The ongoing labor shortage affecting the construction industry is leading to increasing exposure for contractors due to a number of risks.
Working short-staffed or with employees new to construction can lead to increased workplace injuries, which in turn can result in higher workers’ compensation premiums. It can also result in shoddy work that needs to be redone at the expense of the contractor, or construction defect lawsuits further down the line.
The net seasonally adjusted national construction unemployment rate hit 3.4% in September 2022, down from 4.5% in the same month a year prior, according to an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data by Associated Builders and Contractors.
In February 2022, ABC estimated that the construction industry needed nearly 650,000 additional workers on top of the normal pace of hiring in 2022 to meet the demand for labor.
Contractors that aren’t operating with a full crew have to contend with the following:
Workplace safety
Studies have found that experienced workers are less likely to suffer workplace accidents than those who are new to the job.
When you add to the mix inexperienced workers, who are not as familiar with safety protocols, the potential for a workplace incident increases exponentially.
Inexperienced employees are also less likely to notice dangerous work practices or safety issues. Being new, they may also be loath to speak up even if they see a problem or are unsure.
They can also be a danger to the public if they are on worksites that are near sidewalks or heavily trafficked areas. A stray beam or other equipment that injures a third party can result in legal action.
Additionally, with a fully staffed worksite, workers and supervisors are better able to identify safety issues that may result in a workplace injury and ensure they are corrected. Key safety practices — such as using a spotter in confined spaces or ensuring that a trench is reviewed for safety by a competent person — may also suffer.
Finally, contractors that are not operating at full capacity may pressure employees to get more done in less time and/or work overtime. That can lead to workers cutting corners and working faster than is safe to get the job done.
Quality and defects
Construction quality can also suffer when a contractor isn’t fully staffed for its workload, especially in projects that are highly repetitive, such as multifamily construction.
If a worker without enough experience or training misunderstands what needs to be done, they can repeat a mistake over and over again.
As mentioned above, overworked employees may cut corners, which can lead to defective workmanship.
When workers make mistakes, particularly if they repeat the error again and again, it can lead to:
Tearing out their work and redoing it — Depending on the extent of other work that’s done on top of the improperly done work, that can be a small job or a major one that entails ripping out other materials.
Construction defects — Some mistakes may not be readily apparent, particularly if they are behind walls, under roofs or in areas that are not visible. Those may manifest themselves months or years after a project is completed. Once discovered, the client may file a construction defect claim against the contractor whose employees performed the shoddy work.
What you should do
While getting staffing levels up to meet your demand may be difficult, you should strive to ensure that all new workers are properly trained in how to do their jobs, and in particular how to perform their job safely.
Besides being able to safely do their jobs, they should be trained about other hazards on the job site, including watching out for moving equipment or material and knowing when to ask for assistance of someone to observe their work in hazardous situations.
Before each shift, you should hold a quick safety meeting as well as a longer tailgate-style meeting on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Even experienced workers need to refresh their safety knowledge, so all of your workforce should be in attendance.
Finally, besides your mandatory workers’ compensation coverage, you should make sure that you have in place construction liability insurance. This common liability coverage protects your business if it’s held responsible for events like property damage, bodily injury or defective work.
If you would like to speak with us call Gary Wallach at 914-806-5853 or click here to email or click here to visit our website.
BGES Group’soffice, located in Larchmont, NY is a full service insurance agency offering, Property, Liability, Umbrella Liability, Business Auto, Bid & Performance Bonds, Inland Marine, Worker’s Compensation, Workers Compensation Premium Recovery, New York State Disability, Group Health, Life insurance, Personal lines and Identity Theft.
Special Contractor Insurance Programs (NY, NJ, CT)– We we have 50+ insurance companies to market your general liability, umbrella liability, business auto, workers compensation, bid & performance bonds and group health coverages. We help contractors set up proper risk transfer. If you’re a contractor we offer extensive information about insurance markets, coverages, risk transfer, subcontractor screening, ways to lower your insurance costs.
