Major snow events can impact the integrity of a structure, making it imperative for commercial property owners to understand their building’s characteristics and structural system prior to the start of the snow season. Having familiarity with the building structure can help owners determine if any changes occurred during a major snow event and if repairs are necessary.

Business interruptions can occur after an anticipated or unanticipated event that delays or disrupts a business’s normal operations. Natural disasters, fires, cyberattacks or the loss of a critical supplier can halt operations for an extended period of time, leading to a cash-flow imbalance that could force a business to close for good.

As an employer, safety is your responsibility, and it’s important to identify workplace hazards and instill safe employee habits to ensure corrections remain permanent. One way to accomplish this is through behavioral observation, as it can help identify unsafe acts and conditions within a workplace, giving employers insight into potentially dangerous work habits.

As Hurricane Ian approaches the western coast of Florida, forecasts warn of a potentially life-threatening storm surge, destructive winds, heavy rain, flooding and possible tornadoes. Weather experts expect Ian to make landfall between Tampa Bay and Cape Coral late Wednesday, Sept. 28, into the early morning hours of Thursday, Sept. 29.

This past year has seen growing inflation concerns, impacting individuals and industries across the board. The commercial insurance market is no exception to these concerns. Similar to other goods and services, inflation can also elevate the cost of insurance. In the scope of workers’ compensation coverage, inflation issues have become increasingly evident through various sector trends—including labor shifts, rising wages, higher medical expenses and rate adequacy challenges.

The second quarter of 2022 marked the 19th consecutive quarter of commercial price increases, with brokers reporting continued easing in the market and average price increases of 6.1% across all lines of business, according to The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers’ (CIAB) latest quarterly survey.

While repetitive motion injuries (RMIs) are common among athletes, these injuries can occur in the workplace. Also known as repetitive stress injuries or cumulative trauma disorders, RMIs impact a broad range of occupations, including jobs that require heavy lifting and stationary office roles. RMIs occur when continuous physical stress from daily tasks damages nerves, tendons or muscles quicker than the body can heal from such stress.

Hailstorms can be swift and destructive, damaging buildings, outdoor equipment and vehicles in a matter of minutes. For commercial property owners, such damage can result in destroyed property, costly repairs, business disruptions and lost revenue. This article discusses the risks hail poses to commercial properties and preventive measures to protect buildings from hail damage.

Three separate downpours across three states from July 25th to August 1st destroyed homes and businesses, killed crops and left at least 39 people dead. Each of these downpours was a one-in-a-thousand historic rainfall event, prompting climate experts to warn that the frequency and intensity of these storms are increasing.

According to a recent analysis from S&P Global Ratings (S&P), the cyber insurance sector needs “clear and precise policy wording” to build a sustainable market and encourage contract certainty for buyers and insurers. The cyber coverage segment has grown faster than any other subsector of the insurance market, reaching $9.2 billion in global premiums in 2021.

Any host employer (HE) that utilizes temporary workers (TWs) through a staffing company (SC) may be opening themselves up to safety and health challenges. When done haphazardly, these nonstandard short- and long-term work arrangements can threaten the safety and health of the workforce and the company. According to OSHA, the HE and the SC are joint employers of TWs, meaning they are both responsible for providing and maintaining a safe work environment for these workers.

Temporary workers (TWs) employed by a host employer (HE) through a staffing company (SC) can create unique occupational safety and health concerns. Since the work arrangements for TWs tend to be nonstandard short- and long-term agreements, it is the responsibility of both the HE and SC to ensure the TW is properly trained on all aspects of their work and task assignments.

When purchasing or renewing their commercial property insurance, it’s vital for businesses to ensure such coverage includes correct property valuations. Doing so can make all the difference in providing sufficient protection and preventing coinsurance penalties amid covered property losses. That’s where conducting accurate insurance-to-value (ITV) calculations comes into play. Generally speaking, ITV refers to an approximation of the full cost to replace or restore insured property.

Fewer ransomware victims paid to retrieve access to their systems, and the median ransom payment dropped 51% in the second quarter of 2022, according to a recent report from Coveware. Though the median payment dropped to $36,360, the average ransom payment increased 8% to $228,125, boosted by a few outliers. However, the improvement in the median payment reflected threat actors’ shifts toward less risky, lower-profile targets, and the average remains below a fourth quarter 2021 high of over $300,000.

On July 26, the Biden administration launched Heat.gov—a new website through the National Integrated Heat Health Information System web portal—to provide the public and decision-makers with information to understand and reduce health risks related to extreme heat. This one-stop hub contains clear, timely and science-based data to “equip local officials and the public with robust and accessible information,” according to a White House press release.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) recently scheduled this year’s Brake Safety Week for Aug. 21-27, 2022. This annual event emphasizes the importance of ensuring sufficient brake systems in commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). Specifically, the event highlights the role that brake maintenance and efficiency plays in reducing brake-related CMV accidents on the road.

Legislation surrounding the gig economy, single-payer health insurance and marijuana legalization all have the potential to impact the U.S. workers’ compensation system, according to a National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) report. Digital platforms such as Uber ushered in a modern gig economy and renewed public discourse on worker classification.

Motor vehicle deaths in the United States continue to rise, with early estimates for 2021 indicating an 18% increase since 2019 despite similar miles driven, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Specifically, the CDC recently reported that motor vehicle deaths rose by 6.8% between 2019 (36,355 fatalities) and 2020 (38,824 fatalities). This trend occurred despite an 11% decrease in vehicle miles traveled over the same period.

Twenty-two workers have already been killed due to deadly trenching and excavation hazards in 2022—representing a 68% increase from the entirety of 2021. In response, OSHA launched enhanced enforcement initiatives to protect workers from known industry hazards. Doug Parker, the assistant secretary for OSHA, stated that all 22 deaths could have been prevented if employers had complied with the agency’s safety standards.

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) maintains the Known Exploited Vulnerability (KEV) catalog to help organizations better manage and mitigate cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The agency encourages organizations to utilize the KEV catalog—the authoritative list of vulnerabilities that have been exploited—to keep pace with threat activity and remediate the listed vulnerabilities to reduce the likelihood of compromise by known threat actors.