business risks

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A new year brings with it an opportunity to assess your small business goals and needs. As you’re going through your 2023 checklist, don’t forget to include your business insurance in your new year check-up. 

Many small business owners are juggling many tasks to run their day-to-day operations. They don’t need the hassle of worrying about whether they have enough insurance coverage. So what does small business insurance look like? 

According to our partners, The Hartford, there are 11 areas of coverage small business owners need to have in place; however, if you are just starting out and cannot get all of the recommended coverage, you need to ensure that you at least have these three areas of your business covered:

1. General Liability Insurance: General Liability Insurance protects your business from claims it caused either in the form of bodily injury or property damage to someone else. This can be things like slips and falls in your place of business or store. Some business owners add a Product Liability policy to their General Liability policy to protect against injury from the use of their products.


2. Professional Liability Insurance: Professional Liability Insurance protects your business from mistakes in the professional service areas that your business provides. If you are sued for a mistake, this insurance policy will help cover the costs of your legal fees.


3. Workers’ Compensation Insurance: Workers’ Compensation Insurance provides benefits to employees who may be injured or fall ill under your employment. More than likely, your state laws require businesses to have this type of insurance.

In addition to the three policy areas mentioned above, you should strongly consider adding a Business Income Policy, Commercial Auto Insurance Policy and Data Breach Policy. These additional policies can be a lifeline for your business if something should go wrong. 

Upon a risk assessment by our team of advisors, other coverage areas may include Commercial Property Insurance, Commercial Umbrella Insurance, Employment Practice Liability Insurance, Business Owner’s Policy, and Hazard Insurance. 

Give yourself peace of mind in 2023 by making sure you are covered. Our risk advisors are ready to help you with all of your insurance needs and put the power to mitigate risk to work for you. 

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It’s time to include Multi-Factor Authentication into your protection plan.

Many insurance carriers are starting to require strict safeguards that a company must have in place to even receive a quote on cyber insurance. One minimum requirement is Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Many carriers will consider it too risky to provide coverage if it’s not included in your network protection plan.

Here’s why you should consider MFA to protect your network.

  • It’s a mechanism that adds an additional layer of protection to your network.
  • It requires any user to provide multiple credentials to confirm his or her identity.
  • Most carriers now want to see MFA being implemented to authenticate remote networks, administrative access, and remote access to email.
  • Incorporating these controls will reduce the possibility of a network security breach by a compromised password, limit broader access to a hacked network, and lessens the potential for unauthorized access to company email accounts.

If you’re a small and/or medium-sized company MFA is a great way to reduce risk. Talk to your IT partners about how to implement MFA in your business to help ensure that your network stays safe and to qualify for cyber insurance coverage.

For any questions you have about cyber insurance coverage, please reach out to a Prewitt Group representative for additional information.

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Amid the continued concerns of COVID-19/Coronavirus, please rest assured that The Prewitt Group is committed to keeping our clients and partners protected, prepared and informed. Therefore, we are sharing the following information that has been provided by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Please use the following information to help prepare your team:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has developed interim guidance for businesses and employers to plan for and respond to COVID-19. The interim guidance is intended to help prevent workplace exposures to acute respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19.

OSHA recordkeeping requirements mandate covered employers record certain work-related injuries and illnesses on their OSHA300 log. While exposure to common cold and flu are specifically exempt, incidents of employees contracting coronavirus at work are a “recordable” incident.

COVID-19 can be a recordable illness if a worker is infected as a result of performing their work-related duties. However, employers are only responsible for recording cases of COVID-19 if certain criteria are met https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/standards.html

Regarding employers with employees that could potentially be exposed to novel coronavirus, you can view Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) site for information that may apply to employee’s exposure to novel coronavirus.

  • OSHA’s Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) standards (in general industry, 29 CFR 1910 Subpart I), which require using gloves, eye and face protection, and respiratory protection.
  • When respirators are necessary to protect workers, employers must implement a comprehensive respiratory protection program in accordance with the Respiratory Protection standard (29 CFR 1910.134).
  • The General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970, 29 USC 654(a)(1), which requires employers to furnish to each worker “employment and a place of employment, which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.”

As always, The Prewitt Group is available to navigate the uncertainties and questions related to your business and industry. Our team of risk management advisors are ready and available to talk through specific concerns you may have. Please contact us at (205) 933-9207 or email your consultant directly.

