Cold and flu season is upon us, and many Canadians will begin experiencing symptoms like sore throats, runny noses, coughs, fevers or muscle aches. While a trip to the doctor is important and can help you recover quickly, there are a number of supplemental home care strategies that can help you further recuperate.
Personal Lines Perspectives Newsletter
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Auto and driver risk management tips provided by: KRG Insurance Brokers
Did You Know?
Wintery conditions can make roads difficult and even dangerous to traverse. In fact, winter driving can be so hazardous, some provinces like British Columbia have made winter tires mandatory on some roads. Prior to purchasing winter tires, it’s critical to understand your options and some general best practices.
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What do Kroger Co., Best Buy Canada, AbeBooks and major U.S. banks and credit card issuers like Barclays Bank and Capital One have in common? All these companies have been victims of a data breach in 2012, totalling millions of stolen records that include personal information such as social insurance numbers, credit card numbers and bank account numbers.
If your company handles critical assets such as customers’ personal data, intellectual property or proprietary corporate data, you are at risk of a data breach. It doesn’t matter if you are a Fortune 500 company or a small “ma and pa” shop, cyber thieves are always looking for their next score. It is often assumed that smaller businesses can escape attention from cyber crooks, but according to the Symantec SMB Threat Awareness Poll Global Results, 40 per cent of data breaches were at small to mid-sized businesses. No company of any size is completely safe from a data breach.
As an engineer or architect, you work in a highly skilled, detail-oriented industry and are expected to provide quality design services that are free of errors or omissions. Despite your expertise, knowledge and best intentions, the reality is that not all projects are error-free, and eventually a mistake or misjudgment is bound to occur. Even the smallest error can have serious consequences. If a client believes damages are due to a mistake on your part, he or she can sue your company. It is important to protect yourself against this potentially devastating liability. The cost of defending yourself in court can be huge, not to mention the restitution costs if you’re found at fault. A professional liability policy will cover these costs in the event of such a claim, which may otherwise financially cripple your business.
A professional liability policy will cover the cost of defending you or your company in court, along with any monetary damages awarded to the claimant due to an error or omission on your part (up to the policy coverage limit). These policies are known as “claims-made” policies. This means that coverage is triggered when a claim is filed and you report it to the insurance company, since it is often hard to identify when the alleged error or omission originally occurred. Your work will be covered dating back to the earliest date of your continuous professional liability insurance. Policies typically have a one-year term, with an annual premium and deductibles on a per-claim basis.
Though you may specialize in certain areas, you likely handle a variety of projects and services, and you’ll want your policy to reflect that. Depending on your needs, you may want to consider these components when choosing a policy:
The following items are generally excluded from a professional liability policy:
Contact KRG Insurance Brokers today to learn more about protecting yourself with professional liability insurance.
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While the medicinal use of marijuana has been permissible in Canada for some time, the Cannabis Act legalizes the drug for recreational use nationwide as of Oct. 17, 2018. Also known as Bill C-45, this federal law is designed to establish a regulatory framework, particularly as it relates to the production, distribution, sale, cultivation and possession of cannabis across Canada.
Cannabis Act Items of Note
The following are some of the major items of note regarding the Cannabis Act:
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The adage “You can be sued for anything these days” may be all too familiar for attorneys. However, many in-house attorneys fail to purchase Employed Lawyers’ Professional Liability Insurance to protect themselves against potential lawsuits. Even though most claims are brought on by clients, employed lawyers are also subject to suits from third parties, such as employees, shareholders, government agencies, etc. So, what’s an organization to do? Well, it is imperative that a successful organization and its legal staff recognize their real legal risks and then purchase coverage to protect against those risks.
To protect against these risks, it is wise to purchase Employed Lawyers’ Professional Liability Insurance coverage. Typical policies may feature the following:
In-house counsel should make sure they are protecting themselves from risk while they work to protect their employees from risk. Contact KRG Insurance Brokers today to learn all about Employed Lawyers’ Professional Liability Insurance.
