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Ergonomics

Learning Pods – Insurance Risks explained

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As parents across the U.S. and Canada grapple with their children’s return to school amid a pandemic, “learning pods” have emerged as a potential solution to meeting kids’ academic and social needs while minimizing contact with large groups.

Two mothers in Delaware County, Ohio recently launched Web Student Services, LLC, a learning pod startup that pairs certified teachers with limited groups, or “pods” of students to facilitate an at-home school curriculum on public grounds. The company has already enrolled more than 70 families, most of whom pay about $90 per week.

Other parents are organizing learning pods with neighbors and hiring tutors or nannies to support their children’s online learning at different homes each week. Others are enrolling in commercial programs, either at existing child care or tutoring centers or other facilities—like fitness centers—that have reconfigured their traditional model to offer child care and learning support services for school-aged children.

Despite widespread need and the potential for revenue these new ventures are not without risk.Read More »Learning Pods – Insurance Risks explained

How to Onboard and Train Employees into a Safety Culture

How to Onboard and Train Employees into a Safety CultureOnce you attract and hire qualified job candidates to your open positions, having an onboarding and training process can help employees work safely and effectively. A continuous onboarding program will help orient employees not only to the functional details of employment, such as appropriate safety procedures, but also to the safety culture of the organization.

Employee retention strategies, such as onboarding and training programs, can also help protect the considerable time and expense invested in recruiting and hiring new employees. According to the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) at the University of California at Berkeley, the costs of replacing an employee are approximately 9% of an employee’s annual wage. In addition to any lost productivity and institutional knowledge, those costs include recruitment, selection, the costs of learning on the job and any separation costs.Read More »How to Onboard and Train Employees into a Safety Culture

Museums and Cultural Institutions: Unique exposures

Goudi Building Museum

Your priceless collections and exhibits are what pull visitors through your doors. But keeping those visitors safe – as well as your employees, volunteers, building and reputation – is what keeps those doors open. Travelers has years of experience working with museums and cultural institutions. We understand your industry. We can help you with your insurance needs – from protecting your fine art collections, to covering your property risks to providing general liability coverage to workers compensation.

Fine art expertise

We offer Museums and Cultural Institutions customized product and service offerings. Our Inland Marine division is a Fine Art market leader that provides flexible solutions for your unique needs:

  • Local underwriting presence with fine art expertise
  • Broad, worldwide coverage at current market value
  • Coverage for exhibitions, loans and items while in transit
  • High capacity for high-value collections
  • On-site risk control consultations to help enhance facility and collection management
  • Dedicated fine art claim team committed to proper claim handling for unique valuable objects
  • Access to our Special Investigations Group who focuses on theft prevention and recovery of stolen property
One company for property exposures

Read More »Museums and Cultural Institutions: Unique exposures

Office Ergonomics – Working Comfortably

Introduction

Office ergonomicsOffice ergonomic improvements involve the application of basic workplace principles to address a worker’s discomfort, chronic pain or repetitive motion injuries. Good ergonomics does not always mean obtaining new furniture and equipment. A large part of ergonomics and comfort involves workstation organization, equipment orientation and work habits. This bulletin reviews equipment and materials that typically are used in a computer workstation and provides suggestions to minimize the risk of injuries.
Musculoskeletal disorders such as tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome can result from improperly positioned equipment that creates stressful working postures. Symptoms can include pain and swelling, numbness and tingling (hands “falling asleep”), loss of muscle strength, and reduced range of joint motion. If you have any of these symptoms, report them to your supervisor as soon as possible. If these symptoms are not treated early, they may result in discomfort in the affected area, chronic pain or injury.

Chair

Chairs can be crucial in preventing back pain, as well as in improving employee performance in office work. As the majority of office workers spend most of their time sitting, a properly designed and adjustable chair is critical.

