Category Archives: Disaster Preparedness

Want to scan your crypto wallet for risks? Check: AML check BTC, USDT, ETH. Checking cryptocurrency wallets for dirty money. You may not be aware of a risky transaction and at any moment, even can increase your AML rating into the red zone.

5 Analytics Tips for Your Chief Safety Officer

Posted on by

Safety data
Industries on average experience 3.2 non-fatal occupational injuries per 100 full-time workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some industries have nearly four-times this rate. Similar statistics exist for workplace illnesses and, unfortunately, fatalities. Could analytics be a solution for lowering these statistics?

Companies today gather huge volumes of operational and enterprise data, plus they have access to myriad sources of external data such as weather, traffic and social media. Unfortunately, this data is normally stored and analyzed in siloed data systems that are scattered across the enterprise. There are, however, steps a chief safety officer (CSO) can take to apply analytics to all available data to reduce incidents and, therefore, safety-related costs.

Here are five steps CSOs and other safety leaders can take to be smarter about data and safety.

1. Know your network

To reduce incidents and therefore safety-related costs for your organization, you need to know the what, where, when, why and how of accidents. After all, accidents happen at a specific time and place, and involve specific people and pieces of equipment. Knowing your network of time, place and equipment speeds up response time when accidents happen, and can even prevent them.

buy symbicort inhaler online blackmenheal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/symbicort-inhaler.html no prescription pharmacy

Analytics systems are now able to correlate, analyze and visualize operational, enterprise and external data from across your company. The resulting information can identify the situations, patterns and trends that indicate hazardous but preventable conditions. You can more clearly see the job roles, work sites and times of the day or week that pose the greatest risk.

buy levofloxacin online blackmenheal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/levofloxacin.html no prescription pharmacy

This information lets you invest your time, money and effort where it has the greatest impact.

2. Collaborate across departments

When you have analytics illuminating the times, places and activities of greatest risk, share that with everyone who can help reduce that risk. Workers and their supervisors need to know what the data indicate about risk, so that they can make appropriate changes. Your facilities department needs to know that some aspects of a work site—lighting, ventilation, access and drainage—contribute to unsafe conditions. Human Resources needs to know what training and certification is required, or should be offered, to increase staff potential.

But collaboration isn’t simply feeding analytics to various job roles. It is important that all those roles—operations, facilities, HR and more—share the same view of analytics in order to work together to address dangerous conditions before something happens.

3. Learn to trust your own data and analytics

There is now too much data arriving too quickly for us humans to manually gather and analyze. It’s still common for business and risk analysts to spend 80% of their time gathering data and only 20% applying it to solving problems. Analytics systems that correlate and analyze multiple data sources flip that equation, enabling analysts to spend 80% of their time acting on insights from data to solve problems.

While you might be willing to trust the math of analytics, you are probably like a lot of leaders who don’t trust their data. Many leaders believe their data is too incomplete, inaccurate, outdated or irrelevant to support an analytics program. When people say this, I usually ask them how they know their data is bad. Until you work with your data, you don’t really know its condition. When you start working with your data to solve a use case, you can address any data quality issues related just to that use case, without needing to somehow fix all of the data.

4. Look for analytics-leveraging skills when hiring

There is a witticism in the business world that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” While sayings like this can be cliché, in the case of analytics, this one is true. If your human and work culture doesn’t embrace data-driven decision making, any analytics strategy faces uncertain odds of success.

To establish an analytics culture within your organization, hire people who are comfortable exploring and applying data. You don’t necessarily need to hire data scientists, as that skillset is available from consultants and vendors if and when it is needed. You do, however, need people who are curious and capable of working with each other, and with data scientists, to formulate inquiries, pursue those inquiries, and apply the insights they discover.

5. Start small, but start now

Existing company safety programs that are not data-driven struggle to show their impact. That makes funding harder to justify, which can mean safety programs grow stale over time. If you’d like your organization to be better at safety and analytics, but struggle to measure the effectiveness of your investment in safety programs, it is possible to start small.

buy keflex online blackmenheal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/keflex.html no prescription pharmacy

Any CSO can immediately identify their most dangerous job role or location. Start with one of those dangerous situations, use data to drive tangible changes in facilities, tools, process or training, and measure the results.

It is really that simple. You can start small, but at least start—now—and make safety a priority.

New Rail Tank Car Usage Promises Safer Crude Oil Transport

Posted on by

Added capacity of pipelines used to transport crude oil and declining prices are contributing to decreasing transport of crude oil—and an almost 97% drop in the use of older, less safe transport cars between 2014 and the end of March, Gannett reported this week.

Rail tank car shipments of crude oil from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota have declined from a peak of 498,271 in 2014 to 424,996 in 2015, according to the Association of American Railroads. An AAR official made the announcement at a rail tanker car safety forum sponsored by the National Transportation Safety Board, according to Gannett.

buy rogaine online meadowcrestdental.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/rogaine.html no prescription pharmacy

In the December 2013 report “Moving Crude Oil by Rail,” the AAR noted that the rail industry has been urging federal regulators “to toughen existing standards for new tank cars” and recommended that the estimated 92,000 existing tank cars used to transport flammable liquids, including crude oil, be retrofitted with advanced safety-enhancing technologies, or phased out if they cannot be upgraded.

While there are obvious issues with the transportation of oil by rail, the AAR has pointed out that railroads have an excellent safety record with crude, even surpassing pipelines in recent years. But the industry and federal regulators acknowledge there is much room for improvement.

The new, safer tank cars have thicker steel shells, insulating materials, full-size metal shields at each end and improved outlet valves underneath the car. Increased use of the new cars is good news for densely populated areas on the east and west coasts that have numerous trains—often of at least 100 tank cars—moving through daily.

buy stromectol online meadowcrestdental.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/stromectol.html no prescription pharmacy

DOT 117 train car
A transportation law, the FAST Act, signed by President Obama in December 2015, includes new mandates for freight trains transporting crude oil through the U.S. The law requires that older tank cars be replaced by the newer, safer car for shipping flammable liquids by March 1, 2018, phasing out the older model used, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

A rail disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Canada, on July 26, 2013, that killed 42 people brought a heightened focus on the dangers of transporting highly flammable Bakken crude oil by train.

According to the DOT, the rule also:

  • Requires an enhanced tank car standard and an aggressive, risk-based retrofitting schedule for older tank cars carrying crude oil and ethanol.
  • Requires a new braking standard for certain trains that will offer a higher level of safety by potentially reducing the severity of an accident.
  • Designates new operational protocols for trains transporting large volumes of flammable liquids, such as routing requirements, speed restrictions, and information for local government agencies.
    buy lariam online meadowcrestdental.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/lariam.html no prescription pharmacy

  • Provides new sampling and testing requirements to improve classification of energy products placed into transport.

Prioritizing Risk Management Strategies in Schools

Posted on by

safety
No matter what precautionary measures schools take, there are many risks and “fires” that need to be put out on a daily basis. To keep staff and students safe and to protect school assets, a proactive approach to mitigating risk in schools is a necessity. The keys to a successful risk management program include careful, strategic planning while taking all relevant and potential factors into consideration, but how can administrators get started?

By identifying potential risks and applying a process to assess them, schools can focus on their objectives more clearly, including top priorities like student and employee wellbeing. Effective risk management reduces the disruption of a student’s education, damage to a school’s reputation, lost time, stress from managing incidents, and the potential risk of legal intervention in an increasingly litigious world. School administrators can explore these strategies as they strive to enhance their risk management initiatives:

Focus on greatest risks and exposures
The concern about lawsuits is ever present, but schools cannot operate under the pretense that litigation is going to happen. They instead must conduct their business for the safety of students and staff. If schools operate under fear, their risk management efforts will simply not be as effective as planned.

Administrators must also consider relevancy. In the private sector, risk management has a large seat at the table, whereas in the public sector that is not always the case. Depending on priorities, some issues that play a vital role within the public sector may not be relevant in the private sector. Identifying the relevance of issues often determines where and how money is spent in a school district, however. District-wide funding can be one of the biggest issues administrators face.

buy ventolin online dentalhacks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/ventolin.html no prescription pharmacy

Districts encounter daily challenges to come up with the right resources available to train staff—especially when it comes to implementing technology. Administrators must make tough decisions when considering funding realities and the need for as much risk management coverage as possible. They need to maintain a balance when money is at stake, as they are only able to make decisions based on the amount of funds available to them.

Focus on what effective training can offer a school faculty
Safety training for school and district staff should play a huge part in every risk management strategy, as well as ensuring the district is in compliance on a state and federal level. Safety training has a trickle-down effect, and if provided at the appropriate level of training, administrators will see a significant effect in reduction of accidents, damage to buildings and costs overall.

buy symbicort online dentalhacks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/symbicort.html no prescription pharmacy

There is always work to be done when it comes to improving school safety and collaboration is a big part of a program’s success. Some of the issues schools now face are different than the concerns of decades past, so providing training and resources to staff can make a difference in helping them understand how to handle a number of situations that could arise.

Technology resources can help with this. Online databases, such as SafeSchools Online Staff Training System, for example, allow school districts to distribute quality training to all employees. This is an effective and way to track and share information on safety and compliance issues that could arise in the classroom or school. The digital database also serves as a proactive approach to training.

buy paxil online dentalhacks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/paxil.html no prescription pharmacy

Having an online database enables staff to train in school or at home, and ensures that everyone has the necessary training to handle a situation before it occurs. In the end, by deploying an online safety training system, the district is saving money and time and will be more proactive in handling issues.

