What Is The Best Insurance For Your Small Package Shipments?

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If you have high hopes for entrepreneurial business success then you’re probably thinking of how you could do this. There are so many business ideas out there, and what do you see yourself doing? For many people they’ll opt to sell products. This could be wholesale items, handmade, and the list could go on and on.

If you’re starting a business, you’ll also want to think about the logistics of it, such as shipping. This can include getting insurance from third parties such as www.secursus.com. But before you begin all that, how do you determine the best insurance for shipping packages? How can you feel confident in your choice if it’s something you’re unfamiliar with? Here is everything you need to know!

StrategyDriven Risk Management Article | What Is The Best Insurance For Your Small Package Shipments?

Why should a business owner buy small packages insurance?

Some people might think that it is not worth buying because they only have a few personal belongings that are worth protecting. Package Insurance is one type of insurance that covers packages and shipments up to a certain value. It provides coverage for the shipment against loss or damage in transit and for the goods within the shipment against loss or damage during storage and transport. This type of insurance can help you out in the event that something does happen and you need to replace your items quickly; a lot of business owners need it.

What factors impact the cost of shipping insurance?

An insurance company will charge a different amount for shipping insurance than the one charged by a carrier. The price difference is based on the company’s risk assessment. Some factors that impact the cost of shipping insurance are:

  • The type of goods being shipped
  • The size and weight of the goods
  • The type of service used to ship the goods
  • Whether or not there is a contract between the buyer and seller

If you’re starting out, there may be a chance that it could be expensive. However, you’ll need to keep your options option and look into different providers.


What does small package insurance cover?

As a business owner who creates and sells products, there is always a chance that during transit something could happen to the package. It could get lost, stolen, or even possibly face some type of damage, It’s clearly not ideal, either. This is why small package insurance is needed for business owners. You won’t have to worry about losing money, and you will still be able to keep solid relationships with customers and clients. It’s going to be up to the insurance company and what they’re planning to offer.

The most common types of small package policies include:

  • Insurance on items valued under $500
  • Insurance on items valued between $500 and $1,000
  • Insurance on items valued between $1,000 and $2,000
  • Insurance on items valued between $2,000 and $5,000

However, keep in mind that it will still vary and this is merely an estimate.

Are there any extra fees?

The most common of these is a broker or destination fee, which usually applies to shipments sent by certain logistic companies like FedEx. These charges vary depending on the size of your shipment and your location. If you are shipping something from one company to another company, you might need to pay a broker fee for each shipment as well as a destination fee for each endpoint. It’s all just going to heavily depend.

Manufacturing: 5 Ways To Boost Safety At Your Factory

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article | Manufacturing: 5 Ways To Boost Safety At Your Factory

There is no denying that factory safety is crucial – whether you are running a textile business or a company that produces machinery in a factory.

The safety measures you put in place will depend on various factors, such as the nature of your business, the things you do, and the size of your premises.

That said, there are some ways to boost the safety of your industrial operation – irrespective of your business type. Whatever you manufacture, it’s worth knowing what you can do to improve your workplace safety.

Take a look at the following examples to give you some ideas and inspiration, as it’s likely you may not have implemented at least one of them at your premises:

1. Have A Robust Training Program

Did you know that one of the most common reasons for workplace accidents at manufacturing premises is due to inadequate training?

You are a responsible employer, and the safety of your workforce should be at the forefront of your mind. Therefore, you must ensure there is a robust training program in place for all employees to cover all aspects of safety and equipment operation related to their roles.

Moreover, you should block employees (such as new starters) from doing anything potentially dangerous until they’ve received the correct training for their jobs.

2. Periodically Upgrade Manufacturing Equipment

All equipment used in manufacturing processes will undeniably have a limited lifespan – irrespective of maintenance schedules.

There will come a time when the tools and equipment you use become obsolete or not fit for purpose, and it’s at those times you must upgrade them to new ones.

The frequency of planned upgrades will depend on the tools and equipment used, and the recommended upgrade paths from equipment manufacturers or industry experts.


3. Enforce PPE

PPE or Personal Protective Equipment is a must when working in a manufacturing environment – even if an employee’s role is merely to package newly produced goods.

Ensure that all employees have access to the PPE required for their roles and investigate processes where staff may need revised PPE for their work.

