 |
|
Charity Poker Run - Trenton to Charter Farms
Motorcoach Partners with Integrity (MPI) member, Shawn Stout of
Stout's Transportation, has organized a charity poker run to benefit The Cooley's Anemia Foundation.
His nephew, Nicholas, was born with a gen
etic blood disorder called thalassemia or Cooley's Anemia. It is life-threaten
ing anemia requiring chronic blood transfusions and aggressive management of iron overload to avoid organ failure and early death.
Nicholas will have blood transfusions every 2-4 weeks of his life unless a cure is found. Nicholas has already received more than 36 blood transfusions and is only 3 years old. The Cooley's Anemia Foundation helps fund research towards increasing the quality of living for these patients and towards finding a cure for everyone diagnosed with Cooley's Anemia.
Saturday, September 29th
10:00AM Registration; 11:15AM Kickstands Up
|
|
|
LSA Member Appointed To NAFED Board of Directors
Following the 2018 annual meeting in St. Louis, National Association of Fire Equipment Distributors (NAFED) instated three new board members who will serve out two-year terms with the option to renew for another two years.
Michael Hein, a member of our Life Safety Alliance (LSA) group, was appointed the Region One Director. Michael is the owner of
Gordon Fire Equipment
. Gordon Fire is located in Highland, NY.
NAFED contributes to members' success by improving their business performance, technical competence, and professional image in the fire protection industry. Michael
looks forward to contributing to the mission as a board member of the organization.
Congratulations, Michael! NAFED is lucky to have you and so are we!
|
|
|
Keystone Fire Protection Co. Makes List of
Lehigh Valley's 2018 Fastest Growing Companies
Life Safety Alliance (LSA) member,
has been selected as one of the Lehigh Valley's 2018 Fastest Growing Companies. The award recognizes the area's most dynamic businesses who progressively contribute to the success of the region's economic growth and stability.
Keystone Fire Protection Co. will accept the award and learn of its ranking among the top 45 companies at an awards breakfast on October 24, 2018.
"Watching the rebirth of the Lehigh Valley has been inspiring, and we knew five years ago that we wanted to be a part of it," says Keystone CEO John M. Lawlor.
Lawlor adds, "Keystone Fire Protection Co. is blessed to have dedicated, hard-working employees - many of whom live in and around the Valley. We understand that to grow a business, you have to care just a little bit more than the other guy, and work just a little bit harder for the business. The results are year over year growth, and a satisfied customer base that rewards you with its loyalty. We're very proud to be honored with this prestigious award."
Congratulations to John & his team!
|
|
|
Safety Culture and Miracle on the Hudson
I was recently reading a blog from our friends at
SandRun Risk
regarding risk management and its connection to the amazing events that took place on January 15, 2009 on US Airways Flight 1549.
We are all very familiar with the story called Miracle on the Hudson, but in the eyes of Captain Sully the event was anything but a miracle. "I saw the birds just 100 seconds after take off, about two seconds before we hit them. We were traveling at 316 feet per second, and there was not enough time or distance when to maneuver a jet airliner away from them. When they struck and damaged both engines, we had just 208 seconds to do something we had never trained for, and get it right the first time.
The fact that we landed a commercial airliner on the Hudson River with no engines and no fatalities was not a miracle however. It was a result of teamwork, skills, in-depth knowledge and kind of judgment that comes only from experience."
The article gives credit to the concept of collective intelligence, which is at the heart of risk management. Collective intelligence manifesting in two ways, the training and experience of Captain Sully and his first officer Jeff Skiles, and the accumulation of knowledge and the many thousands of decisions that led to the building of a modern aircraft to be equipped with technology to survive a birdstrike.
I recognize that this was an extreme and extraordinary event, but the idea of collective or group intelligence reminded me of the value of a strong safety culture.
Culture is the unconscious set of standards by which the vast majority of decisions are made, it drives what people do most of the time, especially when they have to respond quickly.
The article included a quote from John Wooden, ESPN sports coach of the 20th century.
"When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur. When you approve conditioning a little each day, eventually you have big improvement in conditioning. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made."
Your organization is learning everyday, the organization is effected by the thousand of incremental decisions that are being made during the course of your normal operations. The training you provide, the way you communicate, the expectations you set, all influence the general culture and related safety culture.
Captain Sully's point, is that this was not a miraculous event, but rather the culmination of many things, set in motion long before January 15, 2009 all coming together that allowed for this extraordinary outcome.
Don't relay on luck to help with safety outcomes, make the small changes seeking sustainable improvement that allows everyone in the organization to make the best decisions under any circumstance, the mundane and the extraordinary.
President & Co-Founder of Charter Partners
|
|
|
|
AIG - Captive Manager of the Year
Our very own captive manager in Vermont, AIG, was named Captive Manager of the Year and (Re)Insurance Company of the Year at the U.S. Captive Review Awards ceremony, held in Burlington, VT, on August 6th.
AIG's captive senior management team from Vermont was joined at the event by AIG colleagues from New York and Boston, as well as two captive clients - both of whom also supported the awards submissions with written recommendations. AIG was also shortlisted in two additional categories - Captive Management-Group Captives and Fronting Partner.
Congratulations to Bob, Brenda, Stacey & Nick!
|
|
|
National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
According to the Department of Homeland Security, October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. This is their annual campaign to raise awareness about cybersecurity.
The National Cyber Security Alliance has published general tips to help you increase your cybersecurity awareness-including whom to contact if you are the victim of cyber crime-and protect your online activities.
It's important to protect your business against cyber-attacks. Some small business owners may think this threat is just for large corporations as they don't believe they have to protect against cyber-attacks as they don't think they store any valuable data. This is a misconception on what constitutes valuable data-email, phone numbers and billing addresses may not be viewed as valuable information on their own, but to a cyber-criminal, these data points can be used for malicious purposes and can often require public disclosure or breach notification, based on state, federal, or international privacy laws.
Charter Partners purchases cyber liablity insurance. With cyber threats
like ransomware and social engineering becoming more and more common, it's vital for small- and medium- sized businesses to protect against them.
Even when the initial threat is quarantined, the operational and legal costs associated can put many companies out of business.
Here are the common kinds of threats:
BUSINESS INTERRUPTION:
Cybercriminals will gain access to personal, confidential data and intellectual property, encrypt the data and use it for their personal gain. This can cause prolonged business interruption, resulting in large losses in income while the problem is getting fixed.
CYBER EXTORTION:
When malicious software gets installed onto your system and blocks your access to your data until a sum of money is paid.
SOCIAL ENGINEERING:
Professional hackers and cybercriminals use believable deception to manipulate individuals into handing over your hard- earned money. Get that money back with Social Engineering coverage.
In our technologically advanced world-economy, it's essential to have a comprehensive cybersecurity policy in place to protected your short- and long-term business from being completely disrupted. When cyber-criminals attack, the last thing you want to worry about is making payroll, paying ransom, or any of the other problems resulting of a cyber-attack.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
