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lockout tagout

The Basics of a Strong Lockout/Tagout Program

Every year, hundreds of workers in the United States die because they don’t follow lockout/tagout procedures or their employers did not have them in place – or, if they did, failed to enforce their rules. A lockout tagout is a protection system against unintentional exposure to hazardous energy from equipment and machinery.  You want a program

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Multiple Factors Driving Commercial Property Insurance Rates

The commercial property insurance market continues hardening, with average rates up 9.3% in the first quarter of 2023, according to MarketScout. Rates for business properties have been climbing steadily for the last six years, but those increases have grown at a faster clip since the COVID-19 pandemic crippled global supply chains and disrupted economies around

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Scam QR Codes Pose Threat to Your Organization

QR codes — short for Quick Response codes — are everywhere these days, on the tables at restaurants, on posters, print and electronic advertising, and even during TV programming and commercials. By training your smartphone camera on one, you’ll get a prompt to click to open a web page, typically one for the company behind

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Judge Deals Blow to Preventative Care Coverage under ACA

A recent decision by a federal judge in Texas to issue an injunction on a pivotal part of the Affordable Care Act requiring insurers to offer certain types of free preventative care, has raised concerns that some health plans will stop paying for these services. However, since most employer-sponsored plans are on annual contracts, the

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Could Your Firm Weather a Two-Week Shutdown?

If you had to close your doors or stop taking orders for two weeks or two months, what would happen? Would you be able to recover? Would you be able to meet your payroll? Would you be able to keep up with tax, insurance, lease, rental and mortgage payments for that long? Or would you

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Employee handbook

4 Employee Handbook Policies to Watch in 2023

There aren’t rules for how frequently you should update your handbook, but given laws do change, it’s smart to be proactive so you don’t get caught off guard. An updated employee handbook helps employees understand what’s expected of them, and helps managers ensure company policies are followed. We’ve identified four reasons to revisit your employee

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Coverage for PAGA Claims Hard to Come By

The average cost for employers of a court case brought under the California Private Attorneys General Act was $1.1 million in 2021, according to the CABRIA Foundation. But the insurance policies that business owners would expect to cover legal costs, settlements, and judgments for these claims may not provide much coverage. PAGA allows an aggrieved

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Climate-friendly Practices for Growth and Prosperity

By Erica Aitken and Laura Aitken The printing industry has long pioneered new forms of technology and is now on the cusp of more significant change, spurred on by the devastating deterioration of our planet. The truth is climate change is here and our industry has to change.   The printers we consulted say that the

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Print Is Sustainable

by Canon In today’s world print sometimes unfairly gets the reputation of not being a sustainable communication method. At Canon, we are working to help change the narrative and provide some data that can support the sustainable story that print has to tell. So what can you share with your customers and prospective clients when

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Dear David: When Is an Employee Ready to Lead?

Question: How do we know when an employee is ready for a leadership role?  Answer It’s good you’re thinking about this. Promotions into leadership too often come with little discussion about how the leadership role will be different from the current role or whether the employee has the interest or skill set to be an

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