BGES Group are Worker’s Compensation Specialists for the States of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut– Issues we address: 1) Lowering pricing – we have specialty programs that can save you up to 40%; 2) Finding a new company; 3) Replacing policies that are being cancelled or non renewed; 4) Audit disputes; 5) Company creating fictitious payroll at audit time; 6) Lowering high experience modifications factors; 7) Misclassification of payrolls; 8) Lowering or eliminating renewal deposits; 9) Getting coverage when you’ve been without for a few months; 10) Covering multiple states under one policy; 11) Eliminating 10% service or policy fees; 12) Timely issuance of certificates; 13) Always being able to get someone on the phone or by email when you need to.
If you would like to speak with us call Gary Wallach at 914-806-5853 or click here to email or click here to visit our website.
Company: BGES Group, 216A Larchmont Acres West, Larchmont, NY 10538
Businesses have learned a painful lesson over the last three years. An emergency can shut them down with little or no warning. Revenue can evaporate overnight, leaving them grasping to somehow continue operating, cover their ongoing bills and pay employees so they won’t leave.
Property insurance will pay for repairing or replacing damaged buildings and equipment after a fire or hurricane. It will not, however, make up for lost revenue or increased expenses to minimize the business’s downtime.
If an organization suffers property damage from a cause that the policy covers, such as a fire, and it is forced to reduce operations or shut down, business income coverage will reimburse it for the net profit it would have earned during the shutdown, plus necessary ongoing expenses.
The payment will be up to the amount of insurance purchased. The insurance covers the period from 72 hours after the loss occurred to the date that operations should resume with reasonable speed.
The policy may include an additional coverage called “extended business income.” This recognizes that, after a business resumes operations, revenue may not get back to its previous level right away. An extra 30 days’ coverage is standard, but that can be increased.
Extra expense coverage pays some of the increased costs the business may incur to minimize the length of the shutdown. This might include the unexpected purchase of computers and network equipment so that employees can work remotely while the office is repaired, for example.
To see how these coverages might work, imagine a small college that suffers extensive fire damage to two dormitories and an academic building. The displaced students will not pay room and board for living spaces they can’t use.
Students majoring in subjects taught in the damaged building may be forced to transfer (for example, physical science students who cannot access the building where they do labs). Here’s how the different coverages would play out:
Business income coverage — This would help offset the lost room and board revenue and tuition refunds to students who withdraw.
Extended business income coverage — This can help tide the school over until the student census returns to normal levels.
Extra expense coverage — This may cover the cost of quickly setting up remote learning arrangements and renting space from another college for the displaced science students to continue their lab work.
Virtually every kind of commercial enterprise that operates out of a central location needs these coverages. Some examples:
Farms to cover the extra expense of storing harvested crops elsewhere after damage to their storage buildings.
Restaurants would need extended business income insurance until their regular patrons get back into the habit of dining there after reopening.
Manufacturers, particularly if they would take a long period of time to replace production equipment after an event, would need extended business income insurance.
Theaters and concert halls to replace lost ticket sales.
Hotels to cover lost ability to offer rooms to customers.
The takeaway
With the uncertainty spawned by the sudden shutdowns after the COVID-19 pandemic started, companies are aware that even one such stoppage can cause their revenues to dry up.
Having business income and extra expense coverage can make the difference between reopening after a disaster or shutting down for good. If you want to know more about this coverage, give us a call.
If you would like to speak with us call Gary Wallach at 914-806-5853 or click here to email or click here to visit our website.
BGES Group’soffice, located in Larchmont, NY is a full service insurance agency offering, Property, Liability, Umbrella Liability, Business Auto, Bid & Performance Bonds, Inland Marine, Worker’s Compensation, Workers Compensation Premium Recovery, New York State Disability, Group Health, Life insurance, Personal lines and Identity Theft.
Special Contractor Insurance Programs (NY, NJ, CT)– We we have 50+ insurance companies to market your general liability, umbrella liability, business auto, workers compensation, bid & performance bonds and group health coverages. We help contractors set up proper risk transfer. If you’re a contractor we offer extensive information about insurance markets, coverages, risk transfer, subcontractor screening, ways to lower your insurance costs.
