6 Mistakes to Avoid During a Personal Injury Claim

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Personal Injury Claim|6 Mistakes to Avoid During a Personal Injury ClaimIf you or someone in your family was involved in a preventable accident and there’s a possibility that the injuries could have come about as a result of negligent or careless behaviour, a personal injury claim may be the right choice. Taking legal action will hopefully lead to the liable parties being held responsible and ensure that appropriate compensation is awarded to the victim. Sounds easy on paper, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, the legal process can be long and complex. You have to ensure that you have the best workers compensation lawyer on your team so that your people get what they deserve. Having an injury at work, means that you need to pursue it when you can if you are the injured party. If you are a boss and someone is suing you because of workers compensation, then you need a lawyer as well. “The majority of personal injury cases are completed within six to nine months of the process being started. However, it should be noted that depending on the nature and details of your claim, the amount of time can vary from a few months to a number of years in order to see it through,” advises one expert in the field.

While you should always have the benefit of your personal injury solicitor’s expertise to guide you, it doesn’t do to underestimate the potentially huge physical and mental health implications on your ability to deal with the situation. In addition to physical pain and medical treatment, there may be emotional trauma to cope with, not to mention the added financial burden of medical bills, lost earnings and more.

You’ll want to understand how personal injury law works.  We’ve put together some of the most common mistakes you should absolutely avoid when making a personal injury claim.

1.Dealing direct, without the help of a lawyer

You may be tempted to do away with legal representation and deal with insurance companies yourself. Indeed, they may have advised you that settling a claim directly with them will lead to a better outcome for you, and without the need for costly legal fees. Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they? Given the vast in-house resources and legal knowhow of an insurance company, how well could you possibly do against them? What sort of a fight could you put up?

A specialist personal injury lawyer, on the other hand, will have built up vast experience in a wide range of injury, accident and medical negligence claims and know exactly how to approach your case. Many even offer no win, no fee agreements, meaning they will only charge you as and when your compensation is paid.

2. Assuming that all law firms are the same

With something as critical as a personal injury case, it pays to do a little research to find the best person to represent you. It’s your health and wellbeing at stake, so don’t be fobbed off by being allocated a law firm by an insurance company without checking that they are the best people for the job. You can, and should, choose your own lawyer.

Use the internet to shop around for personal injury specialist for your particular situation. Did you have an accident at work or on holiday? Are you making a medical claim or were you involved in a road traffic accident? There are lawyers with specialisations in warehouse accidents, motorbike accidents, anaesthetic negligence, cosmetic dentistry claims and much, much more. Make sure you choose someone you trust and who is local enough for you to visit, should you need to meet.

3. Not keeping key evidence

One of the most important things you must remember to do after the accident is to gather evidence and keep records safe. Any little detail may help you to prove that someone else was at fault, and make a successful claim later much more likely. Without compelling evidence, on the other hand, your claim has a greater chance of failing. Fortunately, an injury lawyer can help you in such a situation. You can learn more here about how experienced legal professionals can help you streamline the process and make things easier for you.

Take photos and video recordings on your mobile phone. Write down everything that happened, as soon as possible after it happened so it is still clear in your head. What were the weather conditions like? Was is sunny or were there street lights? Any shrubs obscuring your view? Speak to anyone who witnessed the accident as soon as you can, while they still remember every little detail and before they have a chance to change their mind about wanting to help.


4. Underestimating medical evidence

Expert medical evidence is at the heart of every successful personal injury claim. This is what determines the nature and extent of the injuries sustained as a result of an accident, as well as the prognosis for the claimant. If you are tempted to accept a sum of compensation immediately and without medical evidence, you may be making a grave mistake.

Neither is it wise to rely solely on your GP’s assessment, as they may not have the necessary expertise to diagnose complex issues. A whiplash injury resulting from a traffic accident, for instance, might need to be looked at by an orthopaedic surgeon and a consultant neurologist. Mistakes are all too common in medical reports and you are strongly advised to ask for a referral to a consultant.

5. Failing to report all symptoms

It is difficult to make an accurate medical diagnosis without having all the information, however good your doctor may be. If you don’t report all your symptoms, perhaps thinking they’re not important, your medical report won’t document the full extent of your injuries, and your compensation claim may suffer. Volunteer any information that you think may be relevant, even if your doctor doesn’t specifically ask.