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Professional liability insurance covers liability for damages arising from the rendering of or failure to render professional services. With claims increasing during this economic downturn, the need for professional liability insurance coverage is even greater. Protect yourself and your business from claims not covered by commercial general liability coverage.
Professional liability insurance, also referred to as professional indemnity insurance, protects professional personnel against negligence claims made by their patients or clients. Professionals who commonly turn to this type of liability insurance for coverage include architects, home inspectors, lawyers, physicians, real estate brokers and accountants – among others. Specific professional liability insurance carries different names depending on the profession. For example, professional liability insurance in the medical profession may be called medical malpractice insurance, while real estate brokers fall under errors and omissions insurance coverage. Because claims become more frequent in a struggling economy, protect yourself with professional liability insurance.
The need for professional liability coverage developed due to typical general liability insurance policies only responding to bodily injury, property damage, personal injury or an advertising injury claim. Because professionals such as architects, lawyers, physicians, real estate brokers, technology consultants and others can cause claims without bodily injury, property damage, personal injury, or an advertising injury claim, additional coverage is needed to fill this gap.
Common claims made on these policies include negligence, misrepresentation, violation of good faith and fair dealing and inaccurate advice. For example, if a Web design platform fails to perform properly, it would not cause bodily injury, property damage or advertising injuries. Because of this, the general liability policy would not be triggered. But because the Web design platform not performing correctly could directly cause financial losses, and may be attributed to a misrepresentation of the platform’s capabilities, the professional liability coverage would be triggered.
When buying professional liability coverage, there are considerations that will help you determine exactly what you need.
Contact KRG Insurance Brokers today to learn how professional liability insurance can be used as part of your total risk management program.
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Design-build is a project-delivery method that provides an owner with one point of contact for both the design and construction elements of a project. This process has gained popularity in recent years largely due to its simplicity, affordability and speed.
While the design-build method has many benefits, it can expose firms to risks they wouldn’t otherwise experience during the traditional design-bid-build method. As such, it’s essential that design build firms understand all of the risk associated with the design-build process.
Unlike the more traditional design-bid-build project-delivery method, there isn’t a clear distinction between the firms performing the construction work and the architects and engineers offering their professional services. This means design builders are accountable for the accuracy of the plans, the execution of construction and the safety of the job site.
As such, design-builders can be held liable for workplace accidents, specification errors, material failures, construction errors and delays. Essentially, by taking on the design elements of a project, firms inherit more professional liability. These liabilities can result in severe financial losses.
When it comes to managing all of the new risks the design-build process brings, general liability policies are simply not enough. Under most commercial general liability policies, professional liability exposures are excluded from coverage.
In particular, claims related to the act of preparing blueprints, reports, surveys, field orders, change orders, specifications and other professional services could all be excluded from coverage. Professional liability policies are designed specifically to fill in gaps caused by general liability limitations.
For design-builders, the most effective way to protect against exposures is to secure unique insurance tailored to the sector. Specifically, professional liability policies provide coverage for design-build firms.
These policies provide coverage for claims stemming from an actual or alleged act when performing a professional service. Working in conjunction with other policies, professional liability insurance is a critical component to a design-builder’s risk management program. What’s more, working with a qualified insurance broker, these policies can be tailored to meet the unique needs of design-build firms.
Design-build construction is an increasingly popular approach with many benefits. However, using this method increases professional liability exposures and creates a variety of risk management challenges. When taking on design-build projects, firms have a lot to consider, including performance guarantees, licensing requirements and appropriate coverage. Learn about your firm’s identification options, review your exposures and bolster your risk management options. Contact KRG Insurance Brokers today to find out more about Professional Liability Insurance.
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After a hectic work week, Jim Marshall was looking forward to a relaxing weekend with his wife and daughter. He was just a few blocks from home when his cell phone rang. He glanced down to see who was calling. That split-second distraction was all it took for him to miss the approaching stop sign.
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Life insurance. Just the term itself can put people on edge. People might think they are wasting time and money if they sign up for life insurance when they don’t consider it necessary.
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