BGES Group are Worker’s Compensation Specialists for the States of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut– Issues we address: 1) Lowering pricing – we have specialty programs that can save you up to 40%; 2) Finding a new company; 3) Replacing policies that are being cancelled or non renewed; 4) Audit disputes; 5) Company creating fictitious payroll at audit time; 6) Lowering high experience modifications factors; 7) Misclassification of payrolls; 8) Lowering or eliminating renewal deposits; 9) Getting coverage when you’ve been without for a few months; 10) Covering multiple states under one policy; 11) Eliminating 10% service or policy fees; 12) Timely issuance of certificates; 13) Always being able to get someone on the phone or by email when you need to.
If you would like to speak with us call Gary Wallach at 914-806-5853 or click here to email or click here to visit our website.
Company: BGES Group, 216A Larchmont Acres West, Larchmont, NY 10538
The mere mention of a workers’ compensation audit is enough to strike fear in nearly any business owner. For anyone who is scheduled for an audit, there is no need to worry or be fearful. With a little bit of common sense and preparation, much money and aggravation can be spared.
It is important to devote a few hours to setting up preparations. This small step can prevent days and weeks of hassles in the future. Business owners should plan to give their full attention to the auditor throughout the process, which can take several hours from start to finish. For this reason, it is important to make sure the time and date are both convenient. If the audit has been rescheduled or was not set for an appropriate time, call to reschedule it.
Start collecting and organizing the records that show payroll reports and overtime. Make sure insurance certificates and classification divisions are also available. Write up a summary of each one to make explanations easier and to more effectively communicate with the auditor during the process. If information is organized well, this will help expedite the process. The auditor may feel more comfortable in trusting a business owner’s data if all calculations can be reconciled to payroll records.
Prior to the meeting with the auditor, it is also important to make any necessary adjustments to payroll. For example, a business owner might need to subtract bonus pay from overtime pay. Minimum and maximum payrolls will need to be applied to the calculations when applicable. This may take some research, and the amounts will vary from one state to the next. They also vary between types of careers, partners, executive officers and sole proprietors.
Business owners should make sure they understand all employee job classifications and can explain them clearly to the auditor. They should also ensure employees are properly classified for the work they perform. If the auditor has questions or concerns, this can slow the process down considerably. Auditors usually ask about duties and classifications for multiple employees, so being prepared is essential. For help classifying them, discuss the details and any concerns with an agent.
When working with subcontractors, keep in mind that payments made to them will go against workers’ compensation if they did not have certificates. Ask for copies of their certificates, and check them carefully to ensure they are updated and show coverage for the entire time span when the subcontractor was working. After the auditor arrives, all of these preparations will be well worth the time spent. Most business owners are also pleasantly surprised to find that auditors are not the mean individuals they picture them to be. Most auditors are pleasant and fair, and this is especially true when all of the details are in order.
After the audit is finished, politely ask the auditor for a copy of the worksheet. An agent can review it for accuracy. Every person has a legal right to request a corrected audit if any errors are suspected or confirmed. Business owners also have the right to recover any over-payments that were made under the previous three audits.
If you would like to speak with us call Gary Wallach at 914-806-5853 or click here to email or click here to visit our website.
BGES Group’soffice, located in Larchmont, NY is a full service insurance agency offering, Property, Liability, Umbrella Liability, Business Auto, Bid & Performance Bonds, Inland Marine, Worker’s Compensation, Workers Compensation Premium Recovery, New York State Disability, Group Health, Life insurance, Personal lines and Identity Theft.
Special Contractor Insurance Programs (NY, NJ, CT)– We we have 50+ insurance companies to market your general liability, umbrella liability, business auto, workers compensation, bid & performance bonds and group health coverages. We help contractors set up proper risk transfer. If you’re a contractor we offer extensive information about insurance markets, coverages, risk transfer, subcontractor screening, ways to lower your insurance costs.
