From Rags to Ruins
As the weather gets warmer across much of the United States, the winter snow starts to melt, crocuses bloom and many homeowners are reinvigorated to tackle spring cleaning and home improvement projects. Yet oily rags and other items left at a worksite can quickly lead to spontaneous combustion—a cause of major fire losses each year. Fortunately, these losses are easy to prevent.
Picture this:
A contractor is hired to power wash and refinish a wood deck. Oily rags are left in a pile at the end of the workday for use the next morning. Within minutes, the stain-soaked rags spontaneously combust in the warm spring sun, igniting the deck and engulfing the home in flames.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Rags, drop cloths, towels and paintbrushes used during deck staining and other home improvement projects are highly combustible—even under normal weather conditions. Spontaneous combustion is the outbreak of fire without application of heat. This happens when a flammable material like oil or stain comes into contact with a combustible object. The object slowly heats to its ignition temperature through a reaction with oxygen in the air, until fire starts.
Many house fires are caused by a third party working in the home
Although spontaneous combustion isn’t a common occurrence, it happens more often than you might think, and the results can be disastrous. Homeowners are often unaware of the added risk associated with hiring contractors and household staff.
- Consider the scenario below:
- After priming walls with oil-based paint, a painter stacks wet drop cloths in the garage.
- A carpenter leaves newly stained hardwood floors to dry for the night, along with a heap of stain soaked towels.
Rags and other items should never be piled up around a house or construction site. Instead, homeowners and their contractors and staff should store and dispose of them properly in a metal container of water with an airtight lid, especially at the end of each workday.
Other causes of house fires
Additional scenarios that are likely to happen during spring cleaning and can also result in the rapid outbreak of fire include:
- After sweeping the fireplace, a housekeeper dumps ashes into a plastic bucket on the porch.
- A landscaper disposes of cigarette butts in the kitchen trash.
Situations such as these are easily avoidable. Dispose of fireplace ashes and other flammable items in a sealed metal container kept outside the home and away from flammable items. Enforce a “no smoking” policy on the property, and be sure fireplace extinguishers are easily accessible.
Educate yourself before a loss
Now is the perfect time to get educated about spontaneous combustion and other fire risks during spring-cleaning and home-improvement projects. Click on this Chubb link for Home Tips and Tools.
Concerned about your personal insurance coverage? At Cleary, our experienced Personal Lines department will work with you to evaluate your insurance needs, identify exposures, and create a customized insurance portfolio. Give us a call today at 617-723-0700.
Executive Order # 13473- Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces
Presented by Al Corvigo
While the majority of federal contractors follow the rules, every year tens of thousands of American workers are denied overtime wages, not hired or paid fairly because of their gender or age, or have their health and safety put at risk by corporations contracting with the federal government. Your taxpayer dollars should not reward corporations that break the law. In July of 2014 President Obama signed Executive Order 13473 to ensure that all hardworking Americans get the fair pay and safe workplaces they deserve.
The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order will govern new federal procurement contracts valued at more than $500,000, providing information on companies’ compliance with federal labor laws for agencies. The Order is expected to impact approximately 24,000 large and small employers with federal contacts, employing about 28 million workers.
The eight key provisions of the Order are as follows:
- Hold Corporations Accountable
- Crack Down on Repeat Violators
- Promote Efficient Federal Contracting
- Protect Responsible Contractors
- Focus on Helping Companies Improve
- Give Employees a Day in Court
- Give Employees Information About their Paychecks
- Streamline Implementation and Overall Contractor Reporting
While this Order is meant to eliminate unfair practices, it is ambiguous and does not have a fixed timetable.
One example of the ambiguity is as follows:
The Executive Order directs the secretary of Labor to develop guidelines as to what types of violations will be judged to impact a contractor’s responsibility. In the absence of these yet-to-be developed guidelines, contractors are apprehensive. Contractors routinely settle minor violations; but how will these be treated under forthcoming regulations?
