| Greetings!
You just never know what a day will bring.
Recently Lisa and I were spending a leisurely Saturday together. We had gone out for the day and were driving from a matinee, enjoying each other's company and conversation. We came off the highway to find the Channel 4 news van in front of us. We turned the corner and the Channel 7 news van joined the first. Odd. When we reached the stoplight not far from our house Lisa wondered aloud if something was going on in OUR neighborhood. Sure enough, we turned onto our street to find emergency vehicles of all kinds littering the block... fire trucks, state police, you name it.
We soon discovered that a twin engine Cessna plane had crashed across the street from our home, ending up pinned between two  trees, with the wings sheared off. My neighbor Bill said he heard a thunderous bang and at first thought a 4X4 had flipped over. He was first on the scene and placed a call to police. After hearing the pilot and passengers yelling, "Help me! Help me!" he leaped into action and broke the windshield of the plane. He assured the men inside that help was on the way and did his best to keep them calm as they waited. All three men sustained minor injuries and were taken to the hospital, and as far as I know are expected to make full recoveries.
~Lisa and I could never have anticipated the crazy scene we came home to.
~Bill didn't wake up Saturday morning reading a "How-To" book on dealing with emergencies.
~That pilot didn't head to his surveying job that fateful morning expecting his life (or plane) to take such a drastic detour.
Life happens. To all of us. It's full of the unexpected. With the dawning of each day, life delivers a new package to our front door. Sometimes it's a pleasant surprise, other times... not so much. Most people don't like to think about insurance, but as the scene in my neighborhood so vividly illustrates, you never know what's in store. A good insurance program can help you minimize risk.
While we can't know what's coming, we CAN know that we've done all we can to protect ourselves from those unanticipated dangers. That's why we're so committed to our clients. We're experts at examining their needs and crafting insurance programs that offer comprehensive coverage and affordable pricing - unique to the particular risks they face. And our friendly staff of insurance professionals are always standing by, ready to address any questions or concerns that might arise.
If you're not already insured with us, why not call today for a complimentary review of your current coverage? It will cost you nothing, but in the long run it could pay off big. They say you can't buy happiness, but we know from experience that you can purchase a little peace of mind... and who doesn't want that?  Tom Messier, Vice President
Mason & Mason Insurance Agency
M&M Assurance Group
P.S. If you enjoy this newsletter, check out our website at www.mmins.com. Click the "Clients" tab at the top of the page and then enter the site with username: "Client" and password: "INFO4U". You'll find more helpful articles on a wide range of topics. You can also check us out on Facebook! If you have any questions, give us a call at (800) 298-0802. We'll be happy to hear from you! |
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Don't Allow a Hostile Work Environment to Detract from Your Company's Bottom Line
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received more than 30,000 complaints of harassment in the workplace during 2009. It found 4% of them to have merit, and the employers involved paid $80 million in penalties. That same year, it received more than 12,000 complaints of sexual harassment, 33,000 complaints of racial discrimination, and 11,000 complaints of discrimination based on national origin. The employers who were found to have permitted these actions were fined more than $150 million, and these dollar amounts do not include settlements of lawsuits between the employers and affected individuals. The lesson: Allowing a hostile work environment is bad for an employer's bottom line.
Courts have ruled that a work environment is hostile if the speech or conduct occurring there is severe or pervasive enough to offend a reasonable person. This includes things like :
- Sexually explicit remarks
- Sexually explicit displays, such as calendars, posters, and screen savers
- Frequent use of language that denigrates members of one sex, racial, or ethnic group
- Sexually or racially oriented jokes and e-mails
- Unwanted physical contact
- Unwanted solicitations
Managers can be responsible for harassing behaviors in the workplace, even if they do not participate in them. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that...
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Does Your Business Have Coverage for 'Impaired Property'?
A contractor gets a job to install the systems that will control the bank of eight elevators in a new 20-story hotel. The contractor obtains the components from the distributor, installs them without any problems, and moves onto the next job. However, prior to opening, the hotel's owners find that none of the elevators are working. Diagnosing and repairing the problem will delay the hotel's opening by at least two weeks and possibly more. The owners sue the general contractor who built the hotel and hired the sub; the GC in turn sues the sub. The sub submits a claim to its Liability insurance company, but the company denies coverage.
The same subcontractor gets an identical job for a new apartment building. This time, the elevators work during testing, but two months after the building opens, they grind to a halt between floors. An investigation reveals damage to the wiring leading from the control panels; the inspectors determine that the control panels short-circuited, causing a power surge that damaged the wires and shut down the elevators. Again, lawsuits follow and the sub forwards the claim to its insurance company. This time, the company pays the claim.
Why did the company deny the first claim but not the second? The answer lies in a provision in the Liability policy known as...
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About Mason and Mason
For more than 20 years we've been committed to meeting the insurance and bonding needs of the construction industry. The success and leadership of our practice has led to strategic and proprietary relationships with insurance companies similarly committed to the industry. Our clients benefit from our insurer relationships in the form of products designed with their special needs in mind. Our access to many construction specialty insurers also assures our clients are afforded a range of options at various cost levels in order to match the level of protection for their particular needs. As important as these insurer relationships are, our true competitive edge is the people who serve our clients. We have team of construction insurance professionals who understand the complexities of the worker's compensation and general liability insurance regulatory environment as applied to the industry. We leverage this specialized knowledge and our broad risk management expertise to the benefit of our construction industry clients.
Mason and Mason Insurance M&M Assurance Group
458 South Avenue 3304 White Mountain Hwy
Whitman, Massachusetts 02382 North Conway, NH 03860
T (800) 759-1452 T (800) 298-0802
F (781) 447-2832 F (603) 356-9290 |
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Many thanks to those of you who have already contributed to the Africa Bike Drive! We've collected over 200 bikes so far... but we're not giving up yet. We have plenty of room for more bikes, so please contact me today to see how you can help out this great cause! |
American Workforce Plagued by Back Injuries
Injuries sustained in the workplace present problematic issues for both the employer as well as the injured employee. Of the many types of work-related injuries, back injuries are the most commonly reported malady to Workers Compensation carriers.
A back injury can cost a company thousands of dollars due to such incidents. Missed work for doctor appointments and recovery time account for a large majority of financial losses that might occur.
Types of Work-Related Back Injuries
The most common type of back-injury complaint is that of the lower back. Nearly a million employees per year in the United States alone have reported lost work days due to lower back injury. Spine ailments, such as strains or sprained muscles, account for a great number of disability claims, especially in the field of construction and manual labor. The greater the physical demand of the work, the higher the rate of back injuries.
Although the pain and suffering of the worker who experiences a back injury might seem obvious, the employer is left to deal with the pains of financial loss due to the absence of the employee as well as the Workers Compensation...
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