Protect Your Employee Drivers with Commercial Auto Insurance
Commercial auto insurance is imperative if employees are driving on behalf of your business, regardless of who owns the vehicle. Here’s what you need to know about insuring business vehicles and how to save on your commercial auto insurance.
If your company name is on the vehicle title, you’ll need to buy commercial auto insurance.
Commercial auto insurance is typically much more expensive than personal auto insurance. Even though commercial auto insurance premiums are more expensive, commercial insurance offers more coverage. Even during the current driver shortage, onboarding a single inexperienced or incompetent employee can expose you to costly fines, crashes and a tarnished reputation.
These factors will influence the price of your commercial auto insurance:
– The number of auto insurance claims your company has had in the past.
– The motor vehicle report—or driving record—for all drivers within the company. – The age of the drivers, this is especially important!
– The safety of the location where you keep the vehicle, such as a garage vs. on the street.
– The amount of security you have in place, which could include anti-theft devices.
Customize Your Commercial Auto Insurance
GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. provides exactly the expertise you need. We have the right commercial auto insurance plan for your commercial automobiles AND we can deliver the strategies, tools and resources that will help you manage your transportation and fleet industry risks, control workers’ compensationclaim costs, advance safety and boost employee morale.
How To Create Driver Standards for Employees
When it comes to your business, keeping your employees safe is a top priority. It’s why you have workplace safety regulations, and if the unexpected happen, you have business insurance.
What About Business Vehicles?
If your business requires your employees to operate a motor vehicle at all, it’s important to create a plan for ensuring their safety. Read these tips for developing driver standards to keep both your employees — and the other drivers on the road — as safe as possible.
The best way to make sure you’re employing the most qualified drivers is to perform comprehensive pre-employment screenings in accordance with DOT and FMCSA regulations.
This toolkit includes forms, checklists and other materials that you can use to onboard a new driver and ensure that all applicable records are in order. Your business should make efforts to check for any state and local pre-employment requirements, criminal histories and other relevant information to see if candidates are the right fit.
Here are Tips On Hiring Employee Drivers
Check records. Your prospective employee’s driving history can be a strong indicator of their future driving record, which is why it’s so important to check into it. Department of Motor Vehicle Records are kept on file in every state where your employee holds a driver’s license. These records will show:
If their license has been revoked
If their license has been suspended
If the driver has received any traffic violations
If the driver has been involved in any traffic-related accidents
To obtain a DMV Record, contacting your state agency or your insurance agent is your best bet. Commercial Driver Hiring and Onboarding Toolkit In order to access a record you will need to know the individual’s name, date of birth, address and driver’s license number.
Mandate SafetyPlans
After you check out your prospective employee’s MVR, it’s important to establish guidelines to help determine if they should be considered for a job that will require them to operate a vehicle. For example, guidelines that might disqualify an employee from a driving position might include:
A driving while intoxicated conviction in the past three years
Three serious violations, such as reckless driving or following too closely, during the past three years
Two accidents within the past three years
License suspension due to traffic violations in the last three years
Keep Tabs On Your Employees
After you go through the necessary background checks and the employee is cleared to start driving, its important to continue evaluating their current driving records on a regular basis. That way, you can verify they still meet your safe driving requirements after they’ve been hired.
Require Experience
If your business requires the use of large passenger vans, it’s important to understand the safety precautions you and your employees can take to keep everyone in the vehicle safe. Remember, only experienced drivers should operate fully loaded vans, and should understand and be familiar with the handling characteristics of these types of vehicles. Youthful drivers are one of the factors that will greatly increase your commercial auto insurance costs.
Risk Management Techniques
One of the best things you can do to control your commercial automobile insurance premiums is implement risk management techniques for controlling the frequency of accidents. Improving your drivers’ performance can make a big difference: A study by the U.S. Department of Transportation revealed that 90 percent of all collisions were due to driver action, attitude and behavior. Making your drivers safer and purchasing dependable vehicles can affect both frequency and severity of accidents, ultimately lowering your premiums. Some steps to take include the following:
Select good drivers. Conduct background checks and request regular motor vehicle driving records.
Provide driver safety training on a regular basis, both at hire and as a refresh, ensuring that both new and seasoned employees are properly prepared.
Train employees on reporting a loss immediately after a crash.
Monitor drivers to ensure their best performance.
California’s Leader in Insurance and Risk Management
As one of the fastest growing agencies in California, GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. is able to provide its clients with the latest and greatest of what the insurance industry has to offer and much, much more. With locations across the heart of California’s Central Valley and beyond to provide a local feel to the solutions and services we provide our clients. We pride ourselves on exceeding our client’s expectations in every interaction to make sure that our client’s know how much we value and appreciate their business. Contact us today 1-209-634-2929 for your comprehensive commercial auto insurance quote!