There is also concern at the Labor Relations Committee of the Professional Services Council regarding violations toward a contractor. If a Contracting Officer makes a mistake, which is subsequently investigated and resolved by the DOL in favor of the SCA employees, what impact will it have on the Contractor? What constitutes a serious violation? How will consistency be achieved across government agencies? These questions along with many more remain unanswered by the Order.
To read Executive Order 13473 in its entirety please click here.
At Cleary, we know how important a comprehensive benefits package can be to your continued success. Give us a call today at 617-723-0700 and we will work with you to create a plan that meets your fringe-benefit obligations and provides your employees with valuable benefits.
Plan Before a Disaster to Stay in Business After
Disaster can strike a business in many ways. Fires, explosions, and vandalism can impact a specific location or regional events such as a hurricane, blizzard, or terrorist event can impact an entire region. After a catastrophic event, it is essential to evaluate the damage to the facilities quickly and accurately. This enables the business to settle its insurance claim and get back into operation as soon as possible.
Insurance plans tend to help businesses financially after a mishap. It was considered one of the most important aspects when most business operations were carried out offline. But in today’s era, with digital processes in place, saving software and related data becomes more crucial. With everything moving online, the risk of phishing, hacking, file corruption, etc. has become too common. And a firm must be able to protect itself from any such internal disaster. So, it is imperative to check out which backup and disaster recovery services can address these issues before looking for a plan that provides financial aid after a physical disaster.
A lot of the important work must be done before the disaster occurs:
- Identifying the facilities and equipment at risk is the first step. This may be simple for a small business with one or two locations. Larger businesses with operations in many states and localities will have to study the question more deeply. Each location faces its own unique risks. Businesses should imagine the worst-case scenario for any one event and plan around that.
- Businesses should also create a disaster response team. After a disaster, some members of the group may not be able to access the business location and therefore the list should include several names with multiple people able to fill each role.
- The business should also have a written communications plan for reaching members of the group. All members should have each others’ phone numbers (both land lines and cellular), e-mail addresses, and emergency contact information.
- Collect as much information about each property as possible. Assemble multiple copies of architectural drawings, appraisals, inspection reports, and maintenance records. The business should store documents in several locations and media so that backups will be available. Members of the disaster recovery team should survey each location, identifying special features, key processes, characteristics that increase the building’s vulnerability to a particular threat, and equipment that will be difficult to replace.
Also, there can be resources and tools that can be incorporated into a business to reduce physical or cyber losses if a disaster strikes. With the help of software like Building Analytics Automation System, a business can ensure that all the company’s equipment, gadgets, and services are running efficiently and effectively through diagnostics and fault detection techniques. Such software can additionally detect faults in HVAC and fire safety systems to get them repaired quickly and reduce the chances of disaster.
However, if a disaster occurs, the disaster team coordinator should contact each member of the group and arrange for an inspection of the facility when it is safe and law enforcement allows.
When the group can inspect, they should:
- Identify emergency measures necessary to protect the facility from further damage
- Assess the extent of the damage
- Identify areas that are unsafe to enter
- Evaluate the condition of the areas where critical processes occur.
After the inspection, the group should prepare reports on each damaged facility. These reports may be required by local authorities and government agencies that provide disaster assistance.
Many insurance companies have sample disaster plans available to use as a guide. There are numerous other resources available through federal and state agencies.
The following are links to several different resources:
http://www.ready.gov/business
https://www.sba.gov/content/disaster-preparedness
https://www.travelers.com/prepare-prevent/protect-your-business/business-continuity/create-plan.aspx
http://www.thehartford.com/business/disaster-planning-for-businesses
To a large extent, a business owner has control over how the business will cope with a disaster. With careful planning, the business will survive it and thrive.
At Cleary, we will evaluate your business exposures and work with you to develop a comprehensive plan to safeguard your business. Give us a call today at 617-723-0700.