R&R Insurance Blog

The Internal Revenue Service released final guidance for small employers eligible to claim the new small business health care tax credit for the 2010 tax year. This includes a one-page form and instructions small employers will use to claim the credit for the 2010 tax year.

New Form 8941, Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums, and newly revised Form 990-T are now available on IRS.gov. The IRS also posted on its website the instructions to Form 8941 and Notice 2010-82 , both of which are designed to help small employers correctly figure and claim the credit.

More information about the credit, including a step-by-step guide to claiming the credit and answers to frequently asked questions, is available on the Affordable Care Act page on IRS.gov.

Dan Larsen, Coordinator of Facilities and Operations with West Allis-West Milwaukee School District wrote a synopsis of playground safety January issue of the WSSCA (Wisconsin School Safety Association) that is worth your read. He also offers a few valuable links to assist with your playground safety efforts.

This ties in nicely with the upcoming Playground Safety Seminar offered through Liberty Mutual Group and Indiana Insurance. The April seminar, held in Madison, WI, is taught by certified playground safety inspectors and is free for principals, facility managers, maintenance directors and others responsible for ensuring playground safety.

Contact a School Practice Group Knowledge Broker to sign up for the seminar! It's free!

R&R Insurance Services is committed to providing our customers with the highest level of service and support. We take the safeguarding of our customers' personal information very seriously. Your privacy will always be a priority at R&R Insurance Services. Because of this, R&R has a company-wide policy to use encryption software when sending any email that contains personal, identifiable information.

Encrypting an email message that contains personal or non-public, identifiable information about our customers, their family members or employees greatly diminishes the risk of that information being intercepted by third parties. We are confident that it is in the best interest of our customers to take appropriate measures to protect their information from potential identify thieves.

R&R Insurance uses RPost, an email encryption service to handle our encryption needs.

RPost's Secu(R)mail encrypted email services are effective for electronic delivery and execution of documents required or regulated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA"). RPost also preserves data integrity by legally verifying that precisely what was sent is what was received by the other side. To view an encrypted message, the recipient needs only to open the message, click on the attachment and enter a password.

Should you have any questions regarding our encryption policy or our corporate privacy policy, contact Julie Liebelt.

Property owners and residents should be aware of the weight loads heavy storms may create, especially on flat roofs.

How to Protect Your Roof From Collapse
Schools, churches, office buildings, restaurants, casinos, gas stations commercial buildings and residential buildings - both homes and apartment buildings, as well as carports and awnings can be affected. Owners and residents of flat roof buildings in particular are urged to be aware of the possible snow load danger. Be aware that the threat from heavy snow weight will remain for some time after the storm ends because cold temperatures won’t allow much melting to occur.

Take the following precautions to protect life and property:

• Don’t put untrained individuals on roofs to clear snow. Falls from roofs and possible exposure to electrical wires while on the roof are serious hazards.
• Inspect roofs for leaks or structural deficiencies that may develop during the storm.
• Make certain gutters, drains and downspouts are clear of ice and debris.
• Clear snow and ice away from exhaust vents that go through exterior walls.
• Clear decks of snow to reduce stress on them.
• Watch for falling snow and ice from roofs.

After the storm:

• Clear areas around downspouts so that water from melting snow has a path to flow away from the house or building.
• Remove snow from side walls to prevent high snow mounds from pushing them in.
• Temporarily shore up and brace dipping or sagging roofs or walls.
• Improper operation of doors or windows, deflection of ceiling finishes or exposed beams, roof leaks or sprinkler heads moved from their normal positions could be signs of roof failure.

If you have suffered storm damage to your property, make sure that there is no danger to anyone nearby, and then contact your insurance agent immediately. Wisconsin residents and businesses can contact a knowledge broker at 800-566-7007 for details on how to protect and insure your property and avoid roof collapse during snow storms.

If you have questions about your building’s condition, contact a structural engineer or your local building official for an assessment of the conditions.

This material does not purport to address every possible legal obligation, hazard, code violation, loss potential or exception to good practice. It should not be construed as indicating the existence or availability of any insurance coverage. Portions of this information provided by Hanover Insurance.

Ken Balda, President of Quality Truck Care Center of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, describes how R&R's claims management process saved his company from what could have been a very large claim...

"For our garage package renewal last year we chose to go with R&R Insurance Services who represented American Hardware Mutual. Mike Obertin and Bill Katzfey put together the proposal and presented us with a solid package that appeared to best suit our needs. When I made my decision and spoke to Mike Obertin, I told him the most important thing for me was for them and the company to be there if, and when, a big claim were to happen. Well; their test came in short order when a substantial claim arose. R&R brought in one of their experts, Jerry Aman, to handle this difficult claim and he was able to work with the insurance companies involved to resolve the claim for us."

"Being in business has many risks and as business owners we tend to buy our insurance based on what we hear at the proposal and the price we are willing to pay. The people at R&R insurance services have shown me what a leading agency can do to better protect my business. I had not experienced a team of professionals coming together to partner with me and work so hard to protect us. The people at R&R are true professionals and I highly recommend them and would be open to sharing my experience. When you get a chance to receive a proposal from them it may be one of your better business opportunities; it was for me and my company. " - Ken J. Balda

This is a fantastic quick read from Kenneth S Trump posted on District Administration in September, 2010. One of particular interest for us - being a trusted advisor for so many schools in Wisconsin - the comment about non-traditional partners. Your insurance agency should most definitely be a part of these conversations. At R&R Insurance we have an in-house resource center dedicated to improving safety as well as connections with external resources that our district clients utilize - our clients are right on track with this!