Focus on training early on—and take it seriously
First and foremost is tackling the issue of rallying everyone to take safety and compliance issues seriously. Risk management is not a job for one person. It starts with everyone in the school district, from administrators and the school board to principals, teachers, grounds staff and even students. Everyone needs to think of safety and practice mutual accountability within the school community.

Final Thoughts
Risk management may take a back seat when funding is low, giving the impression that it isn’t important. For the sake of their staff and students, however, district-level administrators need to be on board with risk management and make it a priority. In schools, educating students is the main concern, and risk management is secondary. But just like in a factory where posted signs read “safety first” or “safety is number one,” our goal is to get schools to think of safety and its importance to the school in the same way they think of education.

Protecting Key Executives in Global Hot Spots

Posted on by

The recent suicide bombing in Istanbul and the Paris bombing last November killed and injured innocent bystanders and sent shockwaves around the globe. Such attacks also cause organizations to question international travel out of fear of putting their key executives and employees in harm’s way.global travel

As the risk profile changes in some locations that were once considered safe, it is critical to reassess and more deeply examine company programs to protect business travelers abroad.

First of all, for companies and their insurance advisors, there is no substitute for great advance planning. If a company is contemplating overseas travel and can establish well in advance that there exists a need for key person insurance, the coverage is easier to obtain and more cost effective. The reality is that the heightened awareness around a dangerous trip often results in an insurance need being developed or uncovered with little notice. When this need arises, the underwriting process migrates from the traditional life and disability insurance market to the playing field of high limit or specialized risk underwriters.

In one notable example, a large U.S. company recently made a significant investment in a defense contractor. Shortly after the investment closed, the company named a new chief executive officer and sought to acquire $50,000,000 of key person life and disability insurance.

As of the day of the request, their insurance advisor had eight business days to secure the insurance before the CEO departed for the Middle East, with stops in such international hot spots as Iraq and Afghanistan. Because of the abbreviated time frame, traditional life and disability insurance was not an option. The advisor needed to turn to a specialty underwriter that deals with exceptionally large and complex human capital risks.

Armed with the CEO’s itinerary (see below) and details of the executive’s compensation and equity incentive agreement, the advisor had enough information to present the submission to the underwriters.

online pharmacy amaryl with best prices today in the USA

Within 72 hours, a policy was issued that covered the private equity firm’s loss of the CEO directly due to an accidental death or disability, as well as a result of acts of war or terrorism.

Few domestic life and disability carriers possess the ability to underwrite large risks when there is high-risk exposure in the world’s hot zones. Instead, companies and their brokers must work with large international insurers that are willing to deploy meaningful capacity.

online pharmacy aricept with best prices today in the USA

The easiest way for advisors to access these markets is through an experienced U.S.-based correspondent who is skilled at designing and underwriting coverage in these volatile locations. Local correspondents or managing general underwriters also serve to guide brokers through the regulatory complexities that go along with underwriting risks through surplus lines carriers—something most life and health producers have little experience with.

The best brokers are masters at uncovering details from their clients, documenting them and communicating them effectively to underwriters. A well-written cover memo will often be the basis for offering coverage and can be the primary source for pricing consideration. A complete itinerary coupled with security details are the underwriter’s key points of interest, so make sure the information is gathered and communicated as early as possible.

Frequently, specific plans will be classified when working with international defense contractors, but one way or the other, the basic information must be made available. When underwriting coverage in highly hostile areas, rates can vary based on multiple factors, such as security arrangements, travel vendors, length of stay and, in highly hostile areas, rates even vary down to specific latitude and longitude coordinates, often within a single city or locale.

No detail is too small for spelling out the need for the insurance and financial justification, including the purpose of the trip and the client’s specific duties and objectives. This is the information that sets apart a submission and makes it more likely for an underwriter to go out on a limb with preferential pricing and terms.

Keep in mind, when underwriting risks in highly volatile areas—with the propensity for rapid deterioration—it may not be possible to negotiate coverage or a rate guarantee for the entire duration of the client’s journey. It is essential to keep in mind that the best underwriting offers go to advisors who deliver the most detailed and accurate information.

Example of a CEO’s itinerary:

Day 1 – Depart Commercial Air for Dubai

Day 3 – Arrive in Baghdad, Iraq – Transport to Camp Butler

Day 4 – Depart Baghdad and arrive in Dubai

Day 5 – Depart Dubai arrive Kabul, Afghanistan – Transport to Camp Gibson

Day 6 – Fly to Kandahar, Afghanistan

Day 7 – Depart Kandahar, Afghanistan – fly to Abu Dhabi

Day 12 – Depart Abu Dhabi for U.S.

It is important that we don’t allow acts of terrorism to knock the wheels off our economy. Business travel and face-to-face meetings are key elements in making us what we are, so it’s imperative that we mitigate the associated risk whenever possible.

online pharmacy bactroban with best prices today in the USA