Effects of Business Losses With High Insurance Claims

Effects of business losses with high insurance claims (workers compensation).

While every person would love to reduce their monthly bills, business losses with high insurance claims and workers compensation can help to offset medical costs, if the injury is real. When this happens, you are able to claim your medical bills under your company's insurance, allowing them to pay for the injury you sustained at work. If the injury is real and you ask for genuine workers compensation then nobody can deny you the claim. But if you try to exaggerate the injury or sickness or milk it longer than is necessary by claiming more money from the source that has given you bread and butter for a long time in your life, the company can turn around and come after you for falsifying your documents and stealing for the company.

With workers compensation a person can claim the medical expenses from injuries sustained by him or her while working for the company. However, many people exaggerate their injuries as well as their medical expenses in an attempt to get more money from the company. This can also be done by documenting an extended period of time for recovery from the injuries sustained. This causes the company more burdens from the insurance and as such places a particular burden on the boss of the company but also the co-workers and friends who work at the same company. The worst case scenarios are a company may go into a loss if it is a small company and trying to make ends meet. If a company is mid-sized then there might be cuts in salary for the employees and also possible cancellation of bonuses at the end of the fiscal year.

Thus we should try to be more careful at work in order to avoid such situations, which may lead to drastic steps taken by the company. Create an effective policy for on the job injuries. The one thing that I have learned over time is employee will always try to milk the system if you allow them to. Hire an established professional to look at your insurance program. As I mentioned before creating an effective return to work plan is critical to cutting your losses. Along with making sure that your "special account instructions" with your insurance carrier. Keeping control and be notified on all major issues cuts down on cost. Insurance company make there money on handling each claim.

Lean Concepts in Agriculture and Food Industry

I was fascinated about the concept of lean manufacturing since I first read the articles on lean manufacturing. Then when I conducted few researches on lean manufacturing I understood that lean is the path for future.

But one question continuously I asked myself is the possibility of applying lean manufacturing concepts in the field of agriculture and food industry. Agriculture is traditionally based on bulk manufacturing. Harvesting is done once a season most of the times and stocked and used later. In fact some lean thinkers say that people adopted batch processing and stocking in manufacturing as a result of the practices from agricultural thinking. Before the industrialization people with the biggest stocks of food and other supplies were considered as more stable and they were able to face challenges of nature without having to starve. People with time develop the concept of having more stocks is better. When people gradually moved to industrialization, still the concept of maintaining big safety stocks hasn't changed according to these lean thinkers.

Agriculture is an industry which requires a new way of thinking. Traditional methods have lots of wastes and inefficiencies build into them. According to some researches more than 20% of agricultural products become unusable before it reach the end consumer in some countries. This offers any lean thinker a good opportunity to explore the possibilities of implementing lean concepts in this area. Even if we can reduce this waste by half we will be reducing the number of people dying due to starvation.

Just in time manufacturing may not be possible in the field of agriculture. But the distribution, handling methods etc can be improved with the techniques like JIT and kaizen. By educating people and using simple technology waste can be reduced dramatically. Effectively connecting the manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers up to the customer is very necessary to improve the effectiveness of the process.

Maintaining A Healthy Diet While At Work

One of the problems that many of us face when we work for a living is the fact that it can be quite difficult to eat healthily through the day. As a matter of fact, we may find that we are simply grabbing something as quick as possible from vending machines or candy machines that may be at our place of business. Quite obviously, this is not going to result in our having the optimum health that we would desire and it can actually cause problems in the long run that are difficult to control. That being said, what are some of the things that you can do to ensure that you are eating as healthy as possible when you are stuck at work?

One of the more obvious points to eating healthy is the fact that you must be prepared in advance. If you are leaving everything to chance, it is likely that you are going to be hitting one of the candy machines in your office at sometime during the day. This can be disastrous for your waistline, as well as your overall health. If you plan in advance, on the other hand, and bring yourself some food that is healthier than what comes out of the vending machines at work, you will be in a better position. What are some of the options that are open to you?