Don’t forget that you may also suffer from mental/psychological symptoms, not just physical ones. Do you have trouble sleeping or are you acting strangely? What does your partner think about your behaviour? Are you drinking more or behaving aggressively? You could be suffering from Acute Stress Disorder. Make sure you disclose any change in mood or behaviour to your solicitor or medical expert.

6. Not keeping accurate financial records

While personal injury claims originate out the altered state of your health, the amount of compensation is calculated in hard cash. Here is a useful guide that explains what compensation entails.

The financial losses that you can claim for are wide reaching and go far beyond general damages. Make sure you don’t lose out by keeping all receipts and evidence of expenditure in a safe place. From hospital parking for medical appointments, to takeout food when you are unable to cook, loss of earnings of a family member caring for you or round-the-clock homecare where necessary, there are 101 items that may be claimable.

The Risk Of COVID-19 Lawsuits- Litigation Lessons For Businesses

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |COVID-19 Lawsuits|The Risk Of COVID-19 Lawsuits- Litigation Lessons For BusinessesThe COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way businesses operate. But remote work and economic downturn are not the only implications you may have to face. Right now, you have to gear up for the possibility of an onslaught of personal injury lawsuits that claim compensation for the victim contracting the virus due to your company’s negligence. In these circumstances, a risk management strategy can help you deal with the lawsuits with a better defense. Timely and proper action can save you from a lot of trouble, so you must be prepared with these effective litigation lessons.

Causation is the key

When it comes to COVID litigation, causation is the first and foremost issue. Primarily, the plaintiff will have to prove that the disease was contracted on your business premises. They will need to present reliable evidence to validate causation. The second fact that decides causation is whether the action or inaction of the business caused the victim to contract the virus. This can be decided based on facts such as whether training or different personal protective equipment would have prevented the victim from being infected.

Verification of infection is important

While a victim needs to prove causation of infection to file a claim against the business, they must also substantiate that they had the disease. After all, your company will have to pay them if they actually sustained damages, just as it happens with the compensation for injuries in a typical car accident claim. The victim gets compensation only for the value of injuries they sustain in the mishap. Similarly, if there was no disease despite the exposure, there isn’t a valid claim.

Warnings and precautions reduce exposure in litigation

The implementation of preventative measures and warnings by a business goes a long way in defending lawsuits. On the other hand, not doing so means you are flouting the standards of reasonable care and this can make you liable for spreading the contagion. According to experienced trial attorneys, you have a stronger defense if you have taken adequate actions to curb the infection at your premises or as a part of your operations. For example, closure during lockdowns and following the regulatory
healthcare norms after reopening can make a difference.

Beware of big damages

Personal injury cases involving the contraction of COVID-19 can be of high value as it has happened with infectious disease litigation in the past. The jury may assess large compensatory awards along with punitive damages, which can spell massive financial burden for your business. So it makes sense to have adequate insurance cover to help your business handle the implications of such lawsuits. After all, the last thing you would want during this financial crisis is a verdict that requires you to pay multi-million dollar compensation.

The COVID era is a time of crisis for businesses in more than one way. While an operational transition can keep your company up and running, you cannot forget the significance of staying safe from pandemic-related lawsuits. Being aware of these lessons and taking the right actions can help a lot.

Improve Business Security With These Core Hacks

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Business Security|Improve Business Security With These Core HacksWhen you are trying to run a modern company, it is important to do as much as you can to enhance the safety and security of the business. There are loads of things you can do that are going to help you make the most of this right now. The better you can protect your business the more important it is for you to be able to grow and develop as a brand, and there are plenty of ways of doing this.

You need to make sure you do as much as possible to think about how you can get this right, and there are loads of amazing ideas that will help enhance business security. One of the best things you can do is to focus on how your company is run in the safest and most appealing way. Here are some of the ways of improving business security and helping the company thrive and grow.

CCTV

Most modern businesses would do well to have some form of CCTV, and this is even more important if your company has premises where equipment and machinery is stored. This is something you’re going to want to protect, and you need to try to make the most of this right now. Come up with the best ideas that can play a role in helping you look after your business, and it’s pretty clear that CCTV is one of the best ways of being able to do this. Think about what it takes to work on this right now, and there are a lot of factors that play a role in helping your company improve its security.

Keycards

You have to try to make the most of doing as much as you can to take things to the next level. It is so important to integrate some sort of digital security procedures in order to make your business a bit safer and more secure. One of the best ways of being able to achieve this would be through an easy-to-use, on-site identity badge printer that can be used to create ID so that you know who is coming and going from the business, as well as being able to integrate keycards for entry and exit.

