R&R Insurance Blog

Are you protecting the life insurance needs of your children? Sometimes people overlook the need for life insurance for children or grandchildren. This is not to be thought of as morbid, rather we are thinking about future insurability. What about later in life - what if your child were to have a health condition? Buying life insurance could protect their future.

Life insurance for children is also very affordable!
*Note the below table reflects 2012 rates for an annual premium per $1,000 of coverage

Please visit our website for more information on Life Insurance coverages. 

Wisconsin residents can click here for a free life insurance quote.

According to OSHA, the importance of recordkeeping is a critical part in employer's safety and health efforts for a few reasons:

1. Keeping track of work-related injuries and illnesses can help you prevent them in the future.
2. Using injury and illness data helps identify problem areas. The more you know, the better you can identify and correct hazardous workplace conditions.
3. You can better administer company safety and health programs with accurate records.
4. As employee awareness about injuries, illnesses, and hazards in the workplace improves, workers are more likely to follow safe work practices and report workplace hazards. OSHA compliance officers can rely on the data to help them properly identify and focus on injuries and illnesses in a particular area. The agency also asks about 80,000 establishments each year to report the data directly to OSHA, which uses the information as part of its site-specific inspection targeting program. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also uses injury and illness records as the source data for the Annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses that shows safety and health trends nationwide and industrywide.

To help guide you through OSHA recordkeeping, R&R Insurance provides a complimentary guide to the OSHA 300 Log.

Additional OSHA 300 Log resources:

• The effects of over recording in the OSHA 300 log
• What is the OSHA 300 Log and why do I need to comply?
• Public sector employers are NOT exempt from OSHA reporting

Email our knowledgebroker OSHA expert John Brengosz for additional information.

The Highway Loss Data Institute put together a list of stolen vehicles based on insurance claims for model years between 2008 and 2010. You may be shocked to find that eight of the most stolen vehicles were SUVs or trucks (which also are the most dangerous vehicle for teen drivers)!

Watch a demonstration of how easily it could happen.

1. Cadillac Escalade

2. Ford F-250

3. Chevrolet Silverado 1500

4. Ford F4-450

5. GMC Sierra 1500

6. Chrysler 300

7. Ford F-250

8. Chevrolet Avalanche 1500

9. GMC Yukon

10. Chrsyler 300 Hemi

 Things to remember:

• Park your car in secured parking areas where the vehicle is guarded.
• Always take your keys out of the ignition and bring them with you.
• The longer it takes to steal a car the less likely a thief will take the time to steal it; therefore, consider parallel parking?
• Consider installing an anti-theft device because it will alarm and it will take the thief more time to disbale it.

 Wisconsin residents, learn more about how R&R Insurance can keep your vehicle safe.

As summer heats up, so does the risk of heat-related illnesses.  It is critical to allow the body to gradually adjust to higher temperatures.  Excessive exposure to a hot environment can bring about a variety of heat-related health problems and illnesses.  With the increase in heat-related health problems, so too increases the frequency of accidents.

Amerisafe provides a list of possible heat-related illnesses and tips on what employers can do to keep their employees safe.

Find more information on how R&R Insurance can help keep employees safe in the workplace.

In the blink of an eye your life can be turned upside down by unforeseen events and things can change your life forever.  Today, more than ever, umbrella policies are a way to further protect yourself from those unforeseen circumstances.  Umbrella policies provide a minimum $1 million in additional liability coverage and can also provide some extra peace of mind for events that may seem unbearable.

These stories illustrate how an umbrella policy can protect you:  

• A 65-to-70-year-old couple was traveling home after a holiday weekend, driving in two vehicles, one following the other. A few hours into the trip on a two-lane rural highway, the wife crossed the centerline in the vehicle she was driving and struck another vehicle head-on. She died at the scene. The other driver was a married mother of one who died nine days later. Witnesses were not able to explain why the woman crossed the centerline, and unfortunately, lab samples that may have indicated a medical condition were lost.

The injured woman incurred $250,000 in medical expenses and never regained consciousness. She was employed at the time of her death and her family would no longer benefit from her income.

The couple had $300,000 single limits on their primary policy and a $1 million umbrella which provided some financial security for the husband after losing his wife.

• A business owner was transporting equipment with a semi and trailer on a two-lane rural highway, following a string of vehicles. A truck directly ahead of the business owner suddenly slowed for a left-turning vehicle ahead. The vehicle in front of the truck had already swerved onto the shoulder and stopped to avoid striking the turning vehicle. The business owner veered into the oncoming lane to avoid hitting those in front of him; this caused another collision in which a person was seriously injured and became permanently disabled.

The business owner had $1 million single limits, with a $5 million umbrella. Imagine the value of this claim. Imagine the stress the business owner was going through after this accident. Consider the extra sense of security he had with additional coverage provided by his umbrella policy.

Unfortunately, accidents like these happen every day. People who don’t have the extra coverage an umbrella policy provides also don’t have the peace of mind it provides. They risk losing assets they worked for their entire lives. People who have umbrella policies, and more importantly, have used them, understand the cost is worth every penny.

Learn more about how R&R Insurance can help provide the coverage you need.

The use of vehicles in a company or organization is an activity which can generate losses in all four categories: property, human resources, liability, and net income. Risk managers have long recognized the importance of well-designed and properly implemented fleet safety programs.

In 2008, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 37,261 motor vehicle fatalities and almost 2.5 million injuries in the United States, generation a combined economic toll of more than $231 billion dollars. According to the US Department of Labor, occupational fatalities associated with highway incidents in 2008 totaled 1,149 – about one in four of all occupational fatalities.

