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Having a solid risk management program in place can help your company avoid significant disruptive events, or enable it to respond.

However, even the best-laid plans can go awry. This can happen if management does not fully buy into the efforts or if implementation of a risk management regime is done without careful forethought or appreciation of all the potential exposures that the organization faces.

If your business has in place a risk management plan, or plans to develop one, you'll want to avoid crucial mistakes that can cause it to fail.

In today's connected world, your personal data is a valuable asset, and your Medicare number is no exception.

Fraudsters target Medicare cards because they act as a unique identifier that grants access to protected health information and financial data. Keeping your Medicare number secure is essential to protecting your medical records and preventing identity theft. Here's how to protect your card and Medicare number.

Once people turn 65 they are required to sign up for Medicare Parts A and B plans, together known as Original Medicare. To get necessary coverage for drugs, seniors should also sign up for Part D. If you don't at first, and sign up later, you can face a lifetime penalty for not doing so — and it increases the longer you wait to sign up.

While many of the services covered by Original Medicare come at a cost, some have no out-of-pocket costs on your part.

A common misunderstanding about Medicare is that it does not cover any dental care, leaving beneficiaries to pay all dental expenses out of pocket. While it's true that Original Medicare does not include routine dental services, there are several ways for seniors to obtain coverage.

Have you ever thought about how you would survive if you became permanently injured or became too ill to work? Would you be able to survive on the average disability checks from Social Security of about $1,100 a month?

Would your savings be enough to tide you over for the rest of your life?

A new study has found that people who have had workers' comp claims in the past are more likely to file future claims compared to those who have never suffered an on-the-job injury.

The study – the subject of an article published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine – concluded that a past claim is the most predictive factor in determining the likelihood of future workers' comp claims.

So what can you do as an employer?

Employment law has long recognized that workers may have an employment relationship with multiple entities at the same time. That means your company could get stung with OSHA fines, Title VII discrimination claims and other actions that arise from the actions of an employee that you thought was a subcontractor.

Here's how to protect yourself from joint employer liability.

Workplace distractions are ever-present. They reduce workers' productivity, increase their stress, cause injuries and lower morale. Some are the result of modern technology, but others have been around a lot longer.

Following an interruption, it typically takes a couple of minutes to return concentration to work. These short interruptions and recovery periods add up to large amounts of lost productive time. There are a multitude of distractions that can affect employee safety and productivity that employers need to be aware of.

The office vacancy rate is 20.1% in the U.S., according to Moody's. That's a 30-year high, with more than 900 million square feet of office space empty — enough to fill New York City's One World Trade Center 300 times.

When buildings lack occupants, they become susceptible to a variety of problems. And if your building is vacant, you may have trouble getting your claim paid in case of damage.

As construction projects become larger and more complicated, contractors are taking on more of the risk by increasing their builder's risk insurance deductibles, according to a recent report.

Michael Cusack, executive vice president of Alliant Specialty, told <i>Insurance Business</i> magazine that contractors are willing to take on more of the risk as those that have strong internal risk management regimens will be rewarded with lower premiums, particularly if they can stave off expensive claims.

But there are risks to raising your deductible. Here's what you need to consider before making a move.

Nearly half of renters are uninsured for fire, natural disaster and burglary, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Why do so many people take this unnecessary risk? Some may think that their landlord's insurance will cover any claims, or they think that only houses are broken into — and not apartments. But the fact is that more apartments are broken into than homes, and apartments also burn. Worse yet, if a fire starts in one unit it may affect nearby apartments, as well.

Once only in commercial aircraft, "black box" event recorders are now standard in most new cars sold in the U.S.

Like on a plane, in the wake of a crash, the black box analyzes the cause and effects of an incident. The data has many other potential uses – for insurance companies, lawyers and police, for instance. Having one in your vehicle can also save you money and possible exonerate you if you're accused of being at fault in an accident.