4. Have Thorough Regular Safety Checks

Regular safety checks of all manufacturing processes at your business must get conducted. Doing so will diminish the risk of accidents and injuries in the workplace and, of course, ensure optimal productivity.

If you feel such checks aren’t thorough enough, consider investing in some process safety training courses for key members of your workforce and create a robust safety check plan that everyone can follow with ease.

5. Ensure All Emergency Exits Are Clear

One final point to consider for your manufacturing business is to ensure that all emergency exits are clear at all times.

It might seem like an obvious statement to make, but some companies become complacent in this respect, and the results can be potentially devastating.

Ensure that all employees are aware of the importance of keeping emergency exits clear, and conduct checks of those exits several times each day for added peace of mind.

7 Ways to Ensure the Safety of Your Commercial Premises

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There are plenty of things that can impact the success of your business. But there’s arguably none worse than a safety incident at your premises. If that happens, your business won’t just face financial repercussions, but it could also face legal ones, too. Plus, as a good employer, it’s essential that you create a safe environment for your employees. In this blog, we’re going to run through some effective methods for ensuring that your commercial premises are as safe as can be.

Hire an Expert

To put your business on the path towards impeccable safety, you’ll need to know what the safety threats are. Sometimes, this is an easy process because identifying safety issues is relatively straightforward. In other types of facilities, it’s more difficult. If you’re unable to clearly identify what the safety concerns may be, then it’s recommended that you hire a safety expert to do the job for you. They’ll be able to tell you where your potential weak points are and make recommendations for how you can improve things.

Take Care of the Infrastructure

There are plenty of things that can cause a safety incident at your business. The leading non-human cause of accidents is faulty infrastructure. As such, it’s important that you make every effort to ensure that the infrastructure of your business is watertight from a safety point of view. For example, are your safety valves up to standard? Is your roof watertight and secure? This is something that requires ongoing management — you can’t just look at these things once and expect them to work forever. After all, things do lose their quality over time.

Train Your Staff

Most workplace accidents are a result of human error. That’s not to say it’s the employee’s fault, however. If they haven’t been specifically trained to use the company’s equipment properly, then it’s actually the company’s fault, not the employee’s. Health and safety training isn’t the most exciting task, sure, but it is a critical one. You should be conducting regular training sessions so that your team is always up to date with the latest practices. It’s a good idea to hire a professional to lead the training sessions unless you have specific training in that field.

Maintain a Clean and Tidy Environment

There are plenty of workplaces that are safe when they’re in spotless condition. It’s when they’re not in a spotless condition that issues arise. This is a particular issue in warehouses and factories, but in truth, all business premises can suffer from being untidy. It just makes the environment more dangerous — it’s not hard to see how an injury could occur if someone was carrying something and tripped over an item that shouldn’t be there. As such, it’s imperative that you’re working to keep your work environment clean and tidy at all times. If you have a particularly busy workplace, then it could be a good idea to hire a cleaner to do the task for you.


Take Every Incident Seriously

Serious accidents in the workplace are rare. However, when you look at the events leading up to those incidents, you usually find that the signs that something bad was going to happen were there. It’s just that those early signs were non-serious injuries, so no one took them seriously. It’s for this reason that you should take every incident in the workplace seriously, even if the injury is extremely minimal. You might have just gotten lucky this time around — the next time could result in a serious injury.

Health and Safety Tools

It’s essential to invest in the correct health and safety tools for your site. It’s not hard to see how a fire extinguisher could be extremely useful if the premises experienced flames. There’s much more to know about safety equipment than you might expect, however. There are various different types of fire extinguishers, for example, with each type being used to put out a different type of fire. You will also want to have an extensive first aid kit, as well as any equipment that is specific to your particular line of work.

Secure the Premises

Finally, be sure to work on securing your premises so that no one can enter the building. The chances of someone entering your facility with the intention of doing harm are extremely small, but it’s not zero. Having keypad access, CCTV cameras, and other security equipment won’t just protect your team of staff but will also ensure that your site is kept safe when you’re not there too.

Safety Choices You Must Make To Protect Your Business

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Protect your business|Safety Choices You Must Make To Protect Your BusinessAre you looking for ways that you can improve your business? If so, then you might want to consider some of the key steps that you can take to make your business safer. These are some of the options worth exploring.