We’ve seen it! Your employee gets hurt on the job and cannot return to their regular position. A Return To Work program, means that your employee can return to work in a temporary, limited, or light duty capacity while they recover from their injury or illness. The goal is to return your employee to the workplace as soon as they are medically able. Workers Compensationreturn to work programs can benefit both the injured employee and the employer through less time away from work and lower medical costs.
A Broker at GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. can help you with a Return To Work Program. Contact us at 1-888-991-2929.
Create a Return To Work Program
Job offers should always be made in writing and should thoroughly describe the offered position to ensure the hire is fit for all duties.
When the job is offered, send a formal job offer package along with the offer letter. Make sure it includes all the benefits the potential employee is eligible for, including return to work policies and procedures, so there is no confusion later.
When developing a temporary assignment for someone returning to work, find useful tasks that are not covered by other areas of the company – the goal is not to take work away from another employee.
Create a written job description and job analysis for all transitional duty jobs. These jobs should match physical capabilities with the work that needs to be done so that they are both useful and appropriate.
Hold employees working temporary assignments or transitional duty jobs to the same work rules as other employees. This prevents devaluation of the job by employees and sends the message that they are still contributing to the company.
Develop and maintain a close working relationship with medical providers. Make sure they understand your business so they can help you evaluate return to work policies, procedures and cases.
For all employees assigned to temporary work, monitor their medical health regularly. Make sure they are doing well physically and, if they are making progress, find out from their physician if they can move forward to more demanding tasks.
Develop and maintain a close working relationship with claims adjusters. Make sure they know your return to work program, and ask them for advice and suggestions to improve it.
Resist the temptation to turn temporary job assignments into indirect punishment. Understand that the work is therapy for the returning employee; make sure to stay positive and keep the work meaningful.
Consider establishing a transitional duty pay rate. It will be less than what the employee would earn working their normal job, but make sure it is consistent among all employees on transitional duty.
For return to work program employees, stay in frequent touch from the time of the return to work offer letter until they return to full working status. You should be accessible for them to be sure their return to work is progressing smoothly.
Develop a return to work plan for every injury that results in lost time. Communicate with the employee’s doctor so you understand when and how they can progress to various work tasks.
Learn More About Workers Compensation
Download our “Money Saving Workers Compensation Tips”. This PDF is full of Workers Compensation strategies that will positively effect your bottom line.
California’s Leader in Workers Compensation Insurance and Risk Management
As one of the fastest growing agencies in California, GDI Insurance Agency, Inc is able to provide its clients with the latest and greatest of what the insurance industry has to offer and much, much more. With locations across the heart of California’s Central Valley and beyond to provide a local feel to the solutions and services we provide our clients. We pride ourselves on exceeding our client’s expectations in every interaction to make sure that our client’s know how much we value and appreciate their business.
OSHA is Not Accepting Electronic Data From Forms 300 and 301 Until Further Notice
On July 30, 2018, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a proposed rule to eliminate electronic reporting requirements for data from OSHA Forms 300 and 301. OSHA initially established these requirements— which apply to establishments with 250 or more employees—in a final rule issued in 2016.
Covered establishments must still submit electronic reports on data from Form 300A through the agency’s Injury Tracking Application (ITA). The next deadline for this reporting is March 2, 2019. The proposed rule would require covered establishments to submit their federal employer identification numbers (EINs) along with their Form 300A information.
ACTION STEPS
Covered establishments must submit data from Form 300A through the ITA every year, but should not electronically submit data from Forms 300 and 301.
Anyone who is interested in submitting comments on the proposed rule must do so by Sept. 28, 2018.
Background
On May 12, 2016, OSHA issued a final rule that requires certain establishments to electronically submit information about work-related injuries, illnesses and incidents through the agency’s ITA website every year. Under the final rule:
Establishments that were already required to create and maintain OSHA injury and illness records and have 250 or more employees must electronically submit information from their OSHA Forms 300A, 300 and 301; and
Establishments that have between 20 and 249 employees and belong to a high-risk industry must electronically submit information from Form 300A.
The final rule’s deadline for submitting 2017 data from these forms was July 1, 2018. In June 2018, however, OSHA announced that it will not:
Enforce the July 1, 2018, deadline for information from Forms 300 and 301; or
Accept any electronic reports on information from Forms 300 and 301.
The June 2018 announcement confirmed that all establishments subject to the electronic reporting rule must still use the ITA to submit information from Form 300A.
2018 Proposed Rule
Citing worker privacy issues related to information from Forms 300 and 301, OSHA’s proposed rule formally announces that the agency intends to remove the requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees to electronically submit information from Forms 300 and 301 every year. Under the proposed rule, these establishments (along with other establishments that are subject to OSHA’s final rule) would only be required to electronically submit information from Form 300A.
