Governor George E. Pataki today announced that he has introduced legislation to provide enhanced insurance protections for New York State business owners. The Governor’s legislation would allow for the availability of more meaningful, adequate and flexible coverage options for economic loss resulting from business interruptions in times of emergencies.

The bill creates a new stand-alone line of coverage called 'civil authority insurance,' which would authorize insurers to provide additional coverage to protect businesses when an action of a governmental authority results in the loss of business income. This bill would expand the benefits currently offered under Business Interruption insurance by eliminating the prerequisite of actual physical damage to the insureds’ premises as the trigger for such coverage.

In recent years, millions of dollars have been lost by businesses as a result of necessary government action that forced business closures for a period of time because of circumstances beyond an insured’s control.

Source: State of New York

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced yesterday the new site-specific targeting (SST) plan that will target approximately 3,200 high-hazard worksites for unannounced comprehensive safety and health inspections over the coming year.

For five successive years, OSHA has used a site-specific targeting inspection program based on injury and illness data. This year's program stems from OSHA's Data Initiative for 2002, which surveyed approximately 95,000 employers to attain their injury and illness data for 2001. (The construction industry was included in the survey for the first time; however, it is not included in the SST).

Like last year, OSHA will not inspect nursing homes or personal care facilities under this program. Those inspections will continue to be covered under a separate National Emphasis Program that addresses specific hazards for the industry, including ergonomics (primarily back injuries from resident handling), bloodborne pathogens/tuberculosis, and slips, trips and falls.

Finally, the agency will again randomly select and inspect about 200 workplaces across the nation that reported low injury and illness rates for the purpose of reviewing the actual degree of compliance with OSHA requirements. These establishments are selected from those industries with above average LWDII and DAFWII rates.

Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration

SANTA ANA, CA - Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi announced that the California Department of Insurance (CDI) served a Cease and Desist Order on Insurance Company of the Americas (ICA) based in Bradenton, Fl. and Oriskany, NY, following an investigation that revealed the company illegally sold workers’ compensation insurance in California.

CDI’s Investigation Division found that ICA does not hold a certificate of authority in California and is not authorized to transact insurance in the state. ICA is a sister company to Oriska Insurance Company, which was served with a Cease and Desist Order in April for the same offense. CDI is warning all business owners that workers’ compensation coverage with ICA is not in compliance with the California Insurance Code or California Labor Code.

Employers found to have workers’ compensation insurance with ICA, or other companies providing insurance illegally, could face penalties from the Department of Industrial Relations, including fines and criminal charges. CDI encourages all employers to verify their workers’ compensation coverage for compliance with all laws and regulations.

Source: State of California

Colorado will revert from a no-fault auto system to a tort system effective on July 1, 2003. All auto policies issued, written or delivered on or after July 1, 2003 must be issued, written or delivered as tort policies. Renewal notices delivered to insureds prior to July 1, 2003 for policies with an effective date on or after July 1, 2003, must renew or amend the policies as tort policies. Existing no-fault policies do not automatically convert to tort policies on July 1, 2003. The policy’s no-fault coverages apply until the next renewal date.

Insurers may offer policyholders the option to “convert” their no-fault policies to tort policies effective after midnight July 1, 2003. The insurer and policyholder must mutually agree to this mid-term conversion.

Insurers are prohibited from requiring policyholders to convert their no-fault policies to tort policies until the next renewal date that comes after midnight July 1, 2003. Insurers are prohibited from charging application fees or cancellation fees or other similar charges to insureds upon conversion of policies from no-fault to tort policies.

More Information on these Regulatory Changes Can be found at http://www.dora.state.co.us/insurance/regs/03-E-2.pdf

Source: State of Colorado

WASHINGTON -- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration published two proposed rules in the Federal Register to enhance worker protections from respiratory hazards on the job. OSHA is seeking comments until Sept. 4, 2003, on its proposals to amend the Respiratory Protection Standard to include a new fit testing procedure and incorporate new Assigned Protection Factors (APFs) for respiratory protection programs, that are expected to prevent approximately 4,000 injuries and illnesses and prevent about 900 deaths annually from cancer and other chronic diseases.

In a notice of proposed rulemaking OSHA, will propose amending the existing Respiratory Protection Standard to incorporate Assigned Protection Factors (APFs) as part of a complete respiratory protection program to assist workers and employers in the proper selection of respirators. APFs are numbers that reflect the workplace level of respiratory protection that respirators are expected to provide to employees. The proposal contains OSHA's preliminary decisions on an APF Table, definitions for APFs and Maximum Use Concentrations, and amendments to replace the existing APF requirements in OSHA's substance-specific standards.

Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Gov. Rick Perry signed sweeping insurance reforms into law to lower skyrocketing homeowner rates, end deceptive credit scoring practices and enforce tougher regulations on the industry.

Perry declared homeowner insurance reform an emergency issue for the 78th Texas Legislature, and lawmakers passed three important pieces of legislation to stabilize the market:

• Senate Bill 14 closes loopholes that had allowed many homeowner and auto insurance companies to bypass rate regulation, strengthens regulatory oversight and increases consumer options for coverage.
  
• House Bill 329 protects consumers from unlicensed mold remediators and prevents repaired mold claims from being a factor in insurance underwriting.
  
• Senate Bill 127 requires the licensing of public adjusters and gives the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) the authority to require more prompt response to water damage claims.

The new reforms also prohibit companies from using credit scores to determine rates, except in cases where there is a proven link between credit history and insurance risk.

Source: State of Texas

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is inviting comment on the third set of industry-specific ergonomics guidelines -- Guidelines for Poultry Processing.

The draft guidelines consist of an introduction and two main sections. The introduction provides an overview of injuries related to ergonomic factors in poultry processing and explains the role of ergonomics in reducing these injuries. The first section describes how to develop and implement a strategy for analyzing the workplace, implementing ergonomic solutions, training employees, addressing injury reports, and evaluating progress. The second section, the heart of the guidelines, describes examples of ergonomics solutions that may be used in the poultry processing industry, including recommendations on workstation design, tools, manual materials handling, and the selection of personal protective equipment. The draft guidelines conclude with a list of references and helpful resources.

The guidelines are intended to provide practical solutions for reducing ergonomic-related injuries in the poultry processing industry. They are based on a review of existing practices and programs, as well as available scientific information, and reflect comments made by poultry processing industry stakeholders. They are advisory in nature and informational in content, and do not create any new duties. They will not be used for enforcement purposes. OSHA is also working on guidelines for the shipyard industry, and will make drafts available for comment, as well.

Interested parties must submit written comments on the draft poultry processing ergonomics guidelines to the OSHA Docket Office by August 4, 2003. After the conclusion of the comment period, there will be a stakeholder meeting in the Washington, DC metropolitan area to discuss the draft guidelines. Individuals are required to submit their intent to participate in this one-day stakeholder meeting by August 4, 2003. Location and date will be announced at a later date. Copies of the guidelines can be downloaded from www.osha.gov and also are available by calling OSHA toll-free at (800) 321-OSHA (6742) or faxing a request to (202) 693-2498.

Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration