Florida Insurance Commissioner has approved a 4.9% average decrease in workers’ compensation rates for 2022, as recommended by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. The decrease is the sixth straight for Florida. Last year, the NCCI proposed a 5.7% cut but the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation demanded more and ultimately approved a 6.6% decrease for 2021.
Rates jumped in 2017, after a landmark court ruling struck down statutory limits on attorneys’ fees. But loss costs and rates have fallen every year since then.
The latest rate decrease will take effect Jan. 1 for new and renewing policies. While changes in experience, trends and medical and indemnity benefits have declined almost 7% in recent years, loss adjustment expense, or the costs associated with handling claims, increased slightly.
The NCCI’s recommendation, filed earlier this year, did not include data or adjustments needed for the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic may have had on Florida comp insurers. Instead, the rating organization proposed a separate catastrophe fund to help manage nationwide, non-terrorism events that result in workers’ compensation losses of more than $50 million. The fund would have required extra charges to be paid by Florida employers.
The OIR announced that the NCCI has withdrawn its catastrophe provision recommendation. A Nov. 11 letter from NCCI said the provision “will be resubmitted at a future date as and when appropriate.”
Click here to download the 2022 rates.
Gulfshore Insurance is a Naples, Florida based insurance agency specializing in business insurance including liability insurance, property insurance, workers compensation insurance, vehicle insurance, business income interruption insurance, cyber insurance, commercial umbrella insurance, and more. Our insurance and risk management advisors are industry specialists for condominium associations, golf and country clubs, oil and petroleum marketers, construction, landscaping, churches and non-profits, and work comp. Navigating insurance requires an experienced and trusted insurance agent who understands your business risks and exposures. Gulfshore Insurance services Naples, North Naples, Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Lido Beach, Longboat Key, Bradenton Beach, and Southwest Florida. We have office locations in Naples, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, and Sarasota.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released its preliminary list of the top 10 most frequently cited safety violations at this month’s National Safety Council Congress & Expo, the world’s largest gathering of safety professionals.
The OSHA list is determined following worksite inspections throughout the fiscal year and alerts employees and safety professionals about areas of frequent citations to help prevent their occurrence. OSHA violations can cost some companies more than $1 million in penalties.
Notable among the top 10 list for 2021, companies experienced an increase in respiratory protection violations and a decrease in hazard communication and powered industrial truck violations from prior years. Fall protection remains at the top of the list for the 11th year in a row.
The Top 10 for FY 2021 are:
- Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501): 5,295 violations
- Respiratory Protection (1910.134): 2,527
- Ladders (1926.1053): 2,026
- Scaffolding (1926.451): 1,948
- Hazard Communication (1910.1200): 1,947
- Lockout/Tagout (1910.147): 1,698
- Fall Protection – Training Requirements (1926.503): 1,666
- Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment – Eye and Face Protection (1926.102): 1,452
- Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178): 1,420
- Machine Guarding (1910.212): 1,113
OSHA’s preliminary figures found 21,090 citations issued this year, down from 24,239 in 2020 and more than one-third less than the 31,816 issued in 2019. Workplace shutdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly played a large part in the decrease, but there are still many areas for improvement on the list. Frequent safety training and customized risk management programs can support operational business goals while reducing risk and making the workplace safer.
Jeffrey Sanders, TRIP is Client Advisor at Gulfshore Insurance. Jeff works with a wide range of business clients to deliver strategic risk analysis, guidance, and insurance. Comments and questions are welcome at jsanders@gulfshoreinsurance.com
Gulfshore Insurance is a Naples, Florida based insurance agency specializing in liability insurance, property insurance, workers compensation insurance, vehicle insurance, business income interruption insurance, cyber insurance, commercial umbrella insurance, home and homeowners insurance, car and auto insurance, boat and yacht insurance, property insurance, umbrella insurance, valuables insurance for fine art, jewelry, wine, and more. Navigating insurance requires an experienced and trusted insurance agent who understands your business risks and exposures. Gulfshore Insurance services Naples, North Naples, Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Lido Beach, Longboat Key, Bradenton Beach, and Southwest Florida. We have office locations in Naples, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, and Sarasota.