BGES Group are Worker’s Compensation Specialists for the States of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut– Issues we address: 1) Lowering pricing – we have specialty programs that can save you up to 40%; 2) Finding a new company; 3) Replacing policies that are being cancelled or non renewed; 4) Audit disputes; 5) Company creating fictitious payroll at audit time; 6) Lowering high experience modifications factors; 7) Misclassification of payrolls; 8) Lowering or eliminating renewal deposits; 9) Getting coverage when you’ve been without for a few months; 10) Covering multiple states under one policy; 11) Eliminating 10% service or policy fees; 12) Timely issuance of certificates; 13) Always being able to get someone on the phone or by email when you need to.
If you would like to speak with us call Gary Wallach at 914-806-5853 or click here to email or click here to visit our website.
Company: BGES Group, 216A Larchmont Acres West, Larchmont, NY 10538
There is a growing threat to companies that use online services to administer their employee benefits and payroll as cyber criminals increasingly exploit these cloud service platforms.
The results of a hacker gaining access to the company’s payroll systems, sloshing with cash, as well as employees’ personally identifiable information can be devastating both to the employer as well as its workers, according to a blog by the law firm McLane Middleton.
Do not assume that the payroll and benefit system you are using has safeguards in place to prevent these types of attacks. Sometimes you may need to activate them on your account or configure your account a certain way.
Cyber criminals that hack these platforms can tap into a gold mine of sensitive information about employees and their dependents, including:
Social Security numbers
Government identifications and numbers
Bank account information for employees and dependents, and
Health information.
The other vulnerability is the funds that go through these accounts. Large sums of money flow through a number of transactions for:
Payroll
401(k) and other retirement accounts
Health insurance, and
Other benefits.
As you can see, these online payroll services have a rich smorgasbord of data and they facilitate numerous large financial transactions. For criminals, that’s a treasure trove.
Successful attacks on online benefits and payroll services can result in huge losses as well as liabilities for an employer. And worse yet, the damage is manyfold:
The criminals can divert large financial transactions like payments to retirement funds and smaller ones like payroll payments, to a fraudulent account, which they promptly drain.
The criminals steal personal information of employees. They can then demand the employer pay a ransom in exchange for not selling the information on the dark web. If the employer refuses to pay, they can demand individual employees pay a ransom.
What you can do
Often hackers will gain entry to a benefits and payroll website not through any fault of your own. So, it’s important that you choose a system wisely.
McLane Middleton recommends that you should look for online benefits and payroll platforms that value security and protect their clients’ accounts with the following:
Multi-factor authentication — Besides a password, a platform worth its salt will include multi-factor authentication. Typically, that entails sending an authentication message to a pre-specified e-mail or mobile phone number that can accept text messages every time there is a log-in attempt.
Other systems may use certificates that the employer installs only on computers used by employees who are authorized to access the platforms.
Multi-user notification and authorization — This entails notifying key personnel if an employee’s profile information (such as physical address, phone number or bank account number) is changed inside the payroll or benefit system. The website would then send an e-mail to a secondary person in the organization to approve the change by logging into the system.
Different levels of access privileges — One common approach is for hackers to target employees in your organization with administrator access to your benefits and payroll system. All of the employees that use the system often do not need access to all of it.
You can limit access of your human resources staff to only those functions necessary for them to do their jobs. This prevents them from accessing files and information they have no business seeing.
Logs of access and activity — If possible, try to find a vendor that has log files that can record dates and times of a breach, what the cyber criminals were doing in the system and what data they accessed and downloaded.
The takeaway
If you are using an online platform to administer your benefits and payroll, you should ensure that the vendor is taking the appropriate steps to protect itself, and you, from cyber attacks.
You may want to discuss with your vendor what kind of security they have in place and any extra steps you can take as an organization to reduce the chances that information and funds in your accounts are safe from abuse.
If you would like to speak with us call Gary Wallach at 914-806-5853 or click here to email or click here to visit our website.
