During Parents Weekend, the mother of a member tripped over a wire that was run through the bottom of rocking chairs on the front porch of the house. The wire was gray and was a couple of inches off of the ground. The member’s mother sustained a significant injury to her elbow when she fell.
A lawsuit was not filed. However, the claimant did retain legal counsel. It was alleged that the sorority created a hazard by running the wire under the chairs and that the hazard should have been removed while invited guests were on the property.
The claim settled for $450,000.
A guest at the chapter’s barn dance was struck and killed by a drunk driver. The bus transporting members and their guests back to campus dropped the guest off prior to arriving at the drop off point at the guest’s request. The guest was later struck and killed by a drunk driver.
A lawsuit was filed against the Sorority and bus company. It is alleged that the sorority failed to enforce its own policies to prevent invitees from exiting the party bus an unauthorized drop locations.
The claimant sustained a brain injury during the chapter’s philanthropic football tournament. The chapter used University property to set up two football fields. The fields spanned the lateral width of a grassy area with retaining walls at the end zones. The claimant was attempting to catch a pass when he hit the retaining wall and landed on his head and shoulder on a brick sidewalk just passed the retaining wall. The claimant sustained an epidural hematoma and had to undergo an emergency craniotomy. It is alleged that the claimant will continue to experience difficulties associated with his injury for the rest of his life.
A lawsuit was recently filed against the University and the Sorority. The lawsuit alleges the Sorority failed to exercise reasonable care to make a safe playing field and should have known the dangers of the retaining wall being so close to the end zone.
The claim settled for $1,500,000. A waiver was not signed even though it was procedure for the Chapter to have them signed for this type of event. We were told that there was a good chance that the wavier would have held up.
A guest at the chapter’s barn dance fell into the bonfire. The claimant stood on a log near the fire in order to have her picture taken. The claimant slipped and fell into the fire. According to the newspaper, the claimant’s blood alcohol level was 0.14. The claimant was of legal drinking age.
A lawsuit has recently been filed against the sorority, the owner of the farm and the liquor store that provided the alcohol for the event. It is alleged in the lawsuit that the sorority did not provide the number of event monitor’s required by the University.
After the bus dropped the members and their dates off, a member’s date allegedly drove while intoxicated and struck a member and her date. The members date was killed as a result of the accident.
A lawsuit is pending.
The organization was setting up for a charity event when two members of the organization were pushing a student employee on a 25 foot tallescope ladder. The two women pushing the ladder ran over an extension cord on the floor which caused the ladder to topple over and the student employee to fall 25 feet to the ground. The student employee sustained a traumatic brain injury as well as severe injuries to her face, jaw, and teeth.
A lawsuit was filed naming the volunteers, organization and the charity. The University was immune from tort liability because it is both a governmental entity and because it provided workers’ compensation benefits to the injured student employee. It was defense counsel’s opinion that a jury would likely place 25% liability on each volunteer/member, 25% liability on the organization and 25% liability on the University. Even though a jury may have apportioned liability to the University, they would not have had to make any payments. It was also believed that the two members would have been immune from liability based on the state’s Volunteer Service Acts.
The University agreed to waive their subrogation lien of $1,500,000 which aided in the lawsuit settling for $850,000 during mediation. It is unknown if the charity paid a settlement.
July 2021: Topics include transportation risks, wildfires, mental health, & COVID-19.
According to the USDA Forest Service, historic fire data show that wildfires are not only getting larger; they also are becoming more intense. As populations increasingly move from metropolitan areas into the outlying fringes bordered by woodlands, grass and brush, this has significant property and life safety implications for households, farms, ranches and businesses. This decentralization into natural settings has created a landscape known as the wildland/urban interface (WUI). The WUI is defined as “the area where structures and other human development meet with undeveloped wildland.”
For those who live or work in the WUI, advance planning and taking safety precautions are critical in helping to reduce wildland fire property loss and injury. To reduce the risk, considerations should be given to the fire resistance of building structures, the topography of property and the nature of and proximity to nearby brush, trees and vegetation. Safety considerations include, but are not limited to:
Protection and Preparation
Create Safety Zones Around Structures
- Maintain a clear space free of brush, trees, grasses of at least 100 feet, preferably 200 feet, between the structures and natural growth.