Most fleet safety programs include:

• Driver qualification training
• Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) review
• Vehicle inspection and maintenance
• Accident reporting and investigation

While most driver qualification criteria can depend on types of vehicles, passengers, cargo, distances travelled, and federal regulations, it is common for organizations to go beyond the basic state licensing. For example, organizations may elect to impose minimum requirements for age and experience of drivers.

Training drivers in defensive driving techniques and other fleet safety topics is accomplished through classroom instruction, online programming, behind-the-wheel coaching, or any combination.

MVR review is critical in the instance that a plaintiff’s attorney could try to make a case that the employer was negligent by not checking the MVR thus not taking public safety in to consideration. Regular evaluation of MVRs is a standard component of fleet safety programs. For MVR review to be successful, employers must consider exactly what records will be evaluated, and how they will guide employment and driving assignment decisions. The entire process can be outsourced to companies that provide background screening services for new and existing employees. The approach can be useful for organizations with employees from different stats since the MVR must be separately obtained from each. A pull-notice system allows employers to provide a list of their drivers to the stat for placement in to a computerized monitoring system that automatically notifies the employer by email when one of their drivers receives a citation or suspension – whether on the job or not.

Vehicle inspections and maintenance is another key component to the safety program. If it can be proven that a fleet owner delayed important safety issues such as tire replacement or brake repair, the argument can again be made of negligence on behalf of the employer. Keep accurate records to prove work has been done – particularly important for fleets spread across many departments.

Global positioning systems (GPS) installed in vehicles now provide fleet owners with many useful tools to not only manage vehicle utilization, but also operational safety. These systems can measure and communicate the exact location and vehicle speed on a real-time basis. For organizations that must maximize efficiencies to survive, and control speeding and other misuse of their vehicles, the use of GPS technology to monitor the actions of employees behind the wheel becomes an important tool to complement the fleet safety program. Additional technology is the use of ignition interlock devices (IIDs) for use of drivers convicted of a DUI.

One the most significant new challenges for fleet safety programs is managing the use of mobile devices on the road: the use of cell phone and other portable devices for talking, texting, email, social networking, and navigation. This is most commonplace among young drivers and increases the risk of an accident by 23 times. It is easy to prove that a driver was texting at the time of an accident due to the precise time stamp assigned to every message. These distractions must be considered and addressed in every company’s’ fleet safety policy. Employee productivity (and perhaps compensation) is directly connected to them being connected while on the road. Every fleet owner must evaluate the communication needs of their drivers, and devise policies that manage the risk appropriately within the context of conducting business.

Every fleet owner must evaluate the communication needs of their drivers and devise policies that manage the risk appropriately within the context of conducting business. Fleet owners have the task of developing and implementing fleet safety programs that comply with applicable laws and recognize the changes brought about by new technology. Successful risk managers will tailor programs to meet the specific needs of their industry.

As a general rule, if an employee is terminated for cause, the obligation to pay workers compensation benefits continues. Similar to a layoff or the employer's inability to provide light duty work, a termination is viewed in much the same way. The injured worker is still considered to be restricted in the general labor market due to injury, until he or she reaches maximum medical improvement, or is released to return to work without restrictions.

See Brakebush Brothers Inc and Employers Insurance of Wausau vs LIRC 1997

However, in recent years, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development has expanded their scope of potential situations where benefits may be suspended as the result of termination.

Here are a few exceptions:

1. The employee's employment with the employer has been suspended or terminated due to the employee's violation of the employer's policy concerning employee drug use during the period when the employee could return to a restricted type of work during the healing period. Compensation for temporary disability may be denied only if prior to the date of injury the employer's policy concerning employee drug use established in writing and regularly enforced by the employer.
2. The employee's employment with the employer has been suspended or terminated due to the employee's alleged commission of a crime, the circumstances of which are substantially related to that employment, and the employee has been charged with the commission of that crime. If the employee is not found guilty of the crime, compensation for temporary disability shall be payable in full.
3. The employee has been convicted of a crime, is incarcerated, and is not available to return to a restricted type of work during the healing period.

The exceptions listed above all make good sense as it relates to benefit cessation. Without those exceptions, the employer's insurance carrier is obligated to continue benefits. This certainly makes good sense as you could create a moral hazard whereby an employer terminates a work simply to circumvent the payment of benefits.

A study recently conducted by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) provides further proof of the emerging costs related to obesity in the workplace. Not only does it impact health insurance costs, but obesity has also been linked to higher workers compensation claims.

The article provides further proof that proactive wellness programs in the workplace are more important than ever. Manufacturers are already finding it extremely difficult to find skilled employees to fill vacant positions, particularly as one generation of skilled employees nears retirement age - as noted in the Manpower Group survey.

Given all of those factors, it's more important than ever to keep your current employees healthy, active, on the job and contributing their valuable knowledge to the organization. At R&R Insurance, we combine our extensive knowledge of how to reduce workers compensation claims with workplace wellness concepts to drive further reductions in insurance premiums that will positively affect the bottom line.

At R&R, we are seeing more and more small businesses in Wisconsin having serious discussions about the link between obesity and workplace injury. On top of that – when you factor in wellness programs that will increase the health and longevity of employees and their families – small businesses can have a lot control over their health insurance costs and the productivity of their employees - control that they don't know they have. At R&R Insurance, we call this program WellCompForLife! Join the WellCompForLife discussion on LinkedIn!

Wisconsin businesses, for more information about workers compensation, wellness or any property casualty and employee benefits issues, contact knowledgebroker Mike Payne.

Related articles:

Obese Workers Have 50% More Work Comp Claims