Cybersecurity

It is important to make sure you do as much as you can to look after the future and integrity of the business, and one of the best ways of doing this is to make sure you focus on cybersecurity, There are so many ideas that you need to work on that are going to allow you to focus on getting this right moving forward. Try to come up with some of the best ways of implementing cybersecurity in the business, and this is something you need to focus on right now.

Coming up with some of the best ideas to help you take your business security to the next level is really important because it is a great way of making everything easier for your business. There are a lot of factors that play a part in this, and you have to make sure you think carefully about the best ways of being able to improve your business security in the right sort of way.

8 Ways to Protect Your Business From Cyberthreats

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |cyberthreats |8 Ways to Protect Your Business From CyberthreatsEvery 39 seconds, there is a new cybersecurity attack. On any given day, there are around 80,000 cybersecurity attacks worldwide, equating to about 30 million attacks per year.

If you think your business is immune to cybersecurity threats, you’re wrong. Luckily, there’s a lot that you can do to protect your business from a cybersecurity attack.

Check out this guide to discover how to protect your business from cyberthreats.

1. Use Secure Passwords

A lot of times, cybersecurity attacks happen because of poorly chosen passwords. Creating a strong password is one of the easiest things you can do to prevent a breach in your system.

For a password to be strong it should:

  • Contain letters, numbers, and special characters
  • Be 8 to 15 characters long
  • Never be written down or stored in a nearby device
  • Updated frequently
  • Never contain personal information (Ie, birthdays, family member names, etc)

Make sure all of your employees know how to create a good password, and encourage them to change their passwords every 90 days or so.

2. Install Anti-Malware and Anti-Spyware Software

Installing anti-malware and anti-spyware software is another simple thing you can do to protect your business from cyberthreats.

When researching different software options, make sure you look for one that can run a full system scan on your computers. Also, you want to choose software that automatically updates itself and quarantines and removes malware and spyware.

While you may be tempted to purchase anti-virus software that comes with anti-malware and anti-spyware capabilities, it’s important to understand that a single piece of software is incapable of scanning and removing everything.

A multi-layered approach is the best way to secure your computer system.

3. Install Anti-Virus Software

In addition to installing anti-malware and anti-spyware software, you should also install anti-virus software.
This type of software continuously scans for viruses that are trying to break into your system files, emails, and operating systems. Just like quality anti-malware/spyware software, quality anti-virus software will run periodic updates.

When choosing an ant-virus software program, make sure you look for one that has daily-anti virus updates and a good reputation. You also want to double-check that the software program is compatible with your computer.

4. Use Email and the Internet With Caution

If your business does a lot of communication with email, then you especially want to be careful about what emails you open. While hackers can exploit an email in a variety of different ways, one of the most common things they do hide viruses in attachments.

If you receive an email from an address that you don’t recognize, don’t open it. Instead, delete it from your inbox immediately and add the address to your spam list.

You also need to take extra caution when using the internet, as even the safest websites can contain malware and spyware. One common way hackers lure internet users is by creating a fake website that looks just like a real website.

When entering a website URL, make sure to double-check the name of the website and make sure you’re spelling it correctly. Also, you should avoid clicking on graphics, popups, ads, and links to other websites.

5. Secure Your Wifi Network

Securing your Wifi network is another simple thing you can do to protect your business from cyberthreats.
If you leave your Wifi networks open, you’re giving hackers an open door to infiltrate your network and access your private information. So, make sure all of your business’ Wifi networks are private.

If you have a brick and mortar business that is frequented by customers, you should also create two Wifi networks: one for your business and one for your customers. This way, you don’t have to worry about your Wifi password getting into the wrong hands.

6. Backup Important Business Data

No matter how many steps you take to protect your business from a cybersecurity threat, cybersecurity breaches can still happen. Therefore, it’s important that you prepare your business for the worst-case scenario.

You should back up all of your critical business data and information. This way, if there is a cybersecurity breach, your business flow won’t be interrupted and your bottom line won’t be affected.

7. Train Your Employees On the Best Cybersecurity Practices

Knowing all of these cybersecurity protection tactics won’t do you any good if your employees don’t know them as well. As we mentioned earlier in the article, your employees should know how to choose a strong password and how often to change it.

But, the education shouldn’t stop there. You should also educate your employees on how to protect their data, set up a firewall, and how to recognize a security breach.

The reality is that most cybersecurity breaches are the result of human error, and all it takes is one mistake from an uninformed employee to compromise your business. While you can take on the cybersecurity training yourself, we recommend bringing in experts to help you, as they’ll be the most informed on the latest strategies and threats.