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Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Short Term Life Insurance

Recent changes in the forest products industry involving the exit of insurance carriers from the property insurance marketplace along with tightening underwriting guidelines, and stricter loss control requirements, present a unique opportunity for us to help you navigate the road ahead.

Our forty-five years of experience and expansive network of Specialty Insurance Carriers for the Forest Products Industry allow us to serve you better and provide cost-savings solutions.

Our expertise includes risk management solutions for property, equipment and auto, claims management, risk control services and more.

Learn more about Forest Products Risk Control and contact us today as you look to navigate solutions for your specialty insurance needs.

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How to Prepare Your Business for Disaster

Did you know that 40 percent of businesses fail to reopen following a disaster? According to a report from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), another 25 percent of businesses fail within a year following a disaster. From natural disasters to cyberattacks, your business is at risk of facing downtime following an unfortunate event. In fact, more than 50 percent of companies experienced a downtime event in the past five years that last longer than a full workday.

Recovering from any disaster can be expensive and burdensome to your business, so it’s important to be prepared for emergency expenses and protect your assets with insurance. The saying, “Time is money” certainly applies in business, so minimizing downtime in case of an emergency is imperative.

Prepare for emergency expenses by:

  • Identifying your monthly financial obligations.
  • Creating an emergency fund to purchase supplies or equipment.
  • Having a credit card or line of credit available.
  • Establishing a payroll policy for during and after a disaster.
  • Establish clear strategies for controlling costs in a disaster situation.

Protect your assets with insurance: Meet with an insurance consultant to make sure you have the proper coverage for the disasters and risks your business faces. If you already have policies in place, review them with your insurance consultant to make sure you understand your deductibles, the limits of your insurance and the nature of your coverage. After all, there are many different types of coverage, all of which are subject to limitations and exclusions. For instance, some policies do not cover flood or earthquake damage, so you may need additional protection. In today’s world, you may want to consider obtaining cyber insurance to protect your business from data breaches and cyber-attacks. The Prewitt Group offers various commercial coverages including commercial property, commercial umbrella, boiler and machinery, business automobile and more.

All in all, when it comes to emergency preparedness, focus on prevention and protection. Effective preparedness can benefit the recovery process. It’s important to assess your risks and take steps to minimize damage and downtime.

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blockchain tech

Since its introduction, blockchain technology has created a tremendous buzz. Though it was originally developed for the digital currency, Bitcoin, the tech community is discovering other potential uses for the technology. Specifically, a recent Forbes article emphasized how blockchain technology could improve manufacturing this year.

What is Blockchain?

First, let’s discuss the basics of blockchain. Blockchain technology allows digital information to be distributed but not copied. Don and Alex Tapscott, authors of Blockchain Revolution, defined blockchain as “an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value.” Fortunately, like the internet and other technology, you don’t need to know how the blockchain works to use it. But if you’d like to learn more, check out the video below.

Benefits of Blockchain

In general, blockchain has the ability to transform traditional business models. It offers many business benefits, including greater transparency, enhanced security, improved traceability, increased efficiency and speed of transactions, and reduced costs.  According to Gartner, “the business value-add of blockchain will grow to slightly more than $176 billion by 2025, and then it will exceed $3.1 trillion by 2030.”

Blockchain in the Manufacturing Industry

Forbes emphasized that blockchain has the most potential to deliver business value in the manufacturing industry. Likewise, according to Capgemini Research Institute’s study, blockchain technology can improve manufacturing businesses’ supply chain efficiency by:

  • Increasing transparency and responsiveness.
  • Helping the end-consumer definitively identify if a product is manufactured by a given brand, which ensures authenticity and reduces counterfeits.
  • Enabling organizations to quickly trace contamination to its source and mitigate against costly and a potentially reputation-damaging mass recall of products.

These supply chain advancements could positively impact the manufacturing industry by increasing cost savings, reducing risks, averting product recalls and more. Capgemini’s study further revealed that 87 percent of organizations are in the early experimental stages, 10 percent are at the advanced stage of experimentation and 3 percent are deploying blockchain at scale. Though blockchain adoption is in its early stages across all business industries, manufacturers are leading the way. Is your business ready to adopt blockchain technology?