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If you own a small business, you want your insurer to be tech-savvy.

That is the result of a recent poll by EMPLOYERS a company focused on workers’ compensation insurance for small businesses. An overwhelming majority of small businesses want to deal with tech-savvy carriers ready and adaptive to their business needs.

But… that level of tech-savvy stops at the agent level. “81 percent said they still want to purchase their business insurance through their insurance agent. Much of what business decision-makers want from their tech-savvy insurance company is related to online policy management and payment tools, rather than the consultative services they would receive from their insurance agent.” In short, we want to deal with a local professional knowledgeable about our business, but have access to technology to handle the administrative side of the policy.

How much does piracy cost world markets?

According to oceansbeyondpiracy.com, $7 to $12 billion per year. This includes ransom costs, fuel costs in rerouting, delay costs, equipment costs, and costs for naval protection.

An excellent article by Business Insurance explores one broker’s two-year effort to develop a response to piracy. Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, P.L.C. has developed the Convoy Escort Program.

The Convoy Escort Program will consist of 16 armed patrol boats patrolling the Gulf of Aden and trained to intercept pirates. This plan has face opposition by those opposed to a private commercial navy. But, the growing risk of piracy and the increasing danger has led to an interest in either arming commercial vessels or escorting the vessels with armed ships.

Thanks to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud for putting out some information regarding “slip and fall” accidents along with some straightforward advice for protecting your business from bogus claims.

According to the Coalition, “slip and fall” scams cost consumers nearly $30 billion per year. The concern is that the scam is growing.

What is a “slip and fall” scam? Simply a visitor to your place of business – typically retailers and big box stores are the target – fakes or stages a serious fall. Often this is with the claim of some object or mess on the sales floor causing the fall. The fall is alleged to cause significant injury and a claim is made against your business for the injury.

It is always interesting to me to see otherwise honest businesses and individuals engage in all sorts of less-than honest actions with their insurer.

The actions could be under reporting payroll to workers’ compensation insurers or their state, understating income for lower business interruption rates, overstating losses, and any other variety of fraud. As always, our advice is to prepare your insurance applications as if you were giving a sworn statement on the stand in a courtroom. Because, in many states, you are. Many states include a signature provision similar to an affidavit. What you’re stating in the application is truth sworn by you.

As the tragedy in Tucson on January 8, 2011 illustrated, violence at a place of business or business open to the public, is always a potential threat. While not a common occurrence, violence in the workplace is probably more common than most businesses believe.

In a long-term study, the Centers for Disease Control found:

An average of 1.7 million people were victims of violent crime while working or on duty in the United States, according to a report published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), each year from 1993 through 1999.