R&R Insurance Blog

Believe it or not, OSHA doesn't require that an accident investigation be performed after an an accident in the workplace. But we highly suggest that an accident investigation take place in your workplace.

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(need more info from John on this one - reasons why...

As buildings age and change ownership, they can be used to house many different types of businesses over the course of ownership. Very often, the building's sprinkler system was designed for one particular process and therefore may not be adequate for the current manufacturing process.

For example one building that used to house a sheet metal fabricator could today be housing a plastics manufacturer. These two types of manufacturers require two different applications of sprinkler systems. A sprinkler system designed for a sheet metal fabricator is significantly different than a sprinkler system designed for a plastics manufacturer.

Risk Management Specialist John Brengosz explains the three key aspects of a properly sprinklered building.

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Infared scans of your electrical systems can determine hot spots in your electrical panels - sure to be a high risk of causing an electrical fire in your commercial business. Infared scans can detect heat levels in your electrical system and warm/hot spots that are sure indicators of a system overload.

Regular testing is one way to ensure that your electrical systems are adequate to handle the capacity your business needs today. Relying on yesterday's capacity can be risky. John Brengosz, Risk Management Specialist explains more about infared electrical scanning.

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Electrical fires are the #1 cause of property damage in commercial buildings. Regardless of the age of your building, keeping on top of regular maintenance checks for the electrical system, the heating and cooling system and the roof will ensure that you not only keep your property safe, but also keep your property insurance costs down.

Loss Control Specialist John Brengosz explains why underwriters need to see regular updating and maintenance of building systems.

Contact a knowledgebroker for any additional information on insuring your Wisconsin business with R&R Insurance.

Many people think that if you’ve seen one sprinkler system, you’ve seen them all! While this may appear to be the case, these systems are highly engineered and should be designed specifically for what you are doing in your building. Here are some key points about sprinkler protection and why this issue could be costing you a lot of property premium dollars.

What was your sprinkler system originally designed for?
Sprinkler systems are supposed to be designed to put out a density of water that has been proven to control a fire. Do you need the same density to control a fire in a metal working shop as you do in a plastics warehouse? NO!!! The National Fire Protection Association has done a great deal of research to find out what sprinkler designs protect a given building occupancy. The process starts with a sprinkler contractor knowing what will be done in a particular building.

Problems arise when people move out of a building and a new tenant or owner comes in.
Other problems occur from a building owner or tenant doing something in the building that they weren’t doing when the sprinkler contractor originally designed their sprinkler system. The result? Your sprinkler system may not be able to control a fire in your building!

Why should I care about this?
First and most importantly, you should care because your entire facility may be at risk for a fire loss. The beauty of properly designed sprinkler systems is that fire is controlled in a relatively small area with minimized damage. If your sprinkler system design is inadequate, you may be looking at a total loss of the building and all its contents. You may be covered from an insurance standpoint, but is this something you want your company to go through?

Secondly, most insurance companies use preferred rates for those facilities rated as "sprinklered". If your system has an inadequate sprinkler system, you could be getting charged the same rate as a building having no sprinkler system at all. To get the sprinklered property rates you deserve, you can figure out an approximate pay back period for work needed to upgrade your sprinkler system.

Any Wisconsin business needing more information on property insurance, sprinkler requirements or any other casualty insurance information contact a knowledgebroker. 800-566-7007

“It doesn’t help to close the door after the horse is out of the barn”.

Have you heard the expression? There is a parallel in Workers’ Compensation. Our Takeaway #8 discussed the importance of prompt reporting of injuries.

Your opportunity to remain in control of the situation is at the moment of reporting. This is when you explain your process for handling the workers compensation claim.

Employers have one chance to explain the process. If that is missed, then the employee is in control.

For more information please contact the knowledgebrokers.

THE FIRST CONVERSATION

Have you heard the expression "It doesn’t help to close the door after the horse is out of the barn?" There is a parallel in Workers’ Compensation. Take Away #8 discussed prompt reporting of injuries. When the injured worker does report it is critical that someone explain the process.

Employers have one chance to explain the process. If that is missed, then the employee is in control.

R&R provides tools to our clients to assure the First Conversation takes place.

TOOLS

The First Conversation is simple in content but needs structure in place to make it happen.

R&R has developed several tools to assist clients.

1. It starts with policy development. R&R has sample policy language.

2. Training of key personnel on the policy and their role in implementing the policy

3. Tools such as WC Claim Kits and wallet cards the either explain the process or prompt a conversation about the process.

4. Measurement via claim reviews to verify if the process is working.

Contact the knowledgebrokers for more information

Get the Most Bang for Your Buck!

There are most likely dozens of areas you could focus your efforts on regarding creating a safer work environment. We suggest picking those items that can actually make a difference on your bottom line.

Pick the items that have caused an injury.

Use your OSHA logs, loss runs and first aide logs to determine where your high impact item concentration should be. Logic would say that if an unsafe act has caused an injury, changing or fixing that specific behavior would have a huge impact.

Accident Investigation is key to understanding and changing the behavior.

Accident investigation done properly has to impact your injuries because it’s done following an injury.

For more information contact the knowledgebrokers.

The Loss Control Visit

It is time for your renewal and a carrier loss control rep is about to pay a visit. The loss control visit is a time for you to sell your company to the underwriter. You have their attention. Here’s how to make sure your visit gets off to the right start.

For more information please contact your knowledgebroker

Remember – if your loss history is currently up and down as in our example, you can change that history and become more predictable.

Contact a knowledgebroker for more information