8. Conduct Penetration Testing

Last but not least, your business should conduct penetration testing on your computer systems.

Penetration testing involves simulating a cybersecurity attack in order to check for vulnerabilities in your computer system. Penetration testing comes with many benefits, including:

  • Detecting and avoiding security threats
  • Protecting customer loyalty and your company image
  • Evading penalties associated with breaches
  • To conduct penetration testing, make sure you work with a reputable company.

Are You Ready to Protect Your Business Against Cyberthreats?

Now that you’ve read this guide, it’s time to put these tips into action so you can protect your business against cyberthreats. Pretty soon, your business will be more secured than ever before.

Be sure to check back in with our blog for more cybersecurity-related tips and tricks.

Office 365 phishing: the latest scams your employees need to know about

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Office 365 Phishing|Office 365 phishing: the latest scams your employees need to know aboutMicrosoft’s Office 365 is often targeted by scammers and cybercriminals. This is a major problem, as Office 365 is one of the most widely used software suites by businesses around the world – undoubtedly part of the reason that it is so often under attack.

Despite the fact that the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has made a concerted effort to implore system admins to implement stronger cybersecurity practice, Office 365 is still exceptionally vulnerable. In fact, there is damning evidence from Microsoft itself about the security practice of its users.

Through a security dashboard available to Office 365 administrators, users are given a ‘security score’ to indicate the strength of their defences and security processes. The maximum score is 707, and yet the average Office 365 score is just 37.

Businesses using Office 365 need to ensure that they are taking their cybersecurity extremely seriously. One of the most important ways of doing this is to provide your employees with as much information on the types of attacks they can face as possible. Some of the most common scams are phishing schemes – and these can take many forms.

Some of the Office 365 scams to look out for

Cybercriminals use a wide variety of tricks in attempting to compromise users – this can involve impersonating Microsoft or other well-known businesses. While there is an almost unlimited variation in the types of scams, some of the most widely seen include the following

  • Fake meeting requests – this type of phishing scam sends messages that spoof the name and email address of a senior executive and asks the users to reschedule a meeting, by taking part in a poll to choose the new date and time. When a user clicks on the link, they are presented with what appears to be an Office 365 login page but it is in fact a phishing site.
  • Employee pay rises – this scam uses the bait of a pay rise to convince employees to give up their Office 365 login credentials. The email contains a link to an apparent spreadsheet containing details of an employee salary increase – however, the link takes the user to a phishing site that looks like the Office 365 login page. This scam is especially effective because the login page displays the user’s email address prominently.
  • Voicemail scams – this scam makes use of a genuine audio recording that requests employees allow Microsoft access to their Office 365 account, along with an almost identical login page that actually harvests the victim’s details.
  • Content scams – it is also possible for criminals to utilise Microsoft Sway – a genuine presentation software – to create a spoofed site. This looks genuine and even experienced and knowledgeable users have been tricked into entering their details. The fact that the phishing email contains a link to a genuine Microsoft product makes it very difficult to spot this form of cybercrime.
  • Conversation hijacking – this scam sees phishers infiltrate a genuine email account using previously compromised credentials, and then insert themselves into a conversion – essentially taking on the persona of the account that they have gained access to. When another employee gets an email from this ‘trusted’ colleague, they will happily click on the links they contain, which takes them through to a spoofed site.

Admins are targeted too

It is not just general employees who are targeted with phishing scams. IT administrators are singled out by cybercriminals, as their accounts typically have greater privileges and access to more company data. With access to an admin account, criminals can carry out extremely effective attacks against other members of the organisation by creating new accounts.

Administrators in Office 365 typically have access to all of the email accounts on the domain, which may allow cybercriminals to take over those accounts or retrieve emails from them.

How to improve your Office 365 security

Of course, improving employee knowledge is a vital way to reduce the effectiveness of phishing attacks. But it is also important to take a multi-layered approach to Office 365 security and put additional defences in place in order to mitigate the potential damage of an attack.

There are various steps that businesses can take such as enforce multi-factor authentication as a part of account access, as well as ensuring that administrators have a separate account for day-to-day access and only use the admin account when necessary.

It is almost important to invest in proactive monitoring of your network in order to detect any malware or unusual activity. The earlier that any suspicious activity is detected, the sooner it can be acted upon. This reduces the window of opportunity for a cybercriminal to achieve his or her intended goal.