BGES Group’soffice, located in Larchmont, NY is a full service insurance agency offering, Property, Liability, Umbrella Liability, Business Auto, Bid & Performance Bonds, Inland Marine, Worker’s Compensation, Workers Compensation Premium Recovery, New York State Disability, Group Health, Life insurance, Personal lines and Identity Theft.
Special Contractor Insurance Programs (NY, NJ, CT)– We we have 50+ insurance companies to market your general liability, umbrella liability, business auto, workers compensation, bid & performance bonds and group health coverages. We help contractors set up proper risk transfer. If you’re a contractor we offer extensive information about insurance markets, coverages, risk transfer, subcontractor screening, ways to lower your insurance costs.
BGES Group are Worker’s Compensation Specialists for the States of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut– Issues we address: 1) Lowering pricing – we have specialty programs that can save you up to 40%; 2) Finding a new company; 3) Replacing policies that are being cancelled or non renewed; 4) Audit disputes; 5) Company creating fictitious payroll at audit time; 6) Lowering high experience modifications factors; 7) Misclassification of payrolls; 8) Lowering or eliminating renewal deposits; 9) Getting coverage when you’ve been without for a few months; 10) Covering multiple states under one policy; 11) Eliminating 10% service or policy fees; 12) Timely issuance of certificates; 13) Always being able to get someone on the phone or by email when you need to.
If you would like to speak with us call Gary Wallach at 914-806-5853 or click here to email or click here to visit our website.
Company: BGES Group, 216A Larchmont Acres West, Larchmont, NY 10538
As ransomware and other cyber attacks increasingly hobble victim company’s ability to operate in the wake of an attack, more cyber insurance policies are including business interruption coverage.
When these policies first hit the market, they were mostly focused on covering the costs of notifying individuals whose personal data or credit card information may have been exposed, to any regulatory penalties and other compliance costs.
But many companies, when hacked, suffer far more damage to their operations, including websites or important systems being rendered unusable.
The larger danger to companies seems to be system failures resulting from a variety of novel attacks, including;
Denial of service
Brute force (an attack aimed at obtaining passwords)
Malware or malicious code
Ransomware
Backdoor attacks
Social engineering.
Business interruption policies have traditionally covered loss of income caused by disruptions in supply chains and events like a fire or natural catastrophe that render a business unable to operate.
But, property policies or traditional business interruption policies do not cover income loss from a cyber attack since these policies are only triggered after a direct physical loss or damage.
Meanwhile, for cyber business interruption coverage to be triggered, there must usually be a direct link between a cyber attack and the interruption of business or a loss of sales. For example:
Criminals lock a company’s computer systems and demand that the company pay a ransom to restore its data. The company may lose income when it can’t use its systems and even when it is trying to recover after paying a ransom.
A denial-of-service attack renders a website inaccessible to customers and users.
The policy will include a maximum payout for business interruption claims. The cap may apply to each individual event or it may be an annual limit.
Policies may include a separate deductible for business interruption claims.
Policies may include a specific waiting period of hours or days before it kicks in to pay a claim. If the event causes losses or a disruption that lasts less than the waiting period, the claim would likely not be paid.
Policies usually will only pay for business interruption during the period that the company is restoring its systems and getting things running again.
Coverage usually includes exceptions, like not covering third party liability, fines and penalties and the costs of restoring a network.
Most policies include exclusions, like loss of market share or damage to computer systems caused by fire or other physical events that were not related to a cyber attack.
For more information, please call us. We are happy to answer any questions you may have.
BGES Group’soffice, located in Larchmont, NY is a full service insurance agency offering, Property, Liability, Umbrella Liability, Business Auto, Bid & Performance Bonds, Inland Marine, Worker’s Compensation, Workers Compensation Premium Recovery, New York State Disability, Group Health, Life insurance, Personal lines and Identity Theft.
Special Contractor Insurance Programs (NY, NJ, CT)– We we have 50+ insurance companies to market your general liability, umbrella liability, business auto, workers compensation, bid & performance bonds and group health coverages. We help contractors set up proper risk transfer. If you’re a contractor we offer extensive information about insurance markets, coverages, risk transfer, subcontractor screening, ways to lower your insurance costs.
