Ready, Set, Summer!

Summer generally arrives with a huge surge in recreational activity. School ends and parents start searching for leisure and recreational activities for themselves and their children. The activities range from elaborate vacations or summer-long camps to simply buying play and sports equipment (or getting it out of storage) and renewing park and pool passes.

Summer Fun’s Dark Side

One thing to be aware of is that the simplest activities can go wrong. Using sports equipment such as tennis racquets, baseballs, baseball bats, Frisbees, lawn darts, or horseshoes has the potential to harm others. Danger accompanies the use of skateboards, bikes, mopeds, go-karts, and radio-controlled cars, helicopters and planes. A larger concern involves inviting friends over to use your driveway, play equipment or swimming pool. Potential liability comes from either you having fun at the expense of other persons or their property, or failing to take precautions that persons you’ve invited to your residence (or other places) are safe to enjoy themselves.

How to Preserve Your Fun

The easiest way to prepare for your summer liability is to ask the questions:

What can I do to keep other persons safe from my activities?Am I prepared to be responsible for people I hurt or property I damage?How do I make my home and yard safe for fun-seeking visitors?Am I keeping my guests to various events safe?

While accidents happen, many can be prevented by making sure that you and your children enjoy your activities responsibly. Operating bikes safely and in low traffic areas reduces the chance that others will be hurt. The proper use of games and equipment also make the likelihood of having someone injured more remote. In other words, it’s important that your family uses sports and game equipment safely and appropriately. Adult supervision is critical for potentially dangerous activities such as the use of motorized recreational equipment, trampolines, and swimming pools (including small wading pools). It’s also important to make certain that guests you invite for camping or hiking trips are watched after carefully. In many instances, you are responsible for the safety of your guests when you invite them to enjoy outdoor activities, particularly boating or other activities involving water-related equipment.

Home Inspection

Another way to reduce the chance of others being hurt is to do an inspection of your home and yard. Do you have an adequate fence (with secure or self-locking gate) to protect young children from a pool when you’re not around? Is your playground equipment well-maintained and strong enough to support the weight of the children using it? Is your yard and driveway free of tripping hazards? Are dangerous items such as tools, chemicals and lawn equipment kept out of reach of children? If you can answer "no" to any of these questions, you’re inviting trouble.

Insurance Plays a Role

When accidents happen, they may be followed by medical expenses and, more seriously, lawsuits. You must be protected against such financial consequences. Don’t assume you have coverage, especially when an activity involves motorized or powered equipment. You may have to add coverage to your homeowner policy or even buy special coverage for mini-bikes, mopeds, boats, all-terrain vehicles, etc.

So make safety a part of getting ready for summer fun. It’s also smart to include a visit or call to your insurance professional to make sure you have the right coverage to support a fun summer.

COPYRIGHT: Insurance Publishing Plus, Inc. 2013

All rights reserved. Production or distribution, whether in whole or in part, in any form of media or language; and no matter what country, state or territory, is expressly forbidden without written consent of Insurance Publishing Plus, Inc.

TruePoint Insurance Group, LLC

6287 Taylorsville Rd.

Fisherville, KY 40023

(888) 706-5423

TruePoint Insurance Group, LLC is not licensed to practice law, nor can it provide legal counsel. This summary is not intended as a legal opinion. We cannot warrant that the opinions and representations provided in this summary are accurate. TruePoint Insurance Group, LLC has provided this summary of the Virginia Graeme Baker Act for your awareness. The summary may or may not identify your requirements as a pool or spa owner. If you own a pool or spa you are advised by TruePoint Insurance Group, LLC to refer your specific situation to legal counsel.

Blood may be thicker than water, but it is thinner than insurance contracts. An adult son or daughter may think that, when a loss happens, coverage is available from mom or dad’s homeowners or auto policy. It usually isn’t and finding this out after a loss makes matters much worse. Policies are typically clear. A relative is covered, but only if the relative is a full-time resident of the named insured’s household. Even if the nonresident child lives next door, a parents’ policy is not going to spread its coverage to take care of an adult child’s belongings.

Insurance contracts are meant to handle sources of loss that can be easily identified. Person A’s cars or home is protected by Person A’s auto or homeowner policy. Imagine if that weren’t the case.

