Both at work and at home, proper ladder selection, use, and maintenance are critical to your safety. Annually, ladder-related incident cause over 500,000 injuries and approximately 300 deaths. In the workplace, these injuries cost U.S. employers $11 billion annually. Lost work time, medical expenses, legal and liability costs, as well as pain and suffering.

How can you prevent ladder-related falls? It starts by understanding what causes these incidents.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Tag Birge, President of Cornerstone Companies, Inc. We hope you enjoy Tag’s wisdom and perspective.

Risks come in a variety of shapes and sizes. A risk I often see companies missing out on today is cash management. CFOs have a tough job trying to decide in what to invest excess cash. Finding income generating assets with low risk is almost impossible. With the inflationary environment, many low risk investments mean the value of that investment will decrease over time. In the past, places like bank accounts, treasuries, and Blue Chip equities had a reasonable expectation of out earning inflation while being very low risk.

If you ask any business leader what their most valuable asset is, an overwhelming majority would state it’s their people. Businesses invest millions, if not billions, of dollars in training and benefits for their employees. So when it comes to business continuity or disaster preparedness, why wouldn’t an employer want to ensure their employees were also prepared to handle a disaster?

CPR training can truly make a difference. Consider this story. One of our loss prevention consultants recently led a CPR course for a client and their employees. An employee who attended this training session soon put his CPR skills to use. While at church, a fellow parishioner had a heart attack and collapsed. This employee was able to perform CPR and keep the individual alive until help arrived. The impact of safety training such as CPR, AED, and first aid is far reaching – and literally lifesaving.

On May 11, 2016, OSHA issued a final rule related to collection of workplace injury and illness data. This rule helps to modernize injury data collection with the intent to better inform workers, employers, OSHA, and the public about workplace hazards.

Office environments are full of electronics, appliance, power cords, extension cords, and surge protectors. Take a look at your desk. I’m guessing you have several items just in your personal workspace, let alone the entire office.

These items have become such an integral part of our work that we don’t necessarily give too much thought to the hazards they bring with them. Electrical shock, burns, fires, and even tripping over extension cords. Electricity creates numerous hazards to your employees and your facility.

Planning school-sponsored functions is no easy feat. From fundraisers to carnivals to award ceremonies, special events have many items to coordinate. The checklist can include food, activities, volunteers, venue, performances—it goes on and on. But when making a list, check it twice: are insurance and risk management on there?

In honor of Star Wars Day, I thought it would be fun to write a blog about various aspects of the Star Wars universe and how risk management tactics would apply.

A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, OSHA began implementing rules to protect employees. One of them was with regards to personal protective equipment (PPE), which is designed to protect workers from serious workplace injuries or illnesses. Did anyone else think of PPE when Finn advised Rey in The Force Awakens that a Stormtrooper’s mask would filter out smoke but not toxins? Even the Empire had safety in mind when designing a Stormtrooper’s uniform!

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Kinetic IT, an Information Technology Managed Service Provider based in South Bend, IN. We hope you enjoy Kinetic’s insight and wisdom!

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) accounted for 32% of all worker injury and illness cases in 2014. And OSHA cites work-related MSDs as one of the most frequently reported causes of lost or restricted work time.