Monthly Archives: <span>December 2017</span>

Hundreds of Superfund Sites Face Flood Risks

When Anthony Stansbury moved down the street from the Anclote River in Florida last year, he didn’t know his slice of paradise had a hidden problem. The neighborhood is adjacent to the Stauffer Chemical Co. Superfund site, a former chemical …

Honda Reports 20th Death due to Exploding Takata Airbag

A faulty Takata airbag inflator has killed another person, this time in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Honda said Tuesday night. The unidentified person is the 20th death worldwide attributed to the faulty inflators, which can explode with too much force and …

Amtrak Didn’t Wait for Speed Control System That May Have Prevented Wreck

The rush to launch service on a new, faster Amtrak route near Seattle came at a deadly cost: none of the critical speed-control technology that could have prevented a derailment was active before the train set off on its maiden …

Oregon OSHA Report Outlines Employee Attacks at Chimp Sanctuary

Employees of a chimpanzee sanctuary in central Oregon were harmed by the animals by way of “amputations, choking, grabbing and biting,” a report by a state workplace safety agency said. The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division found 10 safety …

Pennsylvania Governor Orders Changes to Insurance for Sex Harassment Cases

Pennsylvania’s governor said Wednesday he wants to see changes in a state government self-insurance program that funded a quarter-million-dollar settlement over sexual harassment allegations against a state lawmaker. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said he learned this week about the settlement …

Business News: American Family, Trov/Waymo Partnership, ClaimVantage

American Family Invests in Advanced Analytics and AI Through Acquisition of Networked Insights With the purchase of Chicago-based data and analytics software company, Networked Insights, American Family Insurance will accelerate its digital transformation, including its use of data, advanced analytics …

Swiss Re: Natural Catastrophe Insured Losses Nearly Doubled in 2017

Preliminary sigma estimates for insured global losses resulting from natural and man-made disasters in 2017 are around $136 billion, well-above the annual average of the previous 10 years, and the third highest since sigma records began in 1970. Total economic …

Amtrak Train Brake Automatically Activated in Fatal Washington Derailment

Investigators are looking into whether the Amtrak engineer whose speeding train plunged off an overpass, killing at least three people, was distracted by the presence of an employee-in-training next to him in the locomotive, a federal official said Tuesday. The …

Oregon City’s Businesses Frustrated by Delayed Flood Maps

For the past two years, Cheri Lerma of Cheri’s Cafe & Cannon Beach Cookie has spent almost $10,000 on flood insurance she knows she doesn’t need. As a part of a countywide study by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, preliminary …

New Car Buyers Don’t Seek out Safety Tech, but Happy to Have it

A new telematics study by LexisNexis Risk Solutions found that most car buyers don’t seek out advanced safety and connectivity features in new cars, however 76 percent of connected car owners are pleased when they discover the benefits of having …