Lightning is a dangerous natural force. Annually in the United States, cloud-to-ground lightning occurs 20 to 25 million times and over 300 people are struck by lightning. During the past 30 years, about 50 people, on average, have been killed by lightning strikes every year, and many more suffer permanent disabilities.
Precautions should be taken to prevent worker exposure to lightning. Employers should recognize lightning as an occupational hazard. Supervisors and workers at outdoor worksites should take lightning safety seriously.
Workers whose jobs involve working outdoors in open spaces, on or near tall objects, or near explosives or conductive materials (e.g., metal) have significant exposure to lightning risks. Worker activities at higher risk for lightning hazards include:
- Logging
- Explosives handling or storage
- Heavy equipment operation
- Roofing
- Construction (e.g., scaffolding)
- Building maintenance
- Power utility field repair
- Steel erection/telecommunications
- Farming and field labor
- Plumbing and pipe fitting
- Lawn services/landscaping
- Airport ground personnel operations
- Pool and beach lifeguarding
Click here to download the Fact Sheet that provides employers and workers at outdoor worksites with lightning safety recommendations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Tim Spear, is a Client Advisor and Partner at Gulfshore Insurance specializing in the construction, oil/petroleum, and landscape industries. Through his consultative and diagnostic approach, he helps clients develop customized programs to meet their risk management needs. Comments and questions are welcome at tspear@gulfshoreinsurance.com
Gulfshore Insurance is a Naples, Florida based insurance agency specializing in business insurance including liability insurance, property insurance, workers compensation insurance, vehicle insurance, business income interruption insurance, cyber insurance, commercial umbrella insurance, and more. Our insurance and risk management advisors are industry specialists for condominium associations, golf and country clubs, oil and petroleum marketers, construction, landscaping, churches and non-profits, and work comp. Navigating insurance requires an experienced and trusted insurance agent who understands your business risks and exposures. Gulfshore Insurance services Naples, North Naples, Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Lido Beach, Longboat Key, Bradenton Beach, and Southwest Florida. We have office locations in Naples, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, and Sarasota.
A growing number of cybersecurity threats have companies on high alert. More sophisticated cyberattacks have been aimed at the data and assets of corporations, and carriers are increasingly requiring insureds to implement multifactor authentication as a subjectivity for a cyber liability policy.
What is MFA?
Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) is an authentication method that requires the user to provide two or more credentials in order to gain access to an account. Rather than just asking for a username and password, MFA requires one or more additional verification factors unique to the individual, which decreases the likelihood of a successful cyber attack.
Picture yourself at an ATM withdrawing money from your bank account. Your debit card (something you have) is one authentication factor. However, to access your account, you also need to enter the PIN that is associated with your debit card. Your PIN (something you know) is your second authentication factor.
Credentials May Include:
- Things you know: a password or personal PIN
- Things you have: a badge or cellphone
- Things you are: biometric information such as fingerprints or facial recognition
Why is it Important for Cyber Security?
Password compromises have accounted for 81 percent of data breaches in recent years. There are limits to what a single password can do. Rather than asking for a single password that hackers and cyber criminals can gain access to, this adds an additional layer of security. MFA helps protect against unauthorized access, data breaches and password-based cyber-attacks.
Where Should it be Implemented?
MFA is recommended to be implemented across:
- all remote access to data or the environment (email, VPN, etc.) for access to cloud and on-premises applications
- for any additional applications (internal or external) that contain personally identifiable information (PII)
- internal activity with privileged users (owners of a credential that has admin access locally to a part of the system or domain-wide across many devices or servers).