- If you live on a hill, extend the zone on the downhill side. Fire spreads rapidly uphill.
- Properly maintain or avoid ornamental plants known or thought to be high hazard combustible plants.
- Keep outside storage of flammable liquids, gases, and hazardous materials at least 100 feet from the buildings. Preferably, maintain them within a fire rated safety storage locker.
Maximize Fire Resistance Through Construction/Building Materials
(At time of new construction, remodeling, or through retrofitting)
- Consider exterior mounted fire sprinklers to protect the roof, walls and windows of the buildings.
- Install noncombustible roofing and siding materials.
- Replace plain glazing with fire-rated glass, or provide fire shutters.
- Cover house vents with wire mesh, to deter flaming debris from entering.
- Install spark arrestors on chimneys.
Prepare for Water Storage
- Develop an available water supply; and
- Connect with campus fire officials about availability of water
Other Considerations
- Make an inventory of property and furnishings. Here’s our version.
- Keep important papers, data and an inventory of your property and furnishings in a safe location offsite or fire-resistant rated safe.
- Have emergency/fire department telephone numbers readily available.
- Maintain building accessibility for fire department equipment.
- Have a continuity plan with alternative arrangements for continuing critical operations.
Response
Always be ready for an emergency evacuation
- Know where to go and what to bring with you.
- Plan several escape routes, in the event roads are blocked.
- Account for all members and employees of the chapter, during and after evacuation. Ensure a safe evacuation.
- Wear protective clothing.
- Practice evacuation plan.
Attend to last minute property mitigation measures
- Remove combustible items (wood, lawn furniture) outside your property’s safety zone.
- Close vents, windows, entry and garage doors.
- Close shutters and blinds to reduce radiant heat.
- Close all doors inside the house to prevent draft.
Attend to water preparation and other systems
- Shut off all sources of natural gas, propane or fuel oil supplies.
- Get water and water pump ready. Connect garden hoses. Fill pools, tubs, garbage cans, or other large vessels/containers with water.
- Put automatic garage doors on manual, in case of power outage.
Other considerations
- Follow disaster plan/ emergency shut down practices. This includes equipment, machines, HVAC and other building systems.
- Prepare hose lines and maintain a fire watch center. Activate any manually operated outside fire sprinklers, when appropriate.
Recovery
Read OSHA’s Wildfire: Response/Recovery.
Other Considerations
Contact your campus fire department, forestry office, emergency management office and building department for information about local fire laws, building codes and prevention measures. Obtain local building codes and weed abatement ordinances for structures built near wooded areas.
Additional Resources
Source: Travelers.com
How confident are you that you have properly classified your employees as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), or that your employees’ exempt status has not been affected by COVID-19 workplace changes? Over the past year, the pandemic has transformed how we do business – converting brick-and-mortar workspaces into home offices and online meeting platforms, converting your employees into remote workers, and altering employee pay, hours, and job duties. With these changes, employees that you previously classified as exempt may no longer meet a particular exemption under federal wage and hour law. Continue reading the rest from our friends at Fisher Phillips by clicking here.
Purpose of background checks
There have recently been several situations in which a university/college instructs and/or requires that all chapter advisors and house corporation volunteers submit to background checks. We would like to address the request for background checks from a risk management standpoint.
Background checks have long been used in the hiring process and are designed to protect existing employees, assets, members and other individuals with whom the employee may come into contact. A more recent trend has occurred where some type of background check is required for adults who work with young children, youth, or even young adults. “Background check” is a common term; however, there are two main types of background checks, each searching for different information and providing different results.
- Criminal Background Checks: This will look into the criminal past of an individual, revealing such things as misdemeanors, felonies, and sexual offenses.
- Credit Checks: A credit check will uncover an individual’s past credit history. This can include loans, mortgages, other lines of credit, and bill-payment histories. Credit reports will not disclose the nature of a problem, such as divorce, medical bills, job loss, etc. In order to qualify to receive credit reports, there are significant compliance hurdles as well as a set up fee.
