Category: Insurance Coverage

While pawn shops do need general liability coverage and other coverage options common to other businesses, they also have unique needs because of the way they operate in the secondary market for goods. Between valuable collectibles and useful items like electronics and tools, pawn shops are often used as a place to get quick cash by criminals, and failure to spot and report likely theft can cause a shop to incur liability. That is why your shop needs great pawn shop insurance on top of its great business policies and documentation procedures.

Protection for Common Classes of Goods

Pawn shops often sell goods like motorcycles and RVs or even vehicles that involve a title transfer, as well as goods like firearms that can be inherently risky to own and operate. That is why the right pawn shop insurance program is vital. You need to be sure you are covered in the event of damage to goods while they are under pawn, before the shop owns them outright, as well as protection against liability and protection for your inventory. It’s a lot to take care of if it is split into separate policies, and that is why there are dedicated programs for pawn shops.

Insuring a single piece of property is usually not a very complicated endeavor. However, you may be someone who has seen a lot of luck in your life. If you were born into a wealthy family and have used this advantage to accrue properties, then you may need to consider additional insurance options in order to find the perfect fit for your needs. To see success in this regard, take a step back and look for the right fit for your needs. 

Learning About Private Client Insurance

One of the easiest ways to feel as if you are covering all of your bases with insurance is by selecting a policy that accurately reflects your needs. For some, this will mean reviewing private client insurance in Florida. With this type of coverage, you have the opportunity to cover many residences at the same time. What’s more, you can find coverage for high-value investments that might not fall under traditional coverage. Advantages that come along with this type of insurance can include coverage for:

• Collections of a higher value
• Vehicles of the luxury designation
• Second and vacation homes

Reviewing the Ins and Outs of Coverage

When it comes to finding appropriate insurance for your needs, there are many different points to consider. Take time to look over the options that are available to you and see how easy it is to stay protected no matter what is in store.

Every business that owns a vehicle needs insurance built around the way it is used, but not every business needs fleet insurance. Even some companies with multiple vehicles find individual commercial vehicle policies cover each of them efficiently. There comes a point, though, where economies of scale catch up and an upgrade to a commercial fleet insurance policy becomes a good idea.

• When you have a pool of vehicles that need multi-state liability coverage
• Companies that own several vehicles doing the same kind of work and needing the same kinds of coverage
• If your fleet needs additional perks like roadside assistance coverage even across different vehicle types and purposes
• Any time your fleet is large enough to have complex insurance needs that could benefit from the extra streamlining a fleet policy delivers

These are hardly the only scenarios where a commercial fleet policy is a good solution, but they are some very common examples. The best way to learn more about how your business could benefit from fleet insurance is to find a program you like and solicit a detailed quote.

Picking the Right Fleet Insurance Program

Experience is key when it comes to picking the right professionals to work with. The more established a vehicle insurance program and the more experienced its representatives are in the industry, the more they are capable of anticipating the complex needs of today’s commercial vehicle fleets. Keep that in mind as you shop for a new commercial fleet insurance policy.

There are many hazards on the open sea. Transporting jewelry is similar to transporting other goods, and the journey faces similar problems that other products face. For this reason, it is important to have jewelers block insurance. Here are a few issues a transporter of precious metals and gems might face.

Pirates

For as long as there have been ships at sea, there have been pirates. Years ago, they may have carried swords and cannons, but today, they carry GPS blockers and automatic rifles. Pirates might steal precious cargo such as gold, diamonds, platinum, and any other kind of jewelry. For this reason, it is important to have jewelers’ block insurance.

Storms

No matter how securely the cargo is attached to the ship, a storm can wash it overboard. Shipping containers may not always be waterproof, and salt water can damage the appearance of pearls, silver, and ornate adornments. An insurance policy can cover the cost of cleaning these treasures.

Fires

A fire at sea can be caused by a malfunctioning engine or a storm that shifts automobiles in transport, resulting in gasoline fires. When this happens, jewelry and metals can be melted and destroyed. The cost of this disaster can be in the millions, and for this reason, it is important to be protected.

Jewelers’ block can protect shippers in case their cargo is damaged or destroyed in any number of ways.

When it comes to running a business, there are countless headaches that can come along for one reason or another. Though there are many perks to operating your own brand, you need to be mindful of certain factors in order to protect your assets and see the continued success you’re after. To achieve this and keep your frustrations to a minimum, you need to dedicate time and effort to picking out the most sensible insurance coverage.

Find Insurance With Help from Professionals

One of the best ways to find insurance policies that meets your needs is by understanding the ins and outs of the industry. There are many terms you are likely to hear when researching your options. If you’re not sure what a soft insurance market is or how it can impact your decision, then you should consider working closely with an agent. Experts can explain the jargon and point you in the direction of policies that accurately reflect your exposures. Policy options to consider can include:

• Workers’ compensation
• Directors and officers liability
• Errors and omissions coverage

Research Your Options

Though it can seem like a daunting task at times, picking the right insurance is a necessary part of running a business. Find the perfect fit for your needs by reaching out to the experts and gaining some insight.