Some people find that it is very beneficial to do all of their cooking on one or two days every week. If you cook on the weekend, it is often possible for you to cook enough that you will be good for the majority of the week. Having the food prepared in advance and even distributed in smaller Tupperware containers will make it easy for you to grab a pre-prepared lunch and take it with you in the morning. This will help you to avoid the fast food restaurants and the other unhealthy options that are available to you in the work environment.

Another thing that you are going to need in order to be successful with eating healthy is proper motivation. When you are first starting some type of a healthy eating regime, it can be very difficult to stick with it for the long run. As a matter of fact, it is often estimated that you have to go at least 21 days without a particular food or type of food before it becomes a habit. If you are able to stick with it for that long, you may just find that you are able to avoid it for the rest of your life.

One final thing that you should consider is the fact that being healthy is not just a matter of eating healthy. Exercise and getting plenty of rest are also going to play key parts in being healthy at work and in your home environment. Get outside and get some fresh air when possible and if all you can do is walk, by all means go for a walk. The more you spend time exercising, the less you will have a problem with your health.

Low-Down on Podcasting - Part Two

Last time we talked about how to record the raw material for a podcast. This month we are going to look at how you can edit it, add background music and output a finished MP3 file for your internet or intranet site.

If you followed my instructions last time you should have a .WAV or .MP3 file. If your recorder is an Olympus there is a chance that it is in the.WMA format. If so, we need to convert it to .WAV before we can go any further.

This isn't too difficult - there are convertor packages available on the net. One is Switch, which is available for both Mac and PC.

While you are connected you also need to download an audio editing program. You can spend a small fortune on these, but the one I recommend is free. It is called Audacity and is open source. Don't laugh - it is easily as good as paid-for options.

So Google Audacity and download it. While you are on the Audacity web site download the LAME encoding software too. This is also free and will let you output MP3 files from Audacity.

Once you have installed both you are ready to go.

If you now open up the audio you recorded earlier using Audacity you will see the waveform on the screen. Pressing play will let you review your audio and you will see the progress bar move across the waveform as it does so.

You can zoom in to take a closer look. In fact, I recommend you do just that. Now, to edit out any "umms and aahs" just click and drag over the audio you want to remove and press delete. As the Meerkat would say: "Simples!".

If you have recorded a separate intro for your interview you can now highlight this, copy it and paste it onto the front of the interview audio. It is all quite intuitive.

What about music? You can't just go and steal any piece of music you like as you would be in breach of copyright. However, there is a lot of podcast-ready music out there that you can buy and even pod-safe music that you use for free.

Two sites worth looking at are Podsafeaudio and MusicAlley.

If you want to have background music with your speech that can also be accomplished. Create a new track and paste your music into that. You can adjust the volume of the music using the pinch tool, which looks like two small triangles with a piece of tape running through the middle. Now if you play the track you will hear your voice and the music.

Once your audio is edited you are nearly there. Save the project and then use the "File>>Export as WAV" option to output your finished audio. I know that ultimately we need an MP3 file, but bear with me.

The trouble with mixing various pieces of audio together is that you you end up with differing audio levels. This can be hard to fix manually, but there is an easy way to do it.

Google Levelator - there are versions for Mac and PC. Now drag and drop your output WAV file to Levelator and let it work its magic. It will give you yet another WAV file with perfectly corrected audio levels.

Open this file with Audacity again and you are nearly there. First we need to set the MP3 quality level. Go to the Audacity preferences, select "File Formats" and set the MP3 bit rate to 64kbps. This is good enough for speech and will usually play over the net quite happily without stuttering or stalling. Now use the "File>>Export as MP3" option.

There you have it - your finished edited MP3 file.

Next time we will look at how you can play it on your web or intranet site and integrate it with iTunes.

