Lodge Safety Archives - Moose Insurance Program

Maintaining Your Lodge’s Property

All property is important to upkeep and maintain, and the same is true of any property your Lodge owns.

Maintaining property and prioritizing safety improvements not only adds to your property value, but it also keeps your members and guests safe and comfortable.

Read on for a compilation of our most helpful property maintenance blogs.

Maintaining Your Lodge’s Property Indoors

Preparing for a power outage – Whether your Lodge loses power for one day or one week, it is important to prepare your Lodge for a power outage. Whether caused by ice, snow or thunderstorms, a power outage may cause food spoilage, prevent the use of medical devices and disrupt water and communications.
Improving safety signage – Facilities that have clear and […]

February 27th, 2024|

Safety Improvements for Lodge Property

Homes, vehicles, rentals and more—All property is important to upkeep and maintain, and the same is true of any property your Lodge owns.

Maintaining property and prioritizing safety improvements not only adds to your property value, but it also keeps your members and guests safe and comfortable.

Read on for tips to maintain and improve your Lodge property.

Self-Inspect for Maintenance and Safety Improvements for Lodge Property

It can be beneficial to implement routine self-inspections to catch a hazard before a true safety issue arises.

Gather a group of members of different ages and abilities to examine the property for hazards ranging from loose floor tiles to cracked windows to overhanging tree limbs. Document all found hazards or potential hazards and develop plan for addressing each hazard.

September 6th, 2023|

Common Insurance Claims Lodges Face

These common claims against fraternal organizations can greatly impact your operations, so it is important to be prepared. Read on to learn about common claim examples and how you can prevent them at your organization.

Common Insurance Claims at Fraternal Organizations

The most common claims fraternal organizations face are due to property damage and third-party injuries.

Property claims go hand in hand with a brick and mortar. Whether your organization’s property is damaged by fire, wind, hail, theft or vandalism, there is always the chance of some damage occurring. This damage can also impact the contents of your buildings, including your equipment, furnishings, computers, inventory and supplies. Fire, theft and other disasters affecting your space are not only often costly to fix, but they could also impact your ability to operate your […]

June 28th, 2023|

Implementing a Severe Weather Plan for Moose Lodges

Whatever part of the country your organization is in, severe weather can impact your operations. Consider these statistics on severe weather from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):

About 1,200 tornadoes hit the U.S. each year.
100,000 thunderstorms occur each year in the U.S. and 10% reach severe levels.
Damaging winds are classified as those exceeding 50-60 mph.
In the U.S., floods kill more people each year than tornadoes, hurricanes or lightning.

Because severe weather can happen anywhere throughout the year, it is important to take the time to create a plan for any extreme weather that might come your way. Here are seven steps you can take to help implement a severe weather plan for Moose Lodges.

Building a Severe Weather Plan for Moose Lodges

Preparing for severe weather takes […]

March 29th, 2023|

Creating a Culture of Safety at Your Lodge

Without a strong culture of safety in place at your organization, unsafe conditions can go uncorrected or unnoticed. Volunteers and members may not feel comfortable raising safety-related concerns and the risk of serious injuries may increase.

To make your Lodge safer, it is important to take a proactive approach before incidents occur.

With the right plan in place, you can help prevent injuries, illnesses and deaths at your organization, as well as the suffering and financial hardship these events can cause for members and their families.

According to OSHA, safety and health programs are helpful in a multitude of ways and can:

Prevent injuries and illnesses
Improve compliance with laws and regulations
Reduce liability costs
Engage members
Enhance social responsibility goals
Increase productivity and enhance overall organizational operations

Creating a Culture of […]

August 1st, 2022|

Hand Tool Safety for Members and Volunteers

If you have projects scheduled for your organization this year, it’s important to have hand tool safety practices in place when power tools are in operation.

Whether you’re building garden beds, volunteering in the community, designing parade floats or fixing things up around the Lodge, power tools can expose your organization to many potential safety hazards.

Make sure your organization’s leaders and members work together to establish safety practices to reduce the chance of an accident. Start by encouraging members and volunteers to follow these hand safety tips around power tools:

Hand Tool Safety for Members and Volunteers

Beware of pinch points—Avoid placing your hands and fingers where they can get trapped or caught. If there is a chance for it to happen, sooner or later it will.

Expect the unexpected—Be […]

April 28th, 2022|

Lodge Injuries and their Impact on Mental Health

When someone gets hurt at your organization, workers’ compensation or volunteer accident coverage is often adept at delivering timely coverage. However, in today’s world, a comprehensive approach to your members and volunteers’ health is crucial.

There are many reasons members and volunteers may experience depression after an injury, including:

Social isolation
Challenges performing everyday tasks
Financial stress
Chronic pain and more

The COVID-19 pandemic maybe be exacerbating mental health issues. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention revealed that since the pandemic began, the following percentages of U.S. adults have reported:

Anxiety and depression symptoms—31%
Trauma/stressor-related disorder symptoms—26%
Started or increased substance use—13%
Seriously considering suicide—11%

While you may consider a members’ and volunteers’ physical needs a priority in a workers’ compensation or volunteer accident claim, it is important […]

March 30th, 2022|

A Guide to Safely Opening Your Organization

Everyone is ready to get back to normal, and many places already have resumed regular activities. But with the downtime and changes that have happened over the past year, some organizations need to review and update their procedures. If your Lodge is one of them, these action items may help you take care of the safety of members, guests and volunteers.

This guide to safely opening your organization focuses on 3 areas that may need your attention: people, policies and procedures.

Safely Opening Your Organization: People

Your employees, volunteers and members are what make your Lodge what it is. But some of them may have had their own changes over the last year. Some of them may also be feeling unfamiliar with how you do things because they’re new, or simply because […]

June 16th, 2021|