Zurich in North America has created an electronic library of risk management and product information. Zurich calls it: the Zurich Virtual Literature Rack (VLR).

The VLR contains information relevant to risk managers, customers, and those looking to purchase business insurance. The VLR requires registration and the information requested is a bit invasive, but that is probably my only complaint. I have always liked RiskInsight, a publication produced by Zurich that covers different types of risks in each issue. That publication is available in the VLR for direct viewing or downloading.

Other publications and white papers are also available at the VLR. I like the fact that, by making these publications available electronically, the company is avoiding the high cost of brochures while acting in an environmentally-friendly manner.

Well worth the look if you are an insurance professional or business looking for information on insurance or risk management.

Always on the look out for ways to keep business insurance interesting, I came across a video at insurancejournal.com that illustrates the importance of planning and creating proper written procedures. Planning for risks and creating procedures in advance to reduce risk are the best ways to reduce the cost of business insurance.

Just ask the people at Gatorland. As a part of its video series "Watching the Risks," Insurance Journal posted a video interview with Tim Williams, Gatorland's dean of gator wrestling, discussing the ways Gatorland manages risk. The video is great, not only because of the great shots of gators, but because of the lesson it teaches on the importance of risk planning.

Williams states in the video that Gatorland's alligator wrestlers have a lower workers' compensation premium rate than the facilities personnel at Gatorland. Why? Because 'gator wrestlers are constantly vigilant when performing and thus have a lower incident of injury. Cutting the grass, trimming the hedges, working with power equipment and maintaining the park, is naturally perceived by employees as less dangerous and so the incident of injury increases as job safety is taken for granted.

Williams states that safety is the primary concern at the park and that the park maintains written procedure and emergancy manuals for all park operations. Those procedures are taught to employees and provided to the park's insurance professionals. Steps that reduce risk resulting in reduced premiums. And, if it works for a place that keeps live poisonous snakes and gators, it will probably work for your business.

Yesterday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued a statement on the "Benefits of Health Reform for Businesses." A copy of the Statement is available online with links to supporting documentation.

Secretary Sebelius states that a November 30 letter to Senator Evan Bayh from the Congressional Budget Office on the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordability Acts supports claims from legislators that "[s]mall businesses are likely to see premiums drop by 1 to 4 percent under the proposal."

Premium savings will come from larger risk pools and lower costs owing to administrative savings and increased competition. The statement also concludes that an additional 3 percent in premium savings will come about as the risk pool improves.

A primary focus of my work is advising contractors and handling commercial construction litigation. Admittedly, the role of the "bonding company" or "surety" and public contract requirements of a completion bond or a payment bond, are difficult concepts to explain to clients.

But, understanding bond requirements is a key to smaller contractors being able to secure and bid on larger projects. Bonds are basically business insurance insuring the "risk" that a contract is not performed in a required manner. Bonds can cover other contract risks as well.

SuretyBonds.com is a website offering online bond purchasing and a great deal of information. Some of the professionals over there have helped me put together an article on construction bonds that I posted today.

I will follow up with more bond articles in the future addressing the various risk management scenarios where bonds can be used.

Every year the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) picks the top safe cars in various categories and identifies overall winners in each category of vehicle.

The winners for 2010 have been posted to the IIHS website. The top manufacturers for 2010 are:

• Ford (including Volvo) - Six awards.
• Subaru - Five awards.
• Volkswagen - Five awards.

The full list of awards can be reviewed at the IIHS website. IIHS awards can be an indicator of which model cars will result in lower premiums for commercial and personal auto insurance. Often the choice of a "safer" vehicle fleet can produce substantial premium cost savings.

Two stories caught my interest this morning. Two stories about insurance fraud that illustrate the fraud can be perpetrated by insureds, insurers, third-parties, regulators, and just about anyone where there is money involved.