Back to School Show & Tell

One thing you can count on during the first days of school is the inevitable question of "What did you do over the summer?" Here are a few creative ways to describe your summer experiences for the first edition of Show and Tell.   1. Flip Books Create a moving picture of your summer fun with a flip book. Start out with a Post-It pad or a pocket-sized spiral notebook. Draw the first picture on the last sheet of paper and work your way to the first page by changing the picture little by little. For instance, if you learned how to surf over the summer, you might start with a picture of you lying on a surfboard in calm waters. The next picture could show the waters growing a little choppier. The following drawings could be of you slowly turning, then standing on the board as the wave grows larger, and so on.   2. Summer Collage Illustrate your summer happenings with one of my favorite forms: collages. Simply use glue to cover a poster board or even several small postcard-sized papers with magazine cutouts, sections of road maps, photographs, movie and concert ticket stubs, restaurant menus, train schedules, and any other mementos from your summer.   3. Map It Instead of just telling the class where you went and what you did, pinpoint our summer destinations and activities on a map. If you stayed close to home, use a local road map. If you were able to travel to several cities and states, use a countrywide map. Glue magazine cutouts of activities, or actual photos of your fun onto the map. For example, if you went to a dude ranch in Dallas, glue a picture of a horse onto the map in Dallas. If you visited Mount Rushmore, glue a photo of your family onto the map in South Dakota. The same goes for rock climbing, swimming, snorkeling, and anything else you had a chance to enjoy over the summer months.   4. Seashell Memories Capture every fun moment of summer vacation on seashells. If you didn't get a chance to go to the beach, don't worry-most craft and hobby stores sell bags of seashells. Use acrylic paint and a clean paintbrush to paint pictures inside the shells. My son's summer shells feature an octopus in the ocean (from snorkeling-we didn't actually see an octopus, but he wishes he had), a colorful clown from a friend's birthday party, an airplane in the clouds, and the night sky filled with stars and a bright crescent moon.

What Are Thematic Units?

Thematic units are a multi-disciplinary approach to teaching based on a common theme or topic. Multi-disciplinary simply means, "of or relating to many different subject areas." The teacher and/or students choose a topic based on their interests and learning goals. Engagement in this decision-making process develops a vested interest. This significantly increases motivation. Research shows that when learners are motivated, achievement increases!

Thematic units allow students to make connections and build more solid schema. Learning becomes purposeful when they can identify a common theme in all content areas, such as math, reading, science, social studies. The content areas are not limited to core areas. Thematic units are even more powerful when art, physical education, music, technology, etc. are involved. When all content areas focus around a common theme, students gain an awareness of the interrelationships making learning more relevant. In addition, this allows for greater application of essential skills in all areas of life.

The duration of a unit may vary depending on the chosen theme. Some may extend several weeks, and some may last a few short days. Teachers are cautioned not to extend these lesson plans over too long of a period. Allow enough time for deeper levels of understanding but not so long to lose interest and limit time for other explorations.

Many teachers are fearful that themes chosen by children will deter from the common core learning objectives. However, it must be noted that the essential skills may be taught in any learning context. Here are some examples:

Theme: Penguins

Math: Grade level math skills are learned with penguin graphics and manipulatives, such as counting, exploring population, word problems and more. Reading: Penguin stories improve reading strategies to increase comprehension. Language Arts: Vocabulary concepts are increased with penguin related words. English conventions are revealed when writing or speaking about penguins. Science: Utilize comparing and contrasting skills to explore how these creatures differ from other birds. Social Studies: Research and gain map skills to determine where these animals live. Art: Art skills are used to create a habitat. Music: Examine musical pieces from popular penguin movies. Compose original songs. Physical Education: Build and participate in obstacle courses while following movements of this animal. Writing: Students incorporate grade level writing skills while writing fiction or nonfiction stories about the subject.

Theme: Chocolate

Math: Candy pieces are used as manipulatives to learn math concepts and skills. Reading: Read about the Cacao tree and use reading strategies for new concepts and comprehension. Language Arts: A reader's theatre is created using English conventions and new vocabulary.Science: Describe the changes of matter that occur when chocolate is processed from the bean to the bar. Social Studies: Research chocolate factories around the world, their location, history, etc. Economic skills may also be addressed. Art: Candy wrappers are used to create an original collage. Music: Explore musical pieces from popular chocolate factory movies. Physical Education: Create games creating movement through a factory. Writing: Poetry skills are enriched through writing activities about the topic.

It is important for teachers to answer the question, "What are thematic units?" This multidisciplinary approach engages students in learning that is based on a common theme in all subject areas. It can have profound effect on student achievement!