In plain English, companies should look to secure any remote access points to their systems or data with MFA. Internal usage of privileged accounts, such as local administrators or domain administrators, should be also secured with MFA where possible.
Some Factors are Stronger than Others
Cybersecurity professionals have long advocated that two factor authentication utilizing text messages (SMS) is less secure than other methods. The US government stopped using SMS authentication in 2016 — and encouraged others to do the same. Since then, there have been successful breaches across organizations that still utilize this less secure variation of MFA.
There are countless ways for criminals to bypass SMS authentication, some more complex than others, but opt for utilizing MFA apps like Duo, Google Authentication, or Microsoft Authenticator if you’re using a smartphone as a means to enable MFA for your organization.
MFA is Not the End-All-Be-All
MFA is an important preventive measure to take to avoid security breaches, but it is not an all-encompassing solution to protect an organization. As noted above, there are weaknesses with SMS-based authentication — and even the most secure forms of MFA have limitations.
For example, if an employee’s personal computer was already compromised and they were utilizing a VPN to work from home, MFA may not prevent malware spreading throughout the corporate network . Additional external defenses would be necessary for further risk mitigation.
What Does an MFA Roll-out Involve?
The timeline and cost of implementing MFA is dependent on several factors, like the size of your organization, the email provider and other technology platforms you’re using, and how you plan to introduce the concept to all of your employees (from stakeholders to the IT department). In some cases, for companies who are already using a system, like Microsoft O365, that has MFA built in; it would only be a slight exaggeration to say that the process for implementing MFA at these organizations is as easy as flipping a switch. In other organizations, with many overlapping technology platforms and access points that have accumulated over time, implementation can be a bit more involved.
While the ultimate goal of MFA implementation is to eventually cover all users across your systems, it’s good to prioritize where to begin based on the risk level to the organization. Starting with administrative (and high-risk) accounts has two key benefits: privileged accounts have the greatest security impact, and you can use what you learned in the roll-out with senior leaders to aid in deploying to the next round of employees. As you consider what systems require user log-in, recognize where you’ll need to update (or replace) older infrastructure that doesn’t support modern authentication.
Click to download instructions on setting up MFA in Office 365.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced its preliminary Top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety standards for fiscal year 2020. Although multiple standards swapped positions, the Top 10 violations from FY 2019 to FY 2020 did not change. Ladders (1926.1053) climbed to a top-five spot, and Respiratory Protection (1910.134) rose to the third rank from fifth. Additionally, the data show that Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501) is OSHA’s most frequently cited standard for the 10th successive fiscal year.
The Top 10 for FY 2020 are:
- Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501): 5,424 violations
- Hazard Communication (1910.1200): 3,199
- Respiratory Protection (1910.134): 2,649
- Scaffolding (1926.451): 2,538
- Ladders (1926.1053): 2,129
- Lockout/Tagout (1910.147): 2,065
- Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178): 1,932
- Fall Protection – Training Requirements (1926.503): 1,621
- Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment – Eye and Face Protection (1926.102): 1,369
- Machine Guarding (1910.212): 1,313
Jeffrey Sanders, TRIP is Client Advisor at Gulfshore Insurance. Jeff works with a wide range of business clients to deliver strategic risk analysis, guidance, and insurance. Comments and questions are welcome at jsanders@gulfshoreinsurance.com
Gulfshore Insurance is a Naples, Florida based insurance agency specializing in liability insurance, property insurance, workers compensation insurance, vehicle insurance, business income interruption insurance, cyber insurance, commercial umbrella insurance, home and homeowners insurance, car and auto insurance, boat and yacht insurance, property insurance, umbrella insurance, valuables insurance for fine art, jewelry, wine, and more. Navigating insurance requires an experienced and trusted insurance agent who understands your business risks and exposures. Gulfshore Insurance services Naples, North Naples, Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Lido Beach, Longboat Key, Bradenton Beach, and Southwest Florida. We have office locations in Naples, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, and Sarasota.