BGES Group are Worker’s Compensation Specialists for the States of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut– Issues we address: 1) Lowering pricing – we have specialty programs that can save you up to 40%; 2) Finding a new company; 3) Replacing policies that are being cancelled or non renewed; 4) Audit disputes; 5) Company creating fictitious payroll at audit time; 6) Lowering high experience modifications factors; 7) Misclassification of payrolls; 8) Lowering or eliminating renewal deposits; 9) Getting coverage when you’ve been without for a few months; 10) Covering multiple states under one policy; 11) Eliminating 10% service or policy fees; 12) Timely issuance of certificates; 13) Always being able to get someone on the phone or by email when you need to.
If you would like to speak with us call Gary Wallach at 914-806-5853 or click here to email or click here to visit our website.
Company: BGES Group, 216A Larchmont Acres West, Larchmont, NY 10538
Much has been made of people’s identities being stolen through cyber attacks and other online means, but the majority of identity thefts are still being carried out the old-fashioned way by criminals finding documents bearing social security numbers and other personal information.
Identity theft is a growing problem with consumers reporting more than 490,000 incidents in 2015, up an astounding 47% from the year prior, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Certainly, a good reason for this increase is online data theft, but a surprising number of Americans are still having their personal information stolen because of improper disposal of paper documents.
The best way to combat this kind of identity theft is by regularly shredding paper documents when it’s time to dispose of them. But what documents should you shred and which ones can you just toss in the recycling bin? Here are our tips:
Anything containing your social security number – This is the number one bit of data that identity thieves want to get a hold of. With your Social Security number they can open checking accounts and credit cards – and sometimes even take out loans.
Your social security number can be found on a number of documents, including:
Pay stubs
ax returns
Medical bills
Health insurance cards
Loan statements
Bank and mortgage statements – First off, you should keep these statements for up to seven years for tax audit purposes. After that time, there is no need to keep them and you should dispose of them.
These documents should be shredded. While they sometimes may contain your social security number, they do contain your bank account statements and crafty scammers can produce bogus checks that they can use to cash checks from your accounts.
Utility and other bills – Utility bills may contain personally identifiable information. Experts recommend that you keep these bills no more than a year. To avoid having your data exposed, you should then shred them.
Anything with your signature – It’s highly recommended that you shred any documents that have your signature on them.
That’s because a clever criminal can learn to copy your signature, and combined with other personally identifiable information they get their hands on, they could open accounts in your name and do real damage to your credit.
Receipts – While you may want to keep some receipts for your tax records, any others you don’t need to shred and can toss into the recycling bin.
Credit card receipts don’t contain your entire credit card number, so you don’t run the risk of someone gaining access to your card should they come across these receipts.
BGES Group’soffice, located in Larchmont, NY is a full service insurance agency offering, Property, Liability, Umbrella Liability, Business Auto, Bid & Performance Bonds, Inland Marine, Worker’s Compensation, Workers Compensation Premium Recovery, New York State Disability, Group Health, Life insurance, Personal lines and Identity Theft.
Special Contractor Insurance Programs (NY, NJ, CT)– We we have 50+ insurance companies to market your general liability, umbrella liability, business auto, workers compensation, bid & performance bonds and group health coverages. We help contractors set up proper risk transfer. If you’re a contractor we offer extensive information about insurance markets, coverages, risk transfer, subcontractor screening, ways to lower your insurance costs.
BGES Group are Worker’s Compensation Specialists for the States of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut– Issues we address: 1) Lowering pricing – we have specialty programs that can save you up to 40%; 2) Finding a new company; 3) Replacing policies that are being cancelled or non renewed; 4) Audit disputes; 5) Company creating fictitious payroll at audit time; 6) Lowering high experience modifications factors; 7) Misclassification of payrolls; 8) Lowering or eliminating renewal deposits; 9) Getting coverage when you’ve been without for a few months; 10) Covering multiple states under one policy; 11) Eliminating 10% service or policy fees; 12) Timely issuance of certificates; 13) Always being able to get someone on the phone or by email when you need to.