Features of a good chair:

1. Seat pan adjusts up and down quickly and easily. The chair height is correct when the entire sole of the foot can rest on the floor or footrest and the back of the knee is slightly higher than the seat of the chair.
2. Seat pan should be slightly concave with a softly padded, rounded or “waterfall” front edge. Select alternate seat pan and seat back sizes for large or small employees.
3. Seat back easily adjusts forward and back and up and down, with full lumbar contour. The fullest part of the contour should be positioned in the small of the back, near the waistline.
4. Chair arms adjust up and down and in and out from body. Position chair arms so they support forearms in and near the sides, with elbows only slightly forward from the hipbones. If both features are not an option, eliminate armrests.
5. Five legs or casters for stable support.Read More »Office Ergonomics – Working Comfortably

Small Businesses Must Prep for Flu Season

For small businesses, productivity and operations can be negatively affected by the flu as employees stay home, or are urged to stay home, to limit the threat of spreading flu to others. In order to help reduce the potential spread of the flu virus and maintain business operations, small business owners should develop a comprehensive flu contingency plan before the start of flu season to minimize the impact of illness on their bottom lines.

Below are five elements to consider:

1. Educate employees on steps to help reduce the spread of the flu.

Small businesses should develop a short document that educates employees on how the flu virus is spread and circulate it widely. Below are a few items to include:

  • Flu viruses spread in respiratory droplets through person-to-person or other close contact.
  • Cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough to help prevent spreading of the virus.
  • If you are around people who are sick, avoid close contact to reduce the chance of getting their illness.
  • Keep your hands clean, washing them regularly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth because they are entry points into your body for germs.

Read More »Small Businesses Must Prep for Flu Season

Preparing your business for potential holiday hazards

prepare businessMenorahs and Christmas trees light up Main Streets across America during the holidays, but there are risks associated with these decorations. Risk management professionals and insurance agents can help business owners understand how to keep their stores festive yet hazard free during the holidays.

The holidays usually bring several things to a small business – more foot traffic, celebratory decorations and additional staff to help with boosted sales.  However, with added customers and distractions, slips and trips are never far away. So when getting into the holiday spirit, you should make safety a priority.Read More »Preparing your business for potential holiday hazards

Webinar: Ergonomic Controls – Don’t Design for the Average

ergonomic workstationRISK CONTROL WEBINAR
Are there job tasks at your company that create ergonomic risk for your employees?
Ergonomic assessments can be instrumental in identifying risk factors in the jobs or tasks that your employees are performing. But simply conducting an assessment of the job or task is not enough. Determining the root cause and implementing solutions to control identified musculoskeletal risk factors should be the focus of your improvement process. Solutions can take many forms — adding a mechanical device to help the worker, redesigning the layout of the work space or implementing a best practice or technique to improve how a task is done.
Read More »Webinar: Ergonomic Controls – Don’t Design for the Average

Booster Seats Safety Improved in 2012

Fifteen of 17 booster seats introduced in 2012 earn the top rating of BEST BET from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, evidence that more than ever, manufacturers are designing seats to provide good safety belt fit for booster-age children.

The improvements mean that BEST BET boosters now outnumber seats in any of the three other categories for the first time since the Institute released its inaugural booster ratings in 2008. Boosters are supposed to improve how adult lap and shoulder belts fit children so the belts can properly restrain them in crashes. BEST BET boosters correctly position belts on a typical 4-to-8-year-old child in almost any car, minivan or SUV.

“Booster manufacturers have risen to the Institute’s challenge to improve seat design, giving parents more choices than ever when shopping for a booster that will provide a good, safe fit for their children,” says Anne McCartt, Institute senior vice president for research.Read More »Booster Seats Safety Improved in 2012

Good Laptop Ergonomics

You see them everywhere carrying their laptops. They are businesses’ “Road Warriors” with offices-on-the-go.  These offices on-the-go are allowing people to work all hours of the day and night. And from anywhere: their company; their homes; libraries; at customer sites; while traveling in planes, cars, trains, and buses; and even while taking in some sun on the beach! Laptops are increasingly becoming… Read More »Good Laptop Ergonomics

Public Servant Wins Compensation Over Work Trip Sex Injury

An Australian public worker has won the workers comp. claim hearing, for the injury she got having sex in a motel during the business trip, according to ABC News. Now the federal government should pay not only the money spent on her treatment, but also cover the legal costs. The woman, whose name was not released, sued her employer back… Read More »Public Servant Wins Compensation Over Work Trip Sex Injury