 Workers' Compensation claims come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from a small injury to mutilation and even death.
Overexertion: This is the most common type of workplace injury. Overexertion happens when a person lifts, pushes, pulls or throws something which results in injury. A muscle pull or a joint is forced to move beyond its normal range of motion. This is most commonly seen in physical labor jobs (construction, factories, etc.) It is also seen in police officers.
Repetitive Motion: This encompasses temporary or permanent injury to the musculoskeletal and nervous systems that may be caused by repetitive tasks, forceful exertions, vibrations, mechanical compression, or sustained/awkward positions. Common injuries from repetitive or cumulative motions are carpal tunnel, tendonitis, and bursitis. A repetitive injury can be hard to pinpoint, and hard to prove. These injuries stem from workers doing the same motions over and over. Some examples of repetitive motion injuries can include excessive texting, long-term sitting, using a mouse, lifting boxes, and working on an assembly line.
Falling: Once begun, a loss of balance incident can have several final endings depending on the landing or lack thereof. Many of the slip, trip, and fall claims are workers slipping on wet floors or icy walkways in and around the workplace. Many security workers, groundskeepers, and store clerks can fall due to a freshly mopped floor, snow/ice, or muddy ground. Other than just landing on the floor/ground there are specific types of falling injuries:
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Falls to a Lower Level - when a worker falls off a ladder, a roof, or falls down a flight of stairs. Roofers falling from a roof, construction workers slipping off a multi-level workspace, and teachers falling down stairs are all instances of falling to lower levels.
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Bodily Reaction Injury - when one trips or slips, avoids falling, but still sustains an injury such as pulled muscles or a twisted/sprained ankle. This can happen anywhere, to anyone, at any time. Most commonly this is seen in police officers and nurses.
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Struck Against an Object - happens when an individual falls into something (or is physically forced) such as a wall, file cabinet, machinery, or any stationary object.
Struck by Object: This injury occurs most commonly when something falls off a shelf, or things are dropped by another worker onto a lower level. Office workers, along with restaurant & retail workers are all in danger of being struck by something. This can also lead to a fall.
Highway Incident: For truck drivers, an accident while driving on the job is one of the most common causes of injury. This is also common for police officers and frequent business travelers.
Machinery Accidents: These accidents typically occur where large, heavy machinery has injured a worker usually by crushing or mutilating. Most commonly seen in factories or construction workers, these accidents can have large medical costs. Many states now have enacted laws requiring training for employees and maintenance requirements for keeping machinery safe to operate.
Travelers Select Accounts offers a robust variety of coverages for small businesses. Besides workers' compensation, a proprietary BOP product, Master Pac®, commercial automobile, and commercial umbrella are also available, with abroad array of industry-specific coverage options and coverage extensions.
Share these new claims examples from Travelers with your clients as part of your conversation about the risks they face.
Travelers is available in all states except AK, HI, & TX. Travelers Select is now submitted under the product name "Small Commercial Standard Markets" on Big "I" Markets. ACORD Applications and three year loss runs will be required.
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SPECIAL FEATURE
Don't Delay - Send Out Your Cyber Letter
 By now you've read all about our Cyber - Small Business Solution product in Two for Tuesday. Now it's time to market this new offering to you small business clients!
We've made it easy with a prewritten letter for Big "I" Markets agents. Here's the text:
Valued Business Customer:
I am writing to inform you of the Cyber Small Business Solution now available to you. The Cyber Small Business Solution is a $100,000 cyber liability policy for businesses that fit a specific size and class of business for $200 a year (subject to eligibility requirements).
Do you need cyber coverage? Consider these real-life claim examples and whether your business could afford losses such as these:
A dental practice had patient records exposed costing the practice $33,000 for breach response and notification to affected individuals.
A restaurant suffered a breach of payment card information costing $24,000 in audit expenses and $75,000 in fines and penalties from the payment card brands.
A travel agency suffered a breach costing $27,000 in audit, fines and legal expenses.
A movie theater was fined $5,000 for non-compliance.
A retail store was fined $39,000 after spending more than $10,000 on a forensic audit.
A bowling alley was fined over $60,000 for a breach of payment card information.
The program application is limited to a signed acknowledgement statement. Coverage is effective the next business day upon payment with the downloadable certificate of insurance available within three days of the effective date. The cyber liability insurance is underwritten by a carrier rated "A" by A.M. Best.
Please contact me today for more information and to apply for coverage.
Best regards,
[Your Agency]
This document is available for download from the product resources section of Big "I" Markets, along with our sample declination form. Put the wheels in motion today and inoculate your book against this emerging risk!
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MYTHBUSTING #3: Personal Umbrella And Risky Occupations
 If you've been following the Personal Umbrella Mythbusting series, you've seen us bust 2 myths so far:
Myth #1: A personal umbrella is something agents only need to offer to wealthy customers.
Myth #2: Millions of dollars in liability coverage must be really expensive.
Let's continue on in our personal umbrella mythbusting by tackling yet another myth that prevents some agents from offering or selling umbrellas:
MYTH: You can't obtain an affordable umbrella for a police officer, doctor, pro athlete, or politician.
TRUTH: Some carriers accept these occupations without any additional underwriting or charge.
It's true that personal umbrella carriers ask about certain occupations that they believe present significantly greater risk. Some carriers won't offer coverage for those in high-risk occupations. Others will offer coverage at a higher premium to cover the additional risk they're taking on by insuring those folks. Still yet, other carriers will offer coverage without even charging extra premium for the occupation. If your customer has an occupation that may be concerning to an umbrella carrier, check with multiple carriers to find the best fit.
