Workplace and safety tips brought to you by:
Ollis & Company
DID YOU KNOW
Building on its unprecedented participation
from last year's event, OSHA has
announced this year's Fall Safety StandDown to prevent falls in construction,
scheduled for May 4-15, 2015. Last year,
tens of thousands of employers and more
than 1 million workers across the country
joined OSHA in a week-long construction
Fall Safety Stand-Down, the largest
occupational safety event ever hosted in
the United States.
Boost Your Cyber Security with
One Simple Solution
There are plenty of intensive ways to
increase your company’s cyber
security such as using VPNs or
implementing firewalls. But the
easiest way to quickly boost your
cyber security is to encourage your
employees to use complex, secure
passwords.
Software Advice, a trusted firm for
software buyers, conducted a survey
of 192 employees and found that 44
percent of employees are not
confident about the strength of their
passwords. The firm also found that
one third of employees surveyed
reuse passwords or use the same
password for multiple log ins. This is
especially dangerous because it
allows hackers to access multiple
accounts via a single stolen
password.
Encourage, or even require, your
employees to use strong passwords.
Strong passwords should be at least
eight characters long and mix upper
and lowercase letters and numbers.
Using common names or words is a
bad idea, since a common hacker
technique is to use dictionary hacking
that attempts common word and
number combinations.
Anthem’s Costly Data
Breach
In February, Anthem, the secondlargest U.S. health insurance
provider, confirmed that it had
suffered a data breach that resulted
in the exposure and theft of the
personal information of up to 80
million current and former customers
and employees. Hackers accessed
the database that held this
information by using a stolen
password.
Fortunately, Anthem does have a
cyber security insurance policy in
place that covers up to $100 million
in losses. But the large amount of
individuals affected by this attack is
expected to exhaust the policy, since
Anthem intends to notify each
(Continued on next page.)
Combining Wellness & Risk Management
Anthem’s Data Breach
Combine your workplace wellness program with your risk management and
safety program and you could see big savings on your workers’ compensation
costs.
(Continued from previous page.)
Workers’ compensation is one of a business’ largest operational expenses—
and costs are on the rise. According to the Insurance Information Institute,
medical costs will account for up to 67 percent of total costs of workers’
compensation claims by 2019.
Integrating workplace wellness with your risk management program can help
you control workers’ compensation claim costs by reducing both return-to-work
days and the frequency and severity of claims. Not only will you see savings in
your employee health care benefits, but you’ll also see a drop in the medical
costs associated with workers’ compensation claims.
Workplace wellness programs often focus on risk factors such as smoking and
obesity, which lead to higher health insurance premiums. But weight
management and fitness also affect on-the-job safety and are risk factors for
accidents as well. By integrating your risk management program with your
workplace wellness program, you can focus on the total wellbeing of your
workers—improving their personal health and fitness while also preventing
work-related injuries and illnesses.
So where do you start with integrating these two programs to create one
healthy workplace culture? Or what if you don’t even have a wellness program
in place yet? Every company is different, and there is not a one-size-fits-all
approach that will work for every employer. Consider making a series of small
changes first. Start a walking program, which is usually little or no cost. Put
healthy food options in the vending machine. Or offer on-site weight
management and smoking cessation counseling. Work toward creating a
program that tracks participants' progress.
person. Therefore, if Anthem
exceeds the limits of its policy, it will
be responsible for the additional
costs.
The fact that Anthem is a large
company does not mean it was more
prone to a data breach. Companies
of any size need to be prepared for
the threat of a breach with proper
cyber liability coverage because data
breaches are costly. According to the
Ponemon Institute’s 2014 Cost of a
Data Breach Survey, the average per
record cost of a data breach was
$201 in 2013; the average
organizational cost of a data breach
was $5.9 million.
Contact Ollis & Company to discuss
your cyber insurance options.
If you need assistance getting started, Ollis & Company has a variety of
workplace wellness resources and tools, in addition to resources to reduce
workers’ compensation costs.
Workplace and safety tips brought to you by the
insurance professionals at:
Ollis & Company
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