Monthly Archives: <span>August 2016</span>

Implementing Claims Best Practices Requires Careful Thought

While having claims best practices can benefit an insurer, it’s important that claims management review and evaluate their reasonableness on a regular basis, according to Kevin Quinley, founder and principal of Quinley Risk Associates. In a recent Claims Journal podcast …

Texas Engineer Ready to Retire After Years Shoring Up Houston’s Flood Defenses

Shoring up the Houston area’s defenses against the scourge, the inevitability, of flooding in a city built on a swamp has been Mike Talbott’s “one and only career.” The Houston Chronicle reports as a young engineer, a project manager, the …

Auto, Tech Industries at Odds Over Airwaves to Aid Talking Cars

Cars that wirelessly talk to each other are finally ready for the road, creating the potential to dramatically reduce traffic deaths, improve the safety of self-driving cars and someday maybe even help solve traffic jams, automakers and government officials say. …

Painted Bike Lanes Being Replaced With Safer Alternatives

Bike lanes are evolving. Cities are increasingly changing them to make them safer in light of fatal crashes involving cyclists and cars. From Boston to San Francisco and New York to Tokyo, traditional bike lanes running alongside vehicle traffic are …

Court Rules New Jersey Waterpark Visitor Paralyzed in Accident Can Sue

A New Jersey waterpark visitor who was partially paralyzed in an accident has had his lawsuit reinstated. Roy Steinberg says employees at Sahara Sam’s Oasis Water Park in West Berlin, Camden County, didn’t properly instruct him on safety on a …

Tennessee OSHA Chief Says Recent Deaths ‘Alarming’

The head of the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration says a spike in on-the-job fatalities last month is “alarming.” TOSHA administrator Steve Hawkins tells WPLN-FM four of the 10 deaths in July were on construction sites. Most of the …

Low Penalties Let People Off the Hook for Driving Uninsured

Dan McMullen is an insurance agent in Ferguson, Mo. His Solo Insurance office is on West Florissant Avenue, the epicenter of the trouble two years ago. The building next to his office burned into ruins. There aren’t many millionaires among …

Student Researcher Studies How to Keep Cars From Being Hacked

In 2015, two researchers remotely hacked a Jeep Cherokee being driven by a reporter who documented how the researchers controlled everything from the car’s radio and media console to its brakes and steering. For Dr. Shucheng Yu, an associate professor …

QIS: Insurance Carriers Face Enhanced Risk in Age of Big Data

California-based Quadrant Information Services, a provider of big data technology for the property/casualty insurance industry, warns that digitization is a two-edged sword: with increased capability comes an increased danger of expensive—and possibly actionable—data security breaches. Breaches of data security are …

Window Covering Makers May Finally Go Cordless to Avert Child Strangulation Deaths

Window covering cords have been the cause of more than 800 deaths of children globally, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The hidden hazard occurs when a child gets entangled within the loose cords. In 2014, the federal …