If you would like to speak with us call Gary Wallach at 914-806-5853 or click here to email or click here to visit our website.
Company: BGES Group, 216A Larchmont Acres West, Larchmont, NY 10538
Many business owners don’t think twice when asking a worker to run to the office supply store, to the bank or run another errand for the company while on the clock.
But as soon as that employee enters their personal vehicle on a trip for your business, you automatically become vicariously liable for their actions.
Think it’s not a big deal? There have been cases when employers have been found liable and ordered to pay up to $25 million for crashes involving employees using their cell phones while driving, according to the National Safety Council.
That means if your employee is in an accident and injures a third party, damages another car or injures themselves, your firm could be held liable.
For injuries to only your employee, your workers’ compensation insurance would handle the costs, but for injuries to others and third party property, you are liable since they were carrying out duties for your firm.
The employee’s auto insurance will be primary, but the problem arises when the coverage is insufficient. The employer can then be sued by the third party.
With that in mind, you should do all you can to reduce your exposure by writing a policy for your driving employees. Some things you might want to consider in your policy include:
A list of expectations you have of your driving workers.
No talking on a cell phone or using any functions like apps and texting.
Avoid other distractions by barring other activities while driving, like eating and drinking.
Train workers in the safe operations of vehicles.
Make sure that any employees who drive for you are properly licensed.
Requiring that they take breaks on longer trips.
Require that their driving record be monitored periodically.
Spelling out that they must buy personal auto insurance with certain minimum limits. The insurance policy should not include a business exclusion.
Beside having a driving policy in place, you can also make sure to hire employees who are safe drivers by checking their driving records during the hiring process.
Also, make sure that your management is on board with the policy. That means that managers should avoid texting or calling employees while they are driving on company duty. That would clash with your policy on barring cell-phone use while driving.
Insurance
Finally, you should make sure that you have proper insurance in place in case calamity strikes. And unfortunately, some employees will inevitably slack in following even best laid out policies.
Commercial auto will cover all of your workers who drive company vehicles for collisions but it won’t cover employees if they are driving their own vehicles while on the job. Such vehicles are considered non-owned autos because they are not owned by the named insured.
Employees are not insureds while driving non-owned autos, even if they are using the vehicles on company business.
But if you do have workers who use their personal vehicles for work, like sales reps, you can purchase an endorsement for your commercial auto policy: Entitled Employees as Insureds. This endorsement covers employees who drive their personal vehicles on behalf of their employer.
But it provides excess coverage only, meaning that the employee’s personal auto policy will apply first if the worker is sued after an accident involving his or her personal auto. The endorsement would apply only if the employee’s personal policy limits are breached.
If you would like to speak with us call Gary Wallach at 914-806-5853 or click here to email or click here to visit our website.
BGES Group’soffice, located in Larchmont, NY is a full service insurance agency offering, Property, Liability, Umbrella Liability, Business Auto, Bid & Performance Bonds, Inland Marine, Worker’s Compensation, Workers Compensation Premium Recovery, New York State Disability, Group Health, Life insurance, Personal lines and Identity Theft.
Special Contractor Insurance Programs (NY, NJ, CT)– We we have 50+ insurance companies to market your general liability, umbrella liability, business auto, workers compensation, bid & performance bonds and group health coverages. We help contractors set up proper risk transfer. If you’re a contractor we offer extensive information about insurance markets, coverages, risk transfer, subcontractor screening, ways to lower your insurance costs.
BGES Group are Worker’s Compensation Specialists for the States of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut– Issues we address: 1) Lowering pricing – we have specialty programs that can save you up to 40%; 2) Finding a new company; 3) Replacing policies that are being cancelled or non renewed; 4) Audit disputes; 5) Company creating fictitious payroll at audit time; 6) Lowering high experience modifications factors; 7) Misclassification of payrolls; 8) Lowering or eliminating renewal deposits; 9) Getting coverage when you’ve been without for a few months; 10) Covering multiple states under one policy; 11) Eliminating 10% service or policy fees; 12) Timely issuance of certificates; 13) Always being able to get someone on the phone or by email when you need to.