According to the proposed rule, OSHA believes this change is necessary because electronic submission of data from Forms 300 and 301 allows the federal government to collect information that workers may deem sensitive, such as descriptions of their injuries and the body parts affected. As records in federal possession, this information would put worker privacy at risk because it could be subject to disclosure under the federal Freedom of Information Act.
OSHA explained that this risk does not justify stopping its electronic collection of Form 300A summaries, because the Form 300A information offers significant enforcement value with little privacy risk. OSHA uses this information to help it identify and target establishments with high rates of work-related injuries and illnesses and to develop and assess intervention programs.
OSHA also proposed changing the electronic reporting rule to require covered establishments to submit their EINs along with their Form 300A information. OSHA believes this requirement could reduce or eliminate duplicative reporting and increase the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ ability to use OSHA-collected data for purposes of publishing its annual Survey of Occupational Injury and Illness (SOII). OSHA uses data from the SOII to help determine how to improve safety programs and to measure the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s effectiveness in reducing work-related injuries and illnesses.
Request for Public Comments
OSHA’s proposed rule invites the public to submit comments on the benefits and disadvantages of removing the requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees to electronically submit data from Forms 300 and 301 on an annual basis. OSHA also invites comments on its proposal to add a requirement for employers to submit their EINs along with their injury and illness data.
The specific questions that OSHA is seeking comments on, along with instructions for submitting comments, are outlined in the proposal. The agency will accept public comments on these issues until Sept. 28, 2018.
Impact on Employers
While OSHA’s proposed rule is under consideration, the agency will not enforce the July 1, 2018, deadline for establishments with 250 or more employees to electronically submit the data from Forms 300 and 301. For 2017 data from Form 300A, OSHA indicated that it will continue accepting electronic reporting submissions after the July 1, 2018, deadline, but will mark these submissions as late. The next deadline for electronically submitting data from Form 300A is March 2, 2019.
IMPORTANT DATES
July 30, 2018
OSHA issued proposed rule.
September 28, 2018
Deadline for the public to submit comments on OSHA’s proposed rule.
March 2, 2019
Next deadline for electronically submitting data from Form 300A.
More Information
Contact GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. at 1-888-991-2929 or visit OSHA’s ITA website for more information regarding electronic reporting.
California’s Leader in Insurance and Risk Management
As one of the fastest growing agencies in California, GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. is able to provide its clients with the latest and greatest of what the insurance industry has to offer and much, much more. With locations across the heart of California’s Central Valley and beyond to provide a local feel to the solutions and services we provide our clients.
We pride ourselves on exceeding our client’s expectations in every interaction to make sure that our client’s know how much we value and appreciate their business. Contact us today 1-209-634-2929 for your comprehensive business insurance quote!
Employment Practices Liability Insurance: Crucial for Small Businesses
From the time you start the pre-employment process until after the exit interview, you are vulnerable for a lawsuit. Nearly three out of five employers will be sued by a prospective, current or former employee while in business. While many suits are groundless, defending against them is costly and time-consuming. This is why Employment Practices Liability Insurance is necessary.
Contact GDI Insurance Agency Inc. today at 1-888-991-2929 to see how affordable employment practices liability insurance is. We are your business insurance specialists.
What Does Employment Practices Liability Mean?
It is the area of an employment law that deals with:
Wrongful termination
Sexual harassment
Discrimination
Invasion of privacy
False imprisonment
Breach of contract
Emotional distress
Wage and hour law violations
Employment Practices Liability Insurance protects you from the outrageous costs of defending your business in a lawsuit.
According to a recent study, more than half of all claims filed for employment-related liabilities are against employers with fewer than 50 employees. Alarmingly, the study also reveals that not even 2 percent of small businesses have employment practices liability (EPL) coverage.
High Cost of Lawsuits
Employment-related claims can be extremely costly, especially in cases that drag on for years. With increasing adoption of worker-friendly laws, these cases are on the rise—in fact, discrimination claims have increased significantly in the last 20 years. According to data from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), most claims are based on race, sex, age and disability. Many small businesses cannot afford to pay these costs and keep their company afloat.
What Puts Small Businesses at Risk?
Understandably, it can be much more difficult for small businesses to defend themselves against employment-related claims because they tend to have fewer resources and a different work environment. Small businesses are particularly at risk for employment-related claims for the following reasons:
Many have a minimal staff and lack of in-house counsel and/or full human resources department to rely on
Overall lack of extensive recordkeeping on employee performance
More intimate working environments may cause personal riffs during layoffs
What’s Your Risk?
