Monthly Archives: <span>August 2015</span>

Data-Driven Employee Reviews Like Amazon’s Becoming More Common

Amazon isn’t the only company that is using data on employees to improve productivity. A New York Times article over the weekend portrayed Amazon’s work culture as “bruising” and “Darwinian” in part because of the way it uses data to …

Spread of Deadly Superbugs Prompts FDA Warning to Scope Makers

The Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters last week to three medical device manufacturers whose endoscopes have been blamed for spreading deadly bacteria. This is the agency’s strongest regulatory action yet since outbreaks in Los Angeles, Seattle, and elsewhere …

A Decade After Hurricane Katrina Rising Flood Risk Threatens Coastal Cities

A decade after Hurricane Katrina caused $41 billion in property and casualty insurance losses, the most expensive catastrophe ever experienced by the global insurance industry, rising sea levels are driving up expected economic and insurance losses from hurricane-driven storm surge …

Marking 10 Years Since Katrina, Consumer Agency Calls for Stiffer Building Codes

A Florida-based consumer advocacy group has outlined six recommendations to strengthen U.S. system of building code development, adoption and enforcement. The nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) released its latest paper, Disaster Resilience Rising Means the Time is Right, …

Target Agrees to Pay Visa Cardholders Almost $67M Over Data Breach

Target Corp said it has reached an agreement with Visa Inc card issuers to reimburse up to $67 million in costs related to a data breach at the retailer in 2013, according to a source familiar with the matter. The …

PCS: Catastrophe Claims Handling Compensation Rates Vary

Major catastrophes frequently mean longer hours and extended periods away from home for claims staff on catastrophe duty. However, wide variations in logistical planning and catastrophe duty compensation have been revealed in a far-reaching study from Property Claim Services, a …

Avoiding Recalls, Tesla and VW Continue Using Takata Airbags

Volkswagen AG and Tesla Motors Inc. are the only automakers that have avoided U.S. recalls while continuing to use Takata Corp. airbag inflators, which have triggered a global safety crisis. Takata has produced 887,055 airbag inflators for Volkswagen since January …

As Weather Hampers Planting, Crop Insurance Claims Spike

Insurance claims filed by U.S. farmers for crops they couldn’t plant have jumped 48 percent this year, government data show, the latest indication of how adverse weather is curbing production of corn and other crops. Total claims so far in …

Increase in Traffic Deaths, Serious Injuries This Year Leads to 24% Higher Costs

Traffic deaths are 14 percent higher through the first six months of 2015 than they were during the same period in 2014, and serious injuries are 30 percent higher, according to the National Safety Council. From January to June, nearly …

Sinkhole-Wrecked Cars Rev up Tourism at Kentucky Corvette Museum

The car-swallowing hole has been fixed but not forgotten at the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky. Yellow tape now marks the boundaries of the cavity that became a sensation and put the museum on the map. And instead of a …