In January 2014, there were 11 school shootings in 19 days. In addition, the number of threats and scares are on the rise. By implementing these 11 strategies, you will help deter and respond to an unwanted intruder.

Last week I had the privilege of attending our annual GESOP (Gibson’s ESOP) meeting. It was a great day (by my definition) spent with all our employee-owners.

We close down all four of our offices to give everyone a chance to attend. That’s a big deal for a firm in the client service business like Gibson. We only do this a few times each year, but it’s always great to see the folks I don’t get a chance to see that much, plus expose our new employees to the Gibson culture. I guess I’m a little old fashioned in feeling a paternalistic pride in what we’re building, our employees, and the lives we’re impacting in so many positive ways. But I digress…..

Many companies rely on transportation to make their business work. From trucking and recreational vehicle companies, to municipal governments, to food and beverage distributors, there are millions of businesses that manage vehicle fleets designed to move people and/or goods from place to place. For these organizations, a good fleet management program can minimize and, in some cases, eliminate the risks associated with vehicle investment, driver safety, transportation costs and more.

The reason I left the Indiana State Police to become a Risk Advisor at Gibson was in large part due to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. As a tribute to the lives lost, I’d like to share a few of the lessons learned. Included are the highlights from an article featured in Campus Safety Newsletter, 7 Lessons Learned from Sandy Hook. The article is very well-written and provides important insights based on the summary report of the incident.

I’ll give a brief warning that some of the content of this post is hard to read given the tragedy of the situation. However, I urge you to push past the discomfort in order to understand how to provide impact should you be confronted by an active shooter situation.

1. Actions by school personnel saved lives

For many, if not most, businesses, intellectual property—such as inventions, trademarks, trade secrets, business strategies, or operational details—is the most valuable asset they have. It’s what allows a business to differentiate itself from competitors, whether it’s a more efficient process, more robust sales leads, or a unique product or formula. According to some recent estimates, it makes up 75% of companies’ values.

Protection Is Necessary

Despite the importance of intellectual property, few businesses take even the simplest steps to protect their intellectual property—perhaps because you can’t typically protect intellectual property like you do other property. It’s an intangible asset; it’s found in electronically stored data, in documents, or in the properties of physical things. It’s not in the warehouse behind locked doors, barbed-wire fences, and a security guard. Someone can steal it without ever setting foot on your property. They can hack your network, copy your logo, or reverse engineer your product. They can even acquire the right to use intellectual property if you’ve failed to take steps to prevent others from using it.

But once your intellectual property is stolen, it’s tough to stop the bleeding. Since intellectual property—unlike something tangible—can be used by multiple people simultaneously, a compromised business may have to pursue violators all over the country and even the world before its damages are fully contained. Even that may not be enough. Intellectual-property theft costs businesses not only real money—an estimated half a billion dollars annually—but also time and resources spent on damage control, public reputation or good will, market share, and growth opportunities. You may never completely undo the harm.

Since a recreational vehicle (RV) is a motor vehicle similar to a car, most insurance companies are willing to issue a policy. Problems arise, however, when RV owners try to shoehorn RV coverage into a typical auto policy, which can cause gaps in coverage.

All tools have safety considerations, and a ladder is no different. However, when you regularly use a ladder, you may begin to take ladder safety for granted. Falls are a leading cause of injuries and fatalities in the workplace and proper ladder safety is essential. This guide will take you through picking the right ladder, the proper technique for placing and climbing the ladder, and how to conduct maintenance checks to ensure ladders remain safe to use.

April 2, 2014, marks the 10^th anniversary of National Employee Benefits Day. Although it may not be as widely recognized as other holidays, the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans created this holiday to celebrate one of the most dynamic portions of the employee-employer relationship.

More businesses are shifting technology from standard desktops to tablets and smartphones. This means sensitive data stored on mobile devices. Unfortunately, the uptick in digital storage comes at a time when malware and phishing schemes are rampant.