As a business leader, you make important personnel decisions on a daily basis. From hiring new workers to assigning duties, each of your decisions affects employees in a unique way. Although these actions are critical to running your business, they also create exposures that could lead to costly claims by employees or governmental regulators.
Even if they are not warranted, claims for wrongful employment practices can disrupt operations, damage your business’s reputation, hurt employee morale and negatively impact your bottom line. What’s worse, even if a business fosters a welcoming work environment and takes all of the necessary precautions to safeguard its employees, it can still face an employment practices liability claim.
Thankfully, businesses can rely on employment practices liability (EPL) insurance to protect against a wide range of wrongful employment practices claims, including:
Wrongful Termination
Discrimination
Sexual Harassment
Retaliation
EPL Insurance Is An Affordable Solution
Fortunately, with employment-based lawsuits on the rise and the economy’s upward climb, EPL coverage is becoming more affordable. More insurers are beginning to offer EPL insurance policies with comprehensive coverage to smaller businesses to protect them in tough times. In fact, EPL insurance is becoming so important to the success of small businesses that it is being offered at more affordable prices and being tailored specifically for those smaller companies. With the average cost of an employment lawsuit exceeding $270,000, the potential return dwarfs the initial cost of EPL coverage. Talk to GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. to learn if this risk transfer option is right for your business 1-888-991-2929.
California’s Leader in Insurance and Risk Management
As one of the fastest growing agencies in California, GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. is able to provide its clients with the latest and greatest of what the insurance industry has to offer and much more. With locations across the heart of California’s Central Valley and beyond to provide a local feel to the solutions and services we provide our clients.
We pride ourselves on exceeding our client’s expectations in every interaction to make sure that our client’s know how much we value and appreciate their business. Contact us today 1-209-634-2929 for your comprehensive business insurance quote!
The key to saving money on yourworkers compensation is more than just stopping a few accidents; it is having sound safety procedures designed to continually improve. By having an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) compliant safety program can reduce injuries, illnesses and save Workers Compensation dollars.
A broker from GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. will do this for you and can offer additional ways to save money on your workers comp insurance.
Safety Program Goals
Investigate near-miss incidents to prevent future accidents. Seventy-five percent of accidents are preceded by a near miss.
Create a risk control service plan based on your workers’ compensation losses. Pay particular attention to frequency and severity of claims to craft an appropriate plan.
Justify your risk control expenditures strategically to senior management so you receive the budget you need. Be sure they understand the importance of your company’s safety program and the money it saves in the long run.
Based on your experience with prior claims, create a workers’ compensation cost allocation program. Budget money by examining what types of claims you’ve had over the past several years and their cost.
Benchmark your company’s workers’ compensation performance against other comparable companies in your industry. This will help you identify areas to improve upon.
General Safety Procedures
Protect your employees by minimizing any job hazards. You should always be evaluating every aspects of your workplace to ensure the safest environment possible.
Prepare emergency announcements, and do test runs of emergency response systems to familiarize employees.
Choose a practical flooring surface, not just one that looks nice. Often, the best looking floors can be the most dangerous and will be slippery when wet.
Customize work spaces to fit each employee’s needs through ergonomic adjustments. By ensuring that an employee’s work space is tailored, you create a safer environment less prone to bodily stress or injury, and thus, less prone to workers’ compensation claims.
Educate your employees on the safest way to lift objects. Squatting with bent knees minimizes the stress to the back, regardless of what is being lifted.
Create a policy on distracted driving. Motor vehicle accidents account for a large percentage of work-related fatalities. Eating and drinking, cell phone use and music devices are all possible sources of distraction behind the wheel. The use of such devices could also be illegal, as more state and federal agencies crack down on distracted driving. A good policy can help prevent fatalities and limit liability for your company.
Along the same lines, prohibit texting while driving regardless of whether or not your state specifically prohibits the practice. Texting while driving makes an employee 23 times more likely to have an accident. A federal ban prohibiting divers of commercial vehicles from texting has also been recently enacted. Create a written policy for both distracted driving and texting while driving, and have all employees sign off on it.
Establish and enforce disciplinary measures for safety violations. There should be some type of corrective action for any employee who doesn’t abide by safety requirements.
Train your supervisors in-house. They may have previously been trained as supervisors in general, but they need to also be trained in your particular work environment.
California’s Leader in Workers Compensation Insurance and Risk Management
As one of the fastest growing agencies in California, .GDI Insurance Agency, Inc is able to provide its clients with the latest and greatest of what the insurance industry has to offer and much, much more. With locations across the heart of California’s Central Valley and beyond to provide a local feel to the solutions and services we provide our clients. We pride ourselves on exceeding our client’s expectations in every interaction to make sure that our client’s know how much we value and appreciate their business.
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On July 30, 2018, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a 