Example: The Rabbitfield’s home and cars have been insured by Plausible Fire & Casualty for 20 years. In the last five years, the Rabbitfield’s children have grown and started their own households. Per the Plausible home and auto policies, the insurance premiums and two policies that covered the original family’s two cars and one home, now cover the original home and cars PLUS the following:

Son Jimmy Rabbitfield’s apartment and carDaughter Chana Rabbitfield’s home and two carsOther son Perry’s home, seasonal home and two carsOther daughter Bonnie’s apartment and car.

Besides covering all of the property, the Rabbitfield parents’ policies ALSO cover everyone’s personal legal liability.

While it might be a bargain for insurance consumers if a single auto or homeowner policy could be stretched this far, it’s not likely that the insurance industry could survive such flexibility.

Being Independently Insured

Understandably, insurance is not always a priority for adult children who are now on their own. In the beginning, there’s often a phase where the kids commute between “home base” and their new apartment or home and their property is at both locations. The new grown-ups typically have few possessions, especially possessions of high value, and this adds to the likelihood that insurance is overlooked or seen as unnecessary. However, even when possessions are few, EVERYONE has a legal responsibility to handle the damage they accidentally cause to other people and/or other people’s property. When a child reaches adulthood, they’ve also reached the point where they need to get their own insurance.

If an adult child asks you for insurance advice, give them the name of an insurance professional you trust to help them get the exact protection they need.

COPYRIGHT: Insurance Publishing Plus, Inc. 2013

Findings: In 2004, the second leading cause of injury related deaths in the U.S. for children fourteen (14) and under is by drowning. The law stemmed from the 2002 drowning of Virginia Graeme Baker, the granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker III.

The Law: Below is a summary of those portions of the law that directly affect commercial operations that provide guest, members, or the general public with access to a swimming pool or spa.

The law placed the treatment of swimming pools and spa drain cover under Consumer Product Safety Committee and the Consumer Product Safety Act. Effective December 19th, 2008 all pool and spa drains manufactured, distributed or entered in commerce in the U.S. must conform to the entrapment protection standards of the ASME/ANSI.

Standards must met the requirements of ASME/ANSI or ASTM

Operated by or for the Federal Government for the benefit of the Armed Forces and their dependents

Does your General Liability policy provide sufficient coverage? Many professions are adequately covered by the General Liability policy, however, there are some occupations that are require additional protection, which is only provided by a professional liability coverage. Hair and beauty salons would be one example.

Beautician’s offer a wide range of services which may include hair styling, dressing, arching, applying cosmetics, permanent waving, shampooing, tweezing, facials, trimming, tinting, plucking, bleaching and dyeing, manicures, hair tinting, waxing or applying depilatories, and pedicures. Services at many salons have expanded and today’s beauticians are exposed to an even higher level of risk as they cross into the realm of medical and even surgical procedures.

Current operations may involve tasks such as:

Botox injectionLiposuctionMedispasDermabrasionLaser Treatments

Serving customers may result in losses such as scalp injuries, severe damage to hair, burns, cuts, spinal or joint injuries, and scarring, none of which are covered by a general liability policy. It is critical to acquire the protection of a barbers and beauticians (or cosmetologists) professional liability policy.

Many traditional services are covered under professional liability policies. However, such policies are not standardized and vary significantly from one carrier to another. It is important that your review each company’s application and policy forms reading each carefully to determine what services are covered.

Cosmetologists are required to carry a state license and a minimum amount of training and experience in order to perform their jobs. Barbers and Beautician Professional liability policies require that all insured persons maintain a valid license or certification. Typical coverage includes injuries to persons or to property that is related to the applicable beauty or barbershop operation. There is also coverage for harm connected to application of preparations that are bought at a shop or salon and then are used at customers’ homes. Coverage does NOT apply to preparations made BY the insured.

Barbers and Beauticians professional liability forms don’t protect against losses involving plastic surgery; removal of warts, moles or other growths; use of radiation for the removal of hair; body massage other than facial or scalp massage; sun-tanning treatment or piercing body parts. However, coverage for some services may be added for additional charges.

An insurance professional is the person to talk to when you want to make sure that making the public more beautiful doesn’t include the chance of ugly, uninsured losses.

TruePoint Insurance, LLC

1000 Pine Barren Rd

Pooler, GA 31322

(912) 330-1265