel files you should ask yourself, do you have the employee's legal name, date of birth, social security number and home address? If you do not require employees to update their information when they move, marry, etc., you may not have up-to-date records. The employee’s hire date is also important for reporting and should prompt you to verify if they have had a recent promotion that resulted in a job title or salary change. If your company does not have a formal process for keeping personnel records up-to-date, we suggest that you implement one.

Although a lot of information is needed for reporting a claim, the process doesn’t have to be complicated.  Put an injury reporting procedure in place that includes documentation of all work-related injuries (both major and minor), training supervisors and managers on the documentation and reporting requirements, and keeping your personnel files updated. For more information about reporting and managing injuries, check out the injury management tutorial on WorkSAFE Center and our prompt reporting video on YouTube.

Give one of our Agents a call 800-392-0423 or click here to email us.