Insurance Insights

June 21 is Take Your Dog to Work Day. More companies are beginning to participate in this event each year, as it’s a great way to make employees feel appreciated. Some companies are even beginning to allow employees to bring in their pets more frequently than that. But, is it the right move for your business to make? It’s certainly a decision that provides its own share of potential risks and benefits. Before you start sending out invites for Fido to come to work, you need to weigh the pros and cons carefully.

Whether small business owners want to obtain new lines of credit to expand their companies’ operations or hopeful entrepreneurs want to start their efforts to create an enterprise from the ground up, tight lending conditions are likely keeping them from their goals.

Department stores carry a wide variety of items including furniture, home décor, clothing and shoes, jewelry, bed and bath items, undergarments and appliances. Many department store also have an in-store café, beauty salon or photography studio. The biggest risk for department stores is that of shoplifting with other crimes, liabilities and general business risks close behind. The best way to protect your store against these and other risks is by obtaining department store insurance. Choose your policies wisely to get the best coverage.

Between the years 2006 and 2010, U.S. fire departments responded to approximately 3,700 fires involving hotel or motel properties per year. In addition to causing an average of 12 deaths and 143 injuries each year, these fires are also responsible for around $127 million in yearly property damage. If you’re in the hotel and motel industry, it’s important to take fire safety seriously before fires rather than after them. Here are a few things you can do to make your buildings safer and provide an added layer of protection for your guests.

Many small business owners are starting to feel better about the prospects for their companies going forward these days, and some of that may be due to the larger returns on investment they are now seeing from their efforts to expand their social media presence.

Distracted driving is the cause of countless traffic accidents and fatalities each year. In 2011, there were 3,331 car accident fatalities involving distracted drivers. It’s a problem that’s simply too big for small businesses to ignore. It can be caused by a wide range of activities including texting, talking on the phone, eating, drinking, talking to other passengers, reading maps, using navigational aids, watching videos, reading books, adjusting music, applying cosmetics, and more. If it takes your mind off the road, it poses a risk to safety and is a distraction.

In recent months, small business owners may have found it a little more difficult to obtain funding as they attempted to expand their operations, but that trend reversed itself considerably in April.

An appraiser provides an unbiased and impartial opinion on the value of a person’s property. Appraisals are most often performed on property like industrial sites, single-family homes, apartment and condo buildings, commercial buildings and farms, but there are also jewelry and art appraisers. Appraisers are often hired for mortgage lending, lease negotiations and business mergers. Appraisers face a variety of risks with those related to their professional opinion being at the top of the list. To protect your appraisal business from lawsuits and other risks, you should get business insurance.

The amount of optimism held by many the owners of many independent companies is on the rise, even as costs for certain small business insurance policies remains somewhat high, and this may be especially true in Arizona, where many such enterprises are now finding some amount of success.

During the summer months, small businesses generally see activity tamper off with many people going on vacation.