1. Exposure to back and shoulder injuries is increased when lifting involves anything below the knees or above the shoulders. These types of lifts should be avoided if possible or should be done with the assistance of lifting equipment.
2. While it goes against human nature, we recommend that if something starts to fall, don’t try to catch it! When thinking about back injuries, this is a simple principle that stands out as the cause of many injuries. This idea can’t be stressed enough.
3. If a company is doing pre-employment physicals, an important part of the process would include a strength test based on the type of work that employee will be doing in the future. Medical staff is generally trained to watch for unusual signs of stress or discomfort in an applicant during these tests.
4. Based on our field experience, the worker who lifts heavy objects all day long is less likely to have a back injury than the person who only lifts a few times during the day. During training we emphasize that employee should take an extra second to size up the item that needs to be lifted and should use this time to stretch. Taking that extra time helps prepare your muscles and gives you an opportunity to decide if this job might require additional assistance.
5. Certain operations will always require a two person lift; this is especially common on construction sites. Management and supervisors should enforce this requirement and implement consequences for not following necessary safety measures.

The Michigan Court of Appeals recently upheld municipal sewer rates as applied to a Manufactured Housing Community (MHC) against claims that it violated the equal protection and Headlee amendment provisions of the Michigan Constitution.

That is, a community owner alleged that (i) it was being discriminated against by being treated just like single family residences and apartments; and (ii) the user fees charged were really a “tax” that had not received voter approval as required by the Headlee amendment.

On the first issue, the Court concluded that classifying MHCs the same as other township residential housing was rationally based. It stated that “[t]he occupied pads receive that same services as those received by other township housing, and the unoccupied pads can become occupied at any time and certainly benefit from the capital improvements, replacements, and expansion.”

On the second issue, the Court found the sewer charges were permissible “fees,” and not “taxes.” It concluded that the charges were imposed for a regulatory purpose rather than a strictly revenue-raising purpose, the charges were reasonable (proportionate to the costs of the service), and they were voluntary, i.e., only those who used the sewer services were charged and the MHC had options as to whether to use the service, or to at least regulate how much of the services it would use.

While many industry members have raised questions with respect to the rate structures of various local municipal water and sewer charges, this case certainly makes it much more difficult to “fight city hall” on these issues.

Note that the Court of Appeals opinion is “unpublished,” which means that it is not precedentially binding under the rule of stare decisis. It can, however, be cited to other courts as persuasive authority on the issues decided.

William Perrone is the Office Managing Member of Dykema Gossett PLLC, Lansing, Mich. William can be reached by phone 517.374.9174, fax 517.374.9191 or e-mail wperrone@dykema.com.

If you have been unfortunate enough to sit through one of my classes, or been punished by doing an insurance review with me, you have heard me talk about proper definitions in policies. A policy is a contract that will be reviewed extremely closely at the time of a large loss. I’m not talking about a simple slip and fall (which is the standard claim for communities) but rather, a claim that will be in the six figures.

Example: A community acting as a broker sells a home within the community. The next winter, the furnace heat exchange fails and carbon monoxide is released into the home, killing or injuring 1-4 people. This is a claim we have seen four times in the last five years countrywide.

Most policies are written on “Commercial General Liability” (form CG 00 01) and have pollution exclusion that lists “gaseous” and “vapor” as pollutants. The good news is the Pollution Exclusion has an exception for heating equipment. The bad news is only if you “owned, occupied by, or rented or loaned to any insured.” In a brokerage situation, that has not occurred.

Since the Pollution Exclusion will not apply to Products Liability (products are distributed, but that’s another definition) we can then look for coverage there. (See page 15 or 16 in the definition of your CG 00 01.) However, the unendorsed policy form for products reads “occurring away from premises you own or rent.” That is one reason we have endorsements that change the policy.

Okay, so now you’re saying to yourself, “this is way too technical”—and it will be … except when you have a father and mother die, with two kids left disabled, needing care for the rest of their lives. Are you comfortable calling your agent … or this insurance geek (me) that keeps harping on policy wordage?

Quick claims tip
It is our hope that storm season is dying down throughout the Midwest, but as a quick reminder, here is a list of the most important information we need when filling out a First Notice of Loss form. This information helps us to best set up a new claim and process in a timely fashion.

• Named insured and contact phone number
• Date of loss/date of injury
• Location of where the loss occurred
• Description of loss, type of loss
• The police department and report number if the police were contacted
• For “vehicle loss” we need the vehicle information (year, make and model) and driver information
• Workers Comp—first report of injury form must be signed

Thanks for your partnership!

I had a chance to review with one of our national manufactured housing carriers some larger, unusual claims for 2011.

• Workers Compensation—$500,000, ladder fell on manager
• General Liability—$150,000, trip over raised spot in sidewalk
• General Liability—$100,000, customer fell out of rear door of home during showing
• Auto—$100,000, uninsured motorist