In Florida, insurer, QBE Insurance Corporation, is facing a $500 million bad faith lawsuit by a condominium association. The association's towers were seriously damaged in a hurricane. The allegation is that the insurer, knowing the two condominium towers faced demolition and condemnation without insurance settlement money, "[took] advantage of the socioeconomic conditions of residents and the inability of residents to raise the money to make the repairs." In other words, the insurer is accused of delaying claim settlement to force a more advantageous settlement. The association has already won a $25 million lawsuit against the insurer in February, 2009.

But, insurers aren't the only ones accused of behaving badly. In Indiana, a home builder plead guilty in an arson case. The home builder had recently been awarded as the builder of the home of the year in the Southwestern Indiana Builder's Association competition. But, he is alleged to have paid another man to set fire to one of his homes in June, 2008. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud and conspiracy to commit arson.

The Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) will be broadcasting a webinar entitled "ISO 31000 and Its Implications to Risk Management" on December 10, 2009 from 1:00-2:00pm ET. The cost is $30 to non-members and free to members of RIMS.

ISO 31000 is a generic set of guidelines applicable to risk management and it can be helpful to know when establishing your organization's risk management policy.

RIMS will also be holding a CourseCast on December 10, 2009, from 1:00-2:30pm ET, entitled "Casualty Claim Handling Techniques: Agency Law." Details can be found at the RIMS website.

Finally, yours truly has started following RIMS on Twitter. The organization's updates are varied and deal with many facets of risk and insurance issues. RIMS just recently created a LinkedIn group as well.

So, that is your pre-holiday burst of business insurance educational resources. Make good use of it!

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued some holiday specific directives last week. Employers, especially retailers, should take note of the guidelines in time for their holiday preparations.

On November 17, OSHA issued crowd control guidelines designed to lower the risk of crowd related accidents. Last year a worker was trampled to death while a mob of shoppers rushed through the doors of a large store to take advantage of an after Thanksgiving Day "Black Friday" sales event. OSHA claims in its press release that the store "was not using the kind of crowd control measures recommended in OSHA's fact sheet." The Fact Sheet is available online.

On November 20, OSHA issued a directive to "ensure uniform procedures when conducting inspections to identify and minimize or eliminate high to very high risk occupational exposures to the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus." The directive identifies high to very high risk occupations including health care workers and some institutional occupations. The directive incorporates some Centers for Disease Control recommendations regarding the handling of H1N1 Influenza patients. Those recommendations will be followed by OSHA inspectors inspecting health care centers and institutions where there is high to very high risk of transmission to employees.

Both guidelines are important for retailers and health care employers to understand and consider in their risk management planning.

I had a number of health insurers contact me to point out that they also have some form of kid/young adult friendly health education and awareness campaign after my post about Aetna's yesterday.

The one that I missed, that everyone else seemed to know, was the DocRock series of videos offered by Cigna. Dr. Mache Seibel, a.k.a. DocRock, is a real doctor with the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He has teamed with CIGNA to launch the H1N1 Rap video at www.youtube.com/cignatv. One video "raps" for kids about 5 tips to avoid Swine Flu.

The series may be a bit too kid-centered to be an effective tool in an employment setting. But they are fun to watch. Perhaps letting employees know and share the videos with their kids may help those with kids stay healthy.

Health insurer Aetna has taken an interesting, and entertaining, approach to increasing prevention awareness for the H1N1 virus infection. The insurer has created a video featuring kids talking about prevention.

The kid advice is great. "If you cough onto someone, they can get sick. So cough into a tissue. Then throw it into the garbage and wait for the garbage truck to come." Or this reminder: "If you sneeze into your hands and then grab the remote to change the channel, there are germs on the remote." Bill Fried, MD, Aetna's medical director heading the company's pandemic flu response initiative, states, "Kids listen to other kids. Adults should listen too. We've all heard the advice about washing your hands and covering your cough, but sometimes kids say it best. After all, who knows more about germs than kids?"

I agree. The video is available on YouTube and the insurer's website. It is readily accessible, and, especially where your employees are younger, is a great use of media.