The Right Checks

First, you need to make sure that you are completing the right checks in your business. For instance, you need to ensure that the sprinkler systems are in the right condition. You might also want to explore gas leak detection and emission monitoring solutions. This could be beneficial depending on the type of business you are running and the industry that you are part of.

PPE

Next, think about the type of PPE you may need within your workplace. For instance, if you are working on a building site then you will need to supply hard hats and Hi-Viz vests. PPE is there to keep eveyone safe and if you are found out not to be using it correctly then you could get yourself and your business in quite a bit of trouble. Although not a true piece of PPE, it has become the norm to wear face masks due to the risk of contracting or passing on Covid-19. It might be helpful if your business had a box of masks at the entrance for anyone who has forgotten their own.


Health And Safety Officers

You might also want to consider hiring one or two health and safety officers. Health and safety officers will check your business for signs of an accident or incident occuring. Essentially, they will pinpoint and point out hazards that could lead to a disasterous situation. This could include wires that are strewn across the floor or a piece of equipment which isn’t functioning the way it should be. You can hire an in-house member of your team as a health and safety officer. Alternatively, you can also consider hiring someone outside of your business to fill this role. If you take the latter step then you will be able to hire someone who already has the right levels of training, qualifications and experience to fill this vital role.

Training

Finally, you should think about training for your team members. The majority of injuries and accidents in your business are going to be due to human error. That’s just a fact and the sooner you come to terms with this, the sooner you can take steps to deal with the problem. Specifically, you should make sure that you are exploring training for every employee. This will help them avoid critical mistakes while also ensuring that they know what to do if an accident does occur.

We hope this helps you understand some of the key steps that you can take to ensure that your business is safe and has the right level of protection in place. By exploring the best options here, you can avoid a situation where you are inundated with PI claims and guarantee that your company does not develop a poor reputation due to the lack of care for your team.

How Businesses Should Handle Sensitive Data in 2022

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Handle Sensitive Data|How Businesses Should Handle Sensitive Data in 2022Mishandling sensitive data can be fatal for your business. Not only is this data usually given to you in trust by your customers, but it’s something that you’re legally required to protect, keeping safe and secure. In this article, we’ll look at ways in which you should be handling all sensitive data internally. The tips below will ensure that you’re able to keep handling sensitive data – whether that’s credit card details or personally identifiable information – without being at risk of data breaches or leaks that could damage your business.

Training

All good data handling begins with training. All your staff should be trained in how to keep data secure and how to keep their logins and passwords safe. This might take a training day, with you bringing in external facilitators to show your staff how to best handle data. Alternatively, you could appoint a data manager who is ultimately in charge of how your data is handled internally. They’ll have the master key for your sensitive data, and they’ll be an employee that you can trust to know how to handle data without leaving it at risk of being stolen or exposed.

Transfers

Sometimes, you’ll need to transfer sensitive data from place to place. That might be from one physical server to another, from your business to another business, or from a physical server into the cloud. During these moments of transit, your data is more likely to be intercepted and exposed, which means that you should concentrate on finding ways to secure your data when it’s in transit. Use Globalscape secure file transfer technology to ensure that your data is moved from place to place without the risk of being intercepted by bad actors or leaked accidentally when you need to move data to a new location.


Cybersecurity

Even when your data is simply sitting in a database without being moved, it could be exposed by bad actors who hack into your systems. This has happened several times in the past year, often via ransomware attacks that steal company data and demand a ransom payment to have it returned to them. The best way to protect from these threats is to install a reliable cybersecurity system. These are sold to businesses in many shapes and sizes, so it’s well worth doing a little research before deciding on which package you should purchase. Many are tailored to businesses just like yours.

Data Hygiene

The final tip in this guide is to keep your data clean and readable at all times. If your data is scattered across different platforms, is difficult to read, and will take a lot of manual editing in order to understand and leverage, it’s more likely that your workers will have to access sensitive data on their laptops and work devices, instead of leaving that data protected within files and databases. If you practice good data hygiene and keep your data machine-readable, you’ll never have to expose your data in the first place – it’ll be read and processed automatically, which means you’ll rarely have to access it in the first place.

Use these tips to secure your sensitive data in the future.