Also, occupations that are undesirable to some carriers may not be at all concerning to others. Examples are police officers, doctors, judges, local politicians, and even teachers. Some occupations definitely require additional underwriting or approval though, such as professional athletes, TV or radio personalities, and state senators. However, there are carriers who are willing to offer coverage.
It's important to note that, regardless of an insured's occupation, personal umbrellas typically exclude coverage for injury arising out of the insured's occupation or business pursuits. There are a few exceptions (family farm operations may be an example), but a customer should not rely on a personal umbrella to extend to business pursuits or business property.
Personal umbrella carriers vary significantly on what's considered a high-risk occupation. When you have access to multiple personal umbrella carriers, you can obtain coverage for everyone from Tom Hanks to the guy who gets his coffee. As an IIABA member, you have access to two hand-picked, highly-rated personal umbrella carriers. RLI Insurance, IIABA's preferred and endorsed personal umbrella carrier, has been working with Big I members for 25 years. They have broad underwriting guidelines and a simple, self-underwriting application. Anderson & Murison is IIABA's alternative umbrella market and is available when a customer won't qualify with RLI. Access both at www.bigimarkets.com or www.iiaba.net/umbrella.
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Remember that you can view the following webinars 24/7 by checking out the BIM Webinar Library. To do that log onto Big "I" Markets and click on "Publications".
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Chubb International Advantage - Foreign Property Policy NEW
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Chubb Recreational Marine NEW
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AIG Private Client Group - Affluent Homeowners Comprehensive Review NEW
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AIG Private Client Group Homeowner - Collections Coverage NEW
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Chubb Masterpiece Homeowner - Overview NEW
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CBIC Architects & Engineers NEW
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AIG Private Client Group Homeowner - Automobile NEW
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AIG Private Client Group Homeowner - Overview NEW
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TravPay
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Commercial Lessor's Risk
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Affluent Homeowners
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Travel Insurance
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Community Banks
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Affluent Homeowner
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Real Estate E&O
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RLI Personal Umbrella
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"Oh, by the way...Flood Sale"
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Habitational
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Student Housing
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BIM WEBSITE TRAINING WEBINAR
For all you folks who recently registered for Big "I" Markets, remember you can participate in a webinar from the comfort of your office to help you learn how to navigate around the system. Every Thursday at 2:00 p.m. EDT we'll show you how to navigate the Big "I" Markets platform, including how to submit a quote! A recording of this webinar can be found under "Publications" after logging into Big "I" Markets.
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Big "I" Virtual University Webinars
Don't miss the following education opportunities provided from the Big "I" Virtual University experts that focus on topics agents need to know to make a smart start in 2017. For more information, contact national staff.
Other topics in the 2017 schedule cover partial losses, contractual risk transfer, business income, contractors and more. The entire schedule, including registration links can be found online here.
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Wednesday, June 14 - 1:00 - 3:00pm EDT. "Untangling the Work Comp Mess - When Employees Travel and Their Families Sue". When employees travel out of state for work, real work comp coverage gaps can exist; and these gaps could leave the employer without the necessary protection they THOUGHT they purchased when they paid their work comp premiums. Extraterritoriality and reciprocity are major work comp problems most agents don't know they have. Yes, every state provides extraterritorial work comp protection, but not every state recognizes that coverage – so many insureds are unknowingly blindsided by uncovered or improperly covered claims.
Some agents take Part II – Employers' Liability coverage for granted. They consider it just a "thrown in" coverage with no real benefit. But Employers' Liability protection fills major gaps between the work comp policy and the CGL. Without this important coverage, your insured could have a hefty out-of-pocket expense.
Attendees to this session learn:
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What "extraterritoriality" and "reciprocity" are in relation to work comp;
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How limitations in some state reciprocity laws create major gaps in work comp coverage;
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How to fix these coverage gaps; and
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Why employers' liability coverage is so extremely important.
Click here to register. Cost: $69
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NEW - Wednesday, July 19 - 1:00 - 2:30pm EDT. "Contractual Risk Transfer, Additional Insureds, and the Primary and Noncontributory Requirements". If you deal with construction clients, you deal with contractual risk transfer, additional insureds, and primary and noncontributory problems. We discuss all these time-zapping "issues" in this webinar and answer three key questions:
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What is the purpose of contractual risk transfer?
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What is given to the Additional Insured?
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Is the Primary and Noncontributory required necessary, ethical, or even legal?
Beyond answering these questions, the laws of equity that apply to these issues will be reviewed along with the three key equity concepts applicable to and the basis for this entire "problem." Attend and learn:
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The goals of contractual risk transfer;
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How Additional Insured status should be granted (and to whom):
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The contractual disrupters of equity between parties; and
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The reality of the primary and noncontributory requirement.
Click here to register. Cost: $69 - includes live link, access to recording and a written transcript.
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Be one of the first five with the correct answers and win a $5 gift card (Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin Robbins, or Krispy Kreme).
Don't forget to answer the Tie Breaker!
1. RLI Personal Umbrella does not count antique, classic and, collectible autos towards the Licensed Vehicles allowed limit. How many antique, classic and, collectible autos are permitted?
2. On this date (June 13) in 1920 what did the U.S. Postal Service rule could no longer be sent by Parcel Post?
3. Under Repetitive Motion claims in the Workers Compensation article above, what are the three common injuries listed?
TIE BREAKER
TB - According to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (Oregon) what is fake on the ID badges of U.S. Senators, thus giving only the illusion of tighter security?
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BIG "I" MARKETS SALE OF THE WEEK
Congratulations to our agent in Oklahoma on an Event Liability sale of $3,900 in premium!
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