Background Checks for Employees
Criminal background checks are considered prudent business practice for employees who have significant control over employer property and for those who manage physical and financial assets as well as any other employees. If you choose to run background checks, it is recommended that you develop a policy which would define the positions that are subject to background checks, as well as how you will act upon the information that is discovered during a background check.
We believe that this may yield some benefit to you in the process of hiring employees. However, we have reviewed our worker’s compensation, employment practices and bond claims experience and the claims that occurred with these employees would not have been predicted from the review of a background check. As a tool, it can be of use in specific situations of employment such as where an individual handles the expenses or the inventory of the chapter house property.
Background Checks for Volunteers
Criminal background checks for volunteers have been generally used when adults are working with minors. Because chapter advisors and house corporation volunteers for a sorority work with members who are almost exclusively adults (above 18 years old), this is less of a concern. We see many inherent issues with any requirement of the sororities to subject their volunteers to these types of requests. What is it that the requestor is hoping to achieve with the securing of background checks for the volunteers?
Critical points to consider:
- The organization runs the risk of getting too much information, which if abused and not handled properly could develop into a violation of the volunteers’ right of privacy.
- It would be administratively difficult, if not impossible to maintain any type of a current and accurate list of alumnae volunteers either serving as chapter advisor or as house corporation volunteers.
- If said list is posted but later not maintained, your liability is increased should a volunteer’s name not be on the list and a problem emerge from her actions.
- Alternatively, a posted list may increase the organization’s liability for a defamation of character lawsuit, should a potential volunteer feel that she was unfairly included on such a list
- The cost to secure the background checks would be a significant financial burden upon the organization. Should the university take on this responsibility, it begs the question of why would they want to “invite in” greater liability?
- The member groups have a good system in place to address behavioral issues of their collegiate members, however we are less confident in the area of alumni issues. Should some disturbing information materialize from a background check, this may be problematic for the group to deal with the issue.
- If a background check would yield some concerning information on a person, who makes the decision on the volunteer, the university or the sorority?
- Should there be a volunteer who is not allowed to work with a chapter, what problems does this present to their status, as a member of your organization?
- The only way to secure any type of a background check is to have the individual’s Social Security number. This is problematic for a number of reasons:
- Volunteers may be hesitant to release this information
- Any location that has the SS#’s of individuals has significantly increased their exposure to a data breach claim of this information which is referred to as Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
- The costs associated with data breach allegations is substantial with the state law requirements of notification, providing credit monitoring services and the reputational harm to the organization
- The Sorority community has worked very diligently these last several years to eliminate the need for our members SS#’s and this would undo that work and could put the organization at great risk.
- Volunteers are often hard to engage and retain and the requirement for a background check may deter someone very qualified from volunteering.
The only instance in which we feel the benefits of getting a background check on a volunteer outweighs the risk is for any volunteer who is serving as a treasurer and has access to substantial funds of the organization. A modest credit check may reveal some prior behavior that should be noted.
However, we have also reviewed our past claims of volunteers and, once again, a background check would not have revealed any prior violations and therefore would not have prevented any loss or claims. What we find with these types of claims, primarily embezzlement, that it is an independent action due to current issues facing the volunteer. We do not often see “career criminals,” diminishing the effectiveness of this risk management tool for our clients.
It is our stance that background checks pose a substantial increase of risk to our clients and we are opposed to this requirement. We fail to see the need for this additional information and in creating this requirement the increased risks far outweigh any potential benefit.
Background Check Provider
IntelliCorp (Preferred Alliance Partner of Travelers)
Travelers, the insurance company that provides the workers’ compensation coverage for MJ Sorority clients, has partnered with IntelliCorp to offer comprehensive and affordable background checks for Travelers customers. IntelliCorp is a nationwide provider of comprehensive background checks and employment screening solutions. Refer to this resource for additional information. Register directly via this site and contact your Client Executive for your policy number.
The U.S. has learned from Japan that retrofitting buildings to withstand earthquakes can save lives and reduce losses. Click the link to watch a video from AM Best discussing retrofitting. “Earthquake Retrofitting Saves Lives, Reduces Losses” (April 2021)
FAQs: Commercial Kitchens – In this episode we discuss all sorts of cooking and kitchen related questions that we hear most often.