November Safety Topics 87 88 94 102
Attendance
Monday, November 1, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Should I elect to be Included or Excluded from Workers Compensation Insurance???
An owner of a construction company was working in a trench when it gave way and caved in on him. He was buried from the chest down and in critical condition. Fortunately he is alive and well. The lessons he learned through this experience are important and should be shared.
The owner did not elect work comp coverage so he turned to his health insurance provider. When he submitted the claims to his provider coverage was denied based on the fact that it was a work related injury.
This was a very unfortunate & tragic event that potentially could have been avoided with better safety procedures in place. Regardless of whether the accident could have been avoided, one thing is for sure, coverage would have been granted through workers compensation or his health care provider had he taken the necessary steps.
The question I am frequently asked when I discuss workers compensation insurance with my clients is:
Why would I as one of the owners, officers, partners, or members of the company want to pay for workers compensation insurance on myself when I would never file a claim? Besides I have health insurance. Fallacy not all health insurance policies cover job related accidents. In fact, most health insurance policies exclude them unless a special rider is put in place.
This is a topic that I would like to address as it greatly concerns me.
An owner, officer, partner, or member of a company has the option of being included or excluded from workers compensation insurance.
Question: Why would I want to exclude myself from coverage?
Answer: SAVINGS.
LLC Members, Partners, and Sole Proprietors: Are automatically excluded from the workers compensation coverage, but by written request may elect to be included. Each member, partner, and or sole proprietor that elects coverage will be rated on a stated amount of $38,064 in payroll regardless of the amount of money paid to them by the company (Utah stated payroll effective 12/01/2010).
Officers of a Corporation: Are automatically included in the workers compensation coverage, but by written request may elect to be excluded. Each officer that does not opt out of coverage is subject to a minimum payroll of $38,064 up to a maximum payroll $152,256 per officer (Utah stated payroll effective 12/01/2010). Each officer's payroll that falls in between is subject to their actual payroll.
No matter what the savings is, I recommend that all owners, officers, partners, and members of a company elect to be included in the workers compensation coverage; unless the following steps have been taken to replace it:
1. Health Insurance Policy with a rider that covers job related injuries. Again, don’t assume your health insurance policy automatically covers you for on the job injuries.
2. Disability Income Policy which will provide reimbursement for lost income from a job related injury where you are unable to resume any sort of work duties.
3. Life Insurance Policy that equals the amount of the death benefit offered through the workers compensation policy.
Contact me with any questions regarding your workers compensation policy.
Please be safe out there, don’t take shortcuts, know your insurance coverage, and remember every decision made affects not only ourselves but those around us.
By
Justin Robinson, CIC
Account Executive
The Buckner Company
The owner did not elect work comp coverage so he turned to his health insurance provider. When he submitted the claims to his provider coverage was denied based on the fact that it was a work related injury.
This was a very unfortunate & tragic event that potentially could have been avoided with better safety procedures in place. Regardless of whether the accident could have been avoided, one thing is for sure, coverage would have been granted through workers compensation or his health care provider had he taken the necessary steps.
The question I am frequently asked when I discuss workers compensation insurance with my clients is:
Why would I as one of the owners, officers, partners, or members of the company want to pay for workers compensation insurance on myself when I would never file a claim? Besides I have health insurance. Fallacy not all health insurance policies cover job related accidents. In fact, most health insurance policies exclude them unless a special rider is put in place.
This is a topic that I would like to address as it greatly concerns me.
An owner, officer, partner, or member of a company has the option of being included or excluded from workers compensation insurance.
Question: Why would I want to exclude myself from coverage?
Answer: SAVINGS.
LLC Members, Partners, and Sole Proprietors: Are automatically excluded from the workers compensation coverage, but by written request may elect to be included. Each member, partner, and or sole proprietor that elects coverage will be rated on a stated amount of $38,064 in payroll regardless of the amount of money paid to them by the company (Utah stated payroll effective 12/01/2010).
Officers of a Corporation: Are automatically included in the workers compensation coverage, but by written request may elect to be excluded. Each officer that does not opt out of coverage is subject to a minimum payroll of $38,064 up to a maximum payroll $152,256 per officer (Utah stated payroll effective 12/01/2010). Each officer's payroll that falls in between is subject to their actual payroll.
No matter what the savings is, I recommend that all owners, officers, partners, and members of a company elect to be included in the workers compensation coverage; unless the following steps have been taken to replace it:
1. Health Insurance Policy with a rider that covers job related injuries. Again, don’t assume your health insurance policy automatically covers you for on the job injuries.
2. Disability Income Policy which will provide reimbursement for lost income from a job related injury where you are unable to resume any sort of work duties.
3. Life Insurance Policy that equals the amount of the death benefit offered through the workers compensation policy.
Contact me with any questions regarding your workers compensation policy.
Please be safe out there, don’t take shortcuts, know your insurance coverage, and remember every decision made affects not only ourselves but those around us.
By
Justin Robinson, CIC
Account Executive
The Buckner Company
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
VACANCY
Are you covered if your vacant building burns down?
Commercial property insurance policies include a condition that limits or excludes coverage when a building is vacant beyond a certain period of time.
DEFINITION OF VACANCY
Building Owner-
If the insurance policy is issued to a building owner then the building is considered vacant when at least 31% of its total square footage is:
1. Not rented to a lessee or sub-lessee and used by the lessee or sub-lessee
to conduct its customary operation; and/or
2. Used by the building owner to conduct customary operations.
Tenant-
If the insurance policy is issued to a tenant, and with respect to the tenants interest in the Covered Property, building means the unit or suite rented or leased to the tenant. The building is considered vacant when the tenant does not contain enough business personal property to conduct customary operations.
VACANCY PROVISIONS
If the building where loss or damage occurs has been vacant for more than 60 consecutive days before the loss or damage occurs: The policy will not generally pay for any loss or damage caused by any of the following even if they are Covered Causes of Loss:
1. Vandalism
2. Sprinkler leakage, unless you have protected the system against freezing’
3. Building glass breakage
4. Water Damage
5. Theft or
6. Attempted theft
With Respect to the Covered Causes of Loss other than those listed above (1-6), the policy reduces the amount we word otherwise pay for the loss or damage by 15%.
EXAMPLES
1. A building owner signs rental agreements with various tenants that will ultimately occupy 40% of the building. At the time of the loss only 10% of the building is actually occupied. The building owner thinks that the building isn’t vacant because the lease agreements are in place. However; the insurance company disagrees because the tenant’s are not using the rented space to conduct customary operations.
2. ABC owns a building and occupies 35% of it to run its operations. The remaining 65% of the building is leased out the XYZ. XYZ decides to move out of the building, but left some equipment behind with intentions to pick it up at a later date. 65 days later a vandal breaks in, steals the left behind equipment of XYZ and then lights the building on fire.
Because ABC occupies more than 31% of its own building it is not considered vacant per the policy definitions. Therefore ABC’s insurance policy will afford coverage for its damaged building.
However, XYZ’s policy considers the building vacant because it no longer occupies its portion of the building and does not have enough business personal property at the premises to conduct customary business operations. Therefore XYZ has no coverage for its stolen equipment because under the vacancy provisions theft is an excluded coverage.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Justin Robinson, CIC
The Buckner Company
Commercial property insurance policies include a condition that limits or excludes coverage when a building is vacant beyond a certain period of time.
DEFINITION OF VACANCY
Building Owner-
If the insurance policy is issued to a building owner then the building is considered vacant when at least 31% of its total square footage is:
1. Not rented to a lessee or sub-lessee and used by the lessee or sub-lessee
to conduct its customary operation; and/or
2. Used by the building owner to conduct customary operations.
Tenant-
If the insurance policy is issued to a tenant, and with respect to the tenants interest in the Covered Property, building means the unit or suite rented or leased to the tenant. The building is considered vacant when the tenant does not contain enough business personal property to conduct customary operations.
VACANCY PROVISIONS
If the building where loss or damage occurs has been vacant for more than 60 consecutive days before the loss or damage occurs: The policy will not generally pay for any loss or damage caused by any of the following even if they are Covered Causes of Loss:
1. Vandalism
2. Sprinkler leakage, unless you have protected the system against freezing’
3. Building glass breakage
4. Water Damage
5. Theft or
6. Attempted theft
With Respect to the Covered Causes of Loss other than those listed above (1-6), the policy reduces the amount we word otherwise pay for the loss or damage by 15%.
EXAMPLES
1. A building owner signs rental agreements with various tenants that will ultimately occupy 40% of the building. At the time of the loss only 10% of the building is actually occupied. The building owner thinks that the building isn’t vacant because the lease agreements are in place. However; the insurance company disagrees because the tenant’s are not using the rented space to conduct customary operations.
2. ABC owns a building and occupies 35% of it to run its operations. The remaining 65% of the building is leased out the XYZ. XYZ decides to move out of the building, but left some equipment behind with intentions to pick it up at a later date. 65 days later a vandal breaks in, steals the left behind equipment of XYZ and then lights the building on fire.
Because ABC occupies more than 31% of its own building it is not considered vacant per the policy definitions. Therefore ABC’s insurance policy will afford coverage for its damaged building.
However, XYZ’s policy considers the building vacant because it no longer occupies its portion of the building and does not have enough business personal property at the premises to conduct customary business operations. Therefore XYZ has no coverage for its stolen equipment because under the vacancy provisions theft is an excluded coverage.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Justin Robinson, CIC
The Buckner Company
Monday, August 9, 2010
Digital Photocopiers Loaded With Secrets
Ignorance Is Bliss; Right?
Studies have shown that at least 60% of us out there didn’t know that our digital copiers stored information on its hard drive. I must admit that I was one of those persons. Since 2002 nearly all digital copiers stores an image of every document copy scanned or emailed. Please see the video below for the complete report.
Studies have shown that at least 60% of us out there didn’t know that our digital copiers stored information on its hard drive. I must admit that I was one of those persons. Since 2002 nearly all digital copiers stores an image of every document copy scanned or emailed. Please see the video below for the complete report.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)