If you would like to speak with us call Gary Wallach at 914-806-5853 or click here to email or click here to visit our website.
Company: BGES Group, 216A Larchmont Acres West, Larchmont, NY 10538
Workers in a number of construction occupations are exposed to crystalline silica. Breathing too much of this dangerous dust can lead to serious lung damage, resulting in long-term illness or even death.
Workers in cement, concrete or stucco operations, abrasive blasting, jack hammering, rock and well drilling, brick and block cutting, and tunneling operations are often exposed to crystalline silica. Any dust-producing operations should follow industry safety standards as well as OSHA regulations to protect workers.
Here’s where to start:
What happens when exposure occurs
When inhaled into the lungs, crystalline silica dust creates scarring or fibrotic nodules around the silica particles and may result in silicosis.
Silicosis may result in breathing difficulty, tuberculosis — and possibly death. Exposure ranges from cumulative (over many years of exposure) to acute (exposure to high concentrations of contaminated air in short periods).
Acute silicosis is identifiable by fever, shortness of breath, and cyanosis, or bluish-colored skin. Silicosis is incurable and may be progressive even after dust exposure has ceased.
Harmful silica particles, as small as 1/100th the size of a grain of sand, are impossible to detect by sight or smell. They can only be measured using air-sampling equipment. In comparison, a human hair is 70 microns, and the silica dust we are concerned with is as small as 10 microns.
Protections
There are a number of steps you can take to protect your workers. Most of these should be used in conjunction with each other:
Engineering controls — mechanical ventilation for removal of contaminated air.
Replace crystalline silica materials with safer substitutes whenever possible.
Require workers to wear NIOSH-approved respirators.
Practice wet-dust suppression measures like water sprays to wet the material so that it generates less dust.
Isolation/enclosure/ventilation of dusty processes.
Use handheld grinders with a shroud and vacuum.
Use wet grinding/cutting methods.
Wear aprons or coveralls and disposable clothing.
Combine the use of more than one control measure.
Conduct environmental monitoring.
Educate and train workers and supervisors.
Good housekeeping is an essential part of workplace safety, and reducing exposure to silica dust is no exception. Consider employing the following housekeeping measures:
Minimize your dry sweeping of the work area.
Use vacuum cleaners to collect dust on a daily basis.
Wet down the area prior to clean-up.
Never use an air supply to blow dust off work clothing. Air pressure causes silica dust to become airborne.
Remove dust-contaminated clothing at the worksite to minimize transportation and relocation of the dust.
Silica dust will have long-term effects on the health of your employees, so preventing exposure is an issue that requires significant attention. Be sure to minimize the possibility of exposure by following OSHA’S Respirable Crystalline Silica Standard for Construction and implementing robust protective measures.
Silica-containing material
The materials listed below contain silica which can be released through cutting, breaking and grinding, among other work:
Asphalt
Brick
Cement
Concrete
Concrete block
Drywall
Fiber cement products
Grout
Gunite/Shotcrete
Mortar
Paints containing silica
Plaster
Refractory mortar/castables
Refractory units
Rock
Roof tile (concrete)
SandSoil (fill dirt and top soil)
Stone (including granite, limestone, quartzite, sandstone, shale, slate, cultured)
Stucco/EIFS
Terrazzo
Tile (clay and ceramic)
Additionally, under OSHA regulations, all employers whose workers encounter inhalable silica exposure should prepare the following documents:
A written Silica Exposure Mitigation Plan.
Documentation of compliance with Table 1 of the Silica standard.
Documentation of regular exposure measurement.
A hazard communication and training program.
OSHA has a handy guide for employers whose workers may be exposed to silica dust in the workplace. You can find it here.
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Company: BGES Group, 216A Larchmont Acres West, Larchmont, NY 10538