Every industry faces risks, but water treatment plants have inherent threats that put employees and the company in danger. Gases released from organic materials during decomposition create serious health dangers, and they may even cause explosions if safety protocols are not in place. Furthermore, treatment plants use dangerous chemicals during treatment processes. Each facility needs risk assessment water treatment plant. Specific steps to reduce risks protect assets and employee health.

Hazard Education

Employees at wastewater plants need education and regular reminders about potential dangers in the facility. Teach employees to recognize hazards during normal operations, and set up protocols for reporting dangers to management. Employees also need education and refresher courses on how to perform dangerous tasks. This includes tutorials on any special safety equipment required.

Physical Limits

If an employee cannot perform a specific task due to a physical limitation, that employee should not be forced to do it. There should be an open channel between management and workers to ensure employee safety and the following of best practices for hazard control.

Enforcement

Safety policies must be enforced for everyone at the facility, from employees to management. Immediate enforcement of safety protocols must be enforced should violations occur.

Water treatment facilities have many risks, but specific actions can reduce dangers and help keep employees safe. An insurance specialist can offer suggestions for risk assessment and mitigation.

As a property and casualty insurance agent, your clients rely on you to sell insurance products that protect them against a variety of damages. If you fail or misrepresent your products, you could face damages yourself without an errors & and omissions policy.

Here are common claims that you should have E&O for P&C agents.

Misrepresentation About a Product

What you need to understand about misrepresentation is that it is not always intentional. While lying about the features or benefits is considered misrepresentation, many carriers do not do it intentionally. For instance, you may misstate how a product works, leading to misconceptions about your client’s benefits.

Failure to Procure Insurance

About one in five of all claims against P&C agents occurs due to a failure to procure coverage. If you do not diligently shop for coverage, competently quote, sell or install solutions or do a thorough analysis of your client’s risks, you may be unable to provide insurance.

Failure to Identify Exposures

A part of ensuring that your client has adequate coverage is determining what the client’s risk exposures are. If you fail to identify exposure and your client suffers a property loss that he or she should have had coverage for, the client can file a claim against you.

Mistakes can happen in any industry. When your clients rely on you to provide adequate coverage, you cannot afford errors without having coverage for yourself.

Your business has general liability insurance and if you offer benefits you likely have employee benefits liability coverage as well. Businesses often ask agents to compare employee benefits liability vs fiduciary liability and wonder why they might need both. One of the answers is hidden in the details of The Employee Retirement Income Security Act, ERISA.

What Does ERISA Say?

ERISA specifically calls out the fiduciary responsibilities of anyone or any entity “who exercise discretionary control or authority over plan management or plan assets…[or] responsibility for the administration of a plan.” That means that all these parties: the business itself, the HR employees helping with benefits, even financial advisors who guide investment strategy for retirement funds can all be held personally liable when mistakes are made on benefits.

What Does It Mean For Your Business?

This clause is important because your EBL coverage won’t cover claims under ERISA. If a claim is made of breach of fiduciary responsibility your business is on the hook. This is a common scenario when a claim isn’t paid correctly which can happen for any number of reasons. Your legal costs are often covered under the EBL policy, but won’t pay settlements that arise from a breach of ERISA.

Claims because of denial of coverage are on the rise and only fiduciary liability insurance coverage will assure your business is protected.

Hiring new employees is a painstaking process. One of the many screening methods employers use are pre-employment physicals prior to the start of work. This can be helpful, especially to a company’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier. Here are the three ways mandating these physicals for new hires can help businesses.

Identify Pre-Existing Injuries

Injuries on the job are costly. Not only is there lost productivity associated with such incidents, but there is also the expense of accompanying workers’ compensation payments to consider. Identifying preexisting conditions for employees is a helpful way to know what was already present before the employee began working.

Shield the Company From Lawsuit

Knowing what health conditions an employee is facing will also help shield the company from lawsuits. For instance, if the employee has early stages of a disease like cancer that can be linked to a product the business makes or uses, it could be falsely attributed to the worker’s employment at the company.

Prevent Employee Turnover

It’s helpful to know if a new employee is physically capable of performing the work before the first day on the job. Rather than waste time and resources training an employee who will leave soon after, employers can instead rescind their offers and move on to the next qualified candidate.

Hiring new workers is costly and time consuming. Thoroughly pre-screening employees helps to make the process more fruitful.

The web of companies tied together through HIPAA coverage is increasingly opaque and complex. You could certainly ask every entity downstream of your medical practice to give you the right to approve their subcontractors or simply shut your practice off from outside access, but neither of these options is realistic.

Why You Need HIPAA Coverage

With the move to centralized health records on the cloud, coupled with the rise in cybercrime, your patient records are at risk no matter how many BAAs you sign. HIPAA insurance as part of your professional liability insurance is the coverage that can keep your practice afloat despite a breach.

What HIPAA Insurance Covers

When you discover a breach of PHI or it is reported to you by one of your contractors you have a limited time in which to respond. You will have to contact everyone who could potentially be affected by the breach. You may have even agreed in your BAA to provide credit monitoring for anyone affected by a breach.

Beyond these costs, you could be liable for fines and penalties issued by the OCR. HIPAA coverage can pay for all or most of these costs.

Don’t consider a HIPAA breach as an “if” but a “when” and protect your business finances accordingly.