The Reschini Blog - Page 15 of 15

Watch Those Assumptions

Understanding Excess vs. Umbrella Coverage

Umbrella

By Kitti Peters, The Reschini Group

Assumptions can be tricky. You really need to slow down, look at the situation, and make sure you fully understand all the signals before taking action. Otherwise, you could be facing a problem down the road.

Even things that would appear on the surface to be so obvious, so apparent, so unmistakable, can turn out to be the very things that trip you up later.

A great example of the dangers of assuming? Appreciating the difference between “excess” and “umbrella” insurance coverage. They may sound synonymous – and it’s easy to make that mistake, as many people do at first blush – but important differences, in fact, exist.

The danger arises in getting caught with a policy that’s restrictive, meaning you may not have the protection you assumed.

In its most general definition, an “umbrella” policy can extend to coverage that includes general liability, automobile, and employees – but it is not automatically all-encompassing. Again, generally speaking, an “excess” policy provides additional coverage to specified areas of exposure.

Each option has its own specific features and benefits, its own limitations and guidelines. But worse than possibly simply misunderstanding what each coverage option provides, acting on this faulty assumption could prove costly should an event require such a policy to become engaged. In other words, you may not be as well covered as you thought, because the rules of engagement are not necessarily as simple as they might sound.

Assuming the difference between “umbrella” and “excess” coverage may, at first glance, sound logical, but never assume. Be sure. Let the experts at The Reschini Group help you make the best choice for your particular situation, so that you have the broadest possible coverage necessary.

The Reschini Group provides these updates for information only. To make decisions regarding insurance matters, please consult directly with a licensed insurance professional or firm.

Easy Money

Establishing A Workplace Safety Committee

By Mike Drew, The Reschini Group

“Click here for a free vase,” the florist’s website declares.

“Refer a friend and get a free month’s rental,” advertises the storage shed provider.

“Buy one-get one free,” the supermarket tells its customers.

Found money. Available money. Easy money, in all instances.

The same holds true for oil and gas companies – any company, actually – that establish a

easy money

workplace safety committee. When this simple step gets taken, it yields a 5% discount on Workers Compensation coverage.

For such a straightforward decision, the savings can be significant. Few businesses today can afford to pass on any available savings. A 5% discount means dollars saved that can be used elsewhere, as needs determine.

Establishing a new workplace safety committee can be done quickly and easily. The same can be said for companies who had once had a committee in place, and who want to reinstitute and reconstitute one now.

These committees are a proven and effective way to promote safe practices in the workplace. They can increase awareness, boost enthusiasm, and provide employee ownership of safety and health while reducing accidents. The creation of a workplace safety committee, and its ongoing performance, represents a win-win for both employers and employees.

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, in its Workplace Safety Committee Technical Assistance Manual, validated this when it stated, “Effective workplace safety committees are a proven tool in reducing workplace injuries and illnesses, as well as producing significant savings for employees.”

The Reschini Group and its Safety Consultants, trained at the Safety Sciences Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, stands apart from other insurance brokers and providers by offering advice and counsel to all clients on establishing workplace safety committees. Contact us to learn more.

The 5% discount on Workers Compensation coverage would be reason enough. Easy money, yours for the taking. But the greater – and much more meaningful – savings can be realized in ensuring a higher standard of safety and health for all employees.

The Reschini Group provides these updates for information only. To make decisions regarding insurance matters, please consult directly with a licensed insurance professional or firm.

Crying Over Spilled Milk

The Importance of Commercial Auto Coverage

By The Reschini Group

Milk. Nature’s perfect food, they told us. Pure and pasteurized, smooth and silky, nothing could be safer or more benevolent, right? Not necessarily.

Things change when accidents happen. Be sure your coverages are adequate.

Say a refrigerated tanker, transporting thousands of gallons of milk, loses control, tips over an embankment and ruptures, spilling that truckload of milk into a nearby stream. At that point, our old friend milk officially becomes a pollutant. It has gone somewhere it’s not supposed to be.

While that may sound like an extreme example, it is nonetheless absolutely accurate. Those same standards apply to trucks carrying materials not nearly as harmless as milk, too. In the oil and gas industry, for example, that could include any waste materials or supplies required for drilling, and scores of other liquids and solids hauled by ground transportation.

Should materials somehow enter waterways or seep into groundwater tables from accidents and spills, pollution coverage – officially tagged as an Auto Pollution Broadening Endorsement – must be in place for the company transporting those materials. The Auto Pollution Broadening Endorsement provides safeguards and the financial support to satisfy reclamation costs and other expenses resulting from such incidents.

And here’s the kicker – if a company does not have this coverage, all of those costs may have to be covered out of pocket, potentially making a very sizeable dent in bottom-line financial performance.

It’s a simple fix. Adding the Auto Pollution Broadening Endorsement now is a quick, low-cost way to avoid a lot of pain later. The Reschini Group can help take care of this right now, so contact us to learn more.

Then you can relax with a nice cold glass of milk.

The Reschini Group provides these updates for information only. To make decisions regarding insurance matters, please consult directly with a licensed insurance professional or firm.

Context is King

The Effect of Lagging Indicators on Coverage

By Mike Drew, The Reschini Group

Understanding the context in workers' compensation issues can make all the difference. — Understanding the context in workers’ compensation issues can make all the difference.

Is the quarterback resourceful – or reckless?

Is the candidate truthful – or tactless?

Is the businessperson poised – or preening?

It all depends on the context.

The same can be said for the effect of safety-related lagging indicators, two in particular – Experience Modification Rate (EMR) and Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) – that can have significant effects on insurance rates, and even on the ability of contractors to secure work, primarily in the oil and gas industry.

EMR helps to determine workers’ compensation premiums for businesses. A mathematical formula calculates an annual rate, and premiums can go up or down depending on the company’s claims experience. By learning how to monitor company processes, some additional control may be gained over those workers’ compensation expenses. TRIR is a measurement used by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to record safety-related incidents across an organization.

While these measurements represent responsible accountability metrics, with safety remaining a top priority for companies and their employees, occasionally the impact on premiums can outpace the actual significance of safety-related events. A single incident in a TRIR calculation, for example, can knock a company out of the running for contract bid submittals for years.

Say an employee suffers a minor accident while on the job. After receiving prompt treatment at a hospital, he is medically cleared to return to work that same day and does so. But because this event technically qualifies as a recordable incident, his company experiences some very real and negative financial ramifications.

In other words, the episode gets taken out of context. The “punishment” can easily exceed the “crime.”

Yet here’s the hard truth of the matter. The rules are the rules. EMR and TRIR rates cannot be changed. Safety incidents can and should be explained within the proper context, so that future work engagements can still be sought without penalty and so that premiums can remain reasonable.

At The Reschini Group, our in-house safety consultants bring a fuller understanding and context to safety documentation. Our expertise in safety practices, covering both pre- and post-accident conditions, can explain and detail the proper context, so that a minor occurrence doesn’t need to turn into a major problem.

The Reschini Group provides these updates for information only. To make decisions regarding insurance matters, please consult directly with a licensed insurance professional or firm.