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Staying Safe Online: Protecting Your Organization

As a fraternal organization operating in today’s digitally connected world, your Lodge faces several cyber liability risks. Typically, most fraternal organizations do not consider themselves at risk for a cyber attack and have failed to take measures to secure their systems and data, making them an even bigger target.

To protect your organization, it’s important to understand your cyber liability risks and know how to protect against them.

Common cyber risks Lodges face

You may think a cyber criminal would be uninterested in your organization, however, many Lodges store valuable information, including:

  • Organizational data
  • Social media accounts
  • Personal data of members and employees, including Social Security numbers
  • Credit card information and more

Consider these cyber attacks your organization could face:

  1. Wire fraud—A scheme to defraud or obtain money based on false representation or […]
October 14th, 2022|

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|

Liquor Liability vs. Host Liquor Liability vs. Special Event Coverage

When alcohol is served, your organization needs proper insurance to protect against the risks and liability associated with alcohol. Depending on the type of event, whether your Lodge is hosting or renting its buildings, you will need different insurance coverage.

Read on to understand the differences between liquor liability insurance, host liquor liability insurance and special event coverage.

Understanding Liquor Liability insurance

Liquor liability insurance is coverage for organizations that sell or serve alcohol. These policies provide coverage for legal expenses, which include things like defense costs, settlements, judgments or damages when an intoxicated person sustains an injury or causes property damage.

Common liquor liability claims can include:

  • Serving alcohol to a minor
  • Overserving a patron
  • Bodily injury, death or property damage caused by a patron that was served at your organization

Understanding Host […]

July 7th, 2022|

Why Prompt Claim Reporting Matters

It’s hard to make an accurate prediction of the outcome when a liability claim first comes to your attention. Some incidents resolve simply, while others do not. However, for organizations that delay the reporting of a claim to their insurer, the outcome is almost always worse than it otherwise could have been with prompt reporting.

The timing of a liability claim resulting from an alleged mistake, accident or injury is often inconvenient. But the importance of prompt claims reporting cannot be overstated. The longer you wait, the more difficult, costly and stressful it may be to resolve. Here is how early claim reporting can help minimize your exposure.

Why Every Day Counts When You Have a Claim

When an incident that could result in a legal liability claim happens, every day counts. […]

June 7th, 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

  1. 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.

 

  1. 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|

Snow Shoveling Safety Tips

Like everyone, many Lodges spend the winter digging out from snow storms. Shoveling snow can provide an opportunity for exercise, help out less-able community members, and build camaraderie among the members. All the same, snow removal can also be risky for members, volunteers and your organization.

Shoveling snow yourself can pose health risks and hiring snow removers comes with added risks to your Lodge. The next time it snows, make sure to follow these snow shoveling safety tips to minimize your risk of a claim.

Snow Shoveling Risks

It’s important to remember that snow is heavy — a fact that’s easy to forget after a nice long summer. Just one inch of snow weighs between 0.3 to 4.8 pounds per square foot, depending on how wet and […]

January 4th, 2022|

Holiday Decorating Safety Tips

With the holiday season in full swing, many Lodges are ready to decorate. Help make sure your holidays are jolly and bright by remembering these holiday decorating safety tips. Whether your Lodge decorates a small Charlie Brown tree or goes full Chevy Chase, keep your Lodge’s property and members safe with these tips:

Indoor Holiday Decorating Safety Tips

  • Remember when shopping for live trees that it’s important to check for freshness, as a fresh tree will last longer and be less of a fire hazard.
  • Know how to choose a fresh tree. Look for green color, needles that are hard to pluck and bend instead of break, and trunks with sticky resin at the base.
  • Test a tree for a freshness with a gentle shake or tap. A fresh tree […]
December 6th, 2021|

The Step-by-Step Process of Purchasing Insurance from Lockton Affinity

One of the things that can make shopping for insurance for your Lodge so hard is not knowing what to expect. You hope that whatever company you choose will be easy to work with and offer the tailored coverage that you need, but it’s not always guaranteed.

At Lockton Affinity, we aim to provide you with best-in-class service for insurance solutions that meet the requirements of your organization. Helping you understand the inner workings of the process of purchasing insurance from Lockton Affinity is a part of that promise of service.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through the insurance buying process so you know what to expect. While purchasing insurance from Lockton Affinity provides customized coverage unique to your  Lodge, all insurance purchases take a similar journey, moving from shopping […]

November 11th, 2021|

A Brief History of Insurance

“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” is a very old saying and, in many ways, it’s still the basis for the modern insurance that helps protect your Lodge. Insurance began with people seeking to control the dangers they faced by spreading out the risk among larger groups of people and making agreements to help one another in the case of a loss.

It’s an interesting story how this practice got its start and how it led to the products and services today that help Lodges protect their organizations. Here’s a brief history of insurance.

Ancient Insurance

The problems that insurance is designed to address have been around for a really long time. Seafaring in the ancient world was a notoriously dangerous task for traders, from Ancient Babylon all the way […]

September 9th, 2021|