From Kenneth Trump's article:
School budgets are tight, but there are still many things school leaders can do to keep schools safe.

1) The five-minute safety rule. Take five minutes at every faculty meeting to discuss one topic from your school's safety or crisis plan.

2) Diversify drills. Conduct lockdown drills during nontraditional times such as lunch periods, during student arrival, and just prior to dismissal. Block exits (unannounced) during fire drills to teach students and staff to think on their feet. Lock down one section of your school while evacuating another area during the same drill.

3) Engage students. Draw students into school safety plans through student-leader group discussions, poster contests and increasing awareness of drills. Train students not to open exterior doors for strangers during the school day.

4) Reach out to nontraditional partners. Work with your county emergency management agency (EMA) to update crisis plans, participate in drills with first-responders, and collaborate on joint applications for security grants.

5) Hold mini-tabletop exercises. Build abbreviated tabletop scenarios into faculty meetings and district wide principal meetings several times during each school year.

6) Conduct safety roundtables. Add an agenda item to district principal meetings.

Contact Bill Hattendorf - R&R's School Practice Group Leader about your school district today!

Did you know that on February 1st, companies that employ more than 10 people will be required to post an OSHA 300A form? What is that? Is your company required to do this? How do you do it? What goes on the 300 log? Learn more about the OSHA 300 Log...

Want to know more about the OSHA 300 Log? Join our free webinar - 2 sessions available before the OSHA deadline of February 1st!

OSHA 300 Log - Free Webinar from R&R Insurance:

Both webinars run 10:00am - 11:00am CST

December 14, 2010

January 20, 2011

Cybercrime is real and it's only a question of time before your business feels its effect. Any business that accepts credit card payments, utilizes social networking, has a web site, stores personal information on its employees, conducts business on the internet or is using technology to conduct and advance their business is at risk. This risk can be significant and is most likely uninsured.

In an article published by Rueters news service on March 24, 2010, Inside a Global Cybercrime Ring, they tell the story of Innovative Marketing Ukraine. This company employed hundreds of computer geeks, most of them putting themselves through college, crammed into three floors of an office building churning out code at a frenzied pace. They were creating some of the world’s most pernicious and profitable computer viruses. In a rare victory in the battle against cybercrime, the company closed down last year after the US Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit seeking its disbandment in US federal court. However, it is estimated that in 2008 Innovative Marketing had revenues of $180 million selling programs in two dozen countries.

Being a victim of a security breach will take most businesses by surprise. In fact, most small to medium size businesses convince themselves that they will fall under the radar of cyber criminals. The reality is that most are at a greater risk since they usually lack the resources and finances to implement and maintain adequate security measures. They are also frequently lax when it comes to enforcing security protocols within their organization. Having a disaster plan to respond to a breach is rare but may be one of the most important policies for a business to have readily available.

Responding to a security breach can be expensive and may, in fact, drive some businesses to the brink of bankruptcy. Unbudgeted and unforeseen expenses will include the forensic expense to determine the cause and scope of the breach, notification expenses, credit monitoring, call centers, identity restoration and public relations.

Do not expect traditional property and liability policies to respond to cyber losses either to your business or to your customers. Losses of this type were not anticipated at the time these policies were drafted and therefore are not covered under either the definition of property or cause of loss. Many insurers are specifically excluding cyber losses so that it is clear that the insurance company will not respond to these claims.

Here are 5 tips you could do for your business right now to reduce your risk of being a victim of cybercrime:

1. Develop a security policy and communicate/educate users on your security policy
2. Implement sound password and encryption
3. Utilize security software and conduct penetration tests
4. Develop a network breach disaster plan
5. Ensure that you have the proper insurance coverage to protect you in case of a security breech

As part of a risk evaluation at R&R insurance we will work with your organization to assess your risk and design an insurance program to address the exposures of your business operations. The insurance industry has approximately 200 different policy forms available to protect businesses. It is important to understand your risk and how your insurance carrier will respond on your behalf when cyber criminals strike. Contact a knowledgebroker today!

In the United States, the law requiring contract surety bonds on federal construction projects is known as the Miller Act. This law requires a contractor on a federal project to post two bonds: a performance bond and a labor and material payment bond.

What’s important to know is that the threshold at which these bonds are required has recently been changed. Here is an excerpt from the July/August issue of The NASBP Pipeline, one of our Bond news sources:

Federal Miller Act Increases to $150,000 effective October 1, 2010

As noted in the Federal Register that was issued Monday, August 30, 2010, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Councils have instituted the Consumer Price Index increase to the Federal Miller Act that will be effective October 1, 2010. This raises the current threshold for all payment and performance bonds when agencies acquire federal construction contracts from $100,000 to $150,000.

There are varying limits for State and Local Bond requirements. If you have any questions about this change or any other Bond related issue, please contact our Bond Specialists at 262-502-3829 or email Jay Zahn at Jay.Zahn@rrins.com.

Effective August 1, 2010, Employer Notification is available to employers of regular Class D drivers. Employers may enroll any employee whose employment responsibilities include the operation of any motor vehicle. Wisconsin Statutes 343.245 authorizes this program.

Employer Notification allows participants to create and maintain their own roster of employed drivers in PARS. The program will identify any enrolled employee with recent activity on their driving record and allow the purchase of a current driver record abstract.

More information can be found on Wisconsin's DOT website.