Liability Books

Hide! Here Comes The Insurance Guy: A Practical Guide to Understanding Business Insurance and Risk Management

Rick Vassar CPCU ARM

Amazon Price: $16.15 List Price: $17.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: iUniverse, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $10.89

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> Liability
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> Risk Management
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

If you are ready for simple explanations, practical solutions, and time-tested strategies that will reap huge savings in insurance costs, then Hide! Here Comes The Insurance Guy is here to help!

Author Rick Vassar, certified as an expert in the commercial insurance arena, writes from a risk manager’s perspective as he tackles the often confusing field of commercial insurance with his real-numbers–real-solutions strategy.Developed not just as an initial learning tool, but also as an ongoing resource for experienced managers as well as the uninitiated, this simple guide will help busy executives and business owners reduce expenses in their current programs. Vassar will teach you four distinct steps to controlling your insurance costs:

• Understand the language, understand the process
• Know the players, know how to better manage the process
• Develop a strategy, develop a plan to maximize coverage for minimal cost
• Invest the time, invest in real financial benefits

With a fresh perspective, Hide! Here Comes The Insurance Guy provides insight into an industry that is constantly evolving and changing, and shows how you can potentially save your company millions of dollars in insurance costs!

www.vassargroup.com

What Went Wrong?, Fourth Edition: Case Studies of Process Plant Disasters

Trevor Kletz

Amazon Price: $66.36 List Price: $82.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Gulf Professional Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $48.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> Liability
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Quality Control
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Total Quality Management

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Master Class In Hazard Avoidance And Mitigation 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

"What Went Wrong?" is a well thought-out book on practical safety in the chemical processing industry. The book recounts numerous actual process plant accidents and incidents, includes causes and effects, and avoidance and mitigation practices.

Some of the accidents in this book are familiar to most people (Bhopal, etc.), but most are not; this exposure to "new" material is a real strength. Another strength is the focus on "minor," seemingly inconsequential, actions that have major effects. For instance, on page 62, a company was concerned that because heating had to be shut down over a weekend that water lines would freeze, so water was replaced with alcohol. When a fire occurred the sprinklers then fed the fire. This seems obvious in retrospect, but Kletz is trying to develop foresight rather than hindsight. Kletz also includes examples of human error accidents from other fields. (An excellent example concerning radiological medicine is on pages 92-93.) Kletz always avoids simplistic "human error" diagnoses and diligently pursues root causes; he asserts correctly that in human error accidents it is "unfair to put all the blame on the person who adds the last straw."

Chapter seven concerns leaks. Thomas Fuller was right in 1732 when he said "A small leak will sink a great ship." Leaks are easy to discount as minor and routine annoyances. This chapter does an excellent job of discussing most leak-related issues. The section on "Drain Valves and Vents" is particularly well-developed, as is the section titled "Small Cocks," which makes the point that they should never be used as the sole source of isolation (especially for flammable materials above their atmospheric boiling points.) Likewise his remarks at the end of the chapter (page 162) about measurements are insightful: "Whenever possible we should measure directly what we need to know and not some other property from which it can be deduced." This was, of course, one of the major problems that triggered the Three Mile Island accident.

Chapter eight is titled "Liquefied Flammable Gases," and is an extension of chapter seven in many ways (leaks play a role in many LFG incidents.) Kletz also has an excellent discussion of the hazards of Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosions (BLEVEs) including dramatic examples from Feyzin, France and Duque de Caxias, Brazil. A great example (a crack propagation problem in a low temperature, nine percent nickel steel tank in Qatar) of how to mitigate and trap problems in a large-scale LFG system is on page 172, and discusses the pros and cons of different types of dike wall construction.

Chapter nine is on pipe and vessel failures. There is a good discussion of vapor cloud explosions, and while I am amazed at the scope of the author's data, even I was surprised (and amused) to find that Table 9-1 included in "transport container" column for vapor cloud explosions the note "Includes 1 zeppelin." Now that's thorough!

The book also discusses ancillary fittings (like flanges and gaskets) and equipment (like centrifuges and pumps), their common failure modes and hazard prevention methods. There is an especially good discussion of heat exchangers, furnaces, and cooling towers in chapter ten. Especially enlightening is the discussion of damage by water hammer, and the example given (see Figure 10-11, "Condensate in the steam...knocked off the impingement plate and damaged calandria tubes") illustrates the folly of ignoring precursor incidents in an accident prevention strategy. In section 10.7 Kletz discusses furnaces, and makes the statement "Never say, 'It must be safe because we have been doing it this way for years and have never had an accident'" which is an axiom that any safety professional should embrace.

Chapter eleven concerns entry into vessels, and notes that in the US each year about 63 people are killed after being overcome in inadequately prepared vessels. Of these, 40 are would-be rescuers. Any business with this type of exposure must insure that they have excellent equipment and training (including recurrent training) for people undertaking these tasks. No matter what training occurs, though, you can't protect from bad judgment. On page 232 an incident is discussed where a worker was trying to shrink-fit a bearing onto a shaft in a pit with an acetylene torch while the shaft was cooled by another worker hosing liquefied petroleum gas onto the shaft with the expected fatal results.

Chapter twelve discusses the hazards of common materials. Many situations in this book concern the misuse of water resulting in boilover, slopover, foamover, frothover, puking, or many other steam or vaporization related accidents. Compressed air is another underappreciated hazard, and is also discussed at length. Especially emphasized are reactions of air and oil mixtures and the importance of using Type 3A molecular sieves, which can avoid issues encountered in operations that dry or purify compressed air. Nitrogen is also discussed. While it is inert, Kletz makes it clear that it is not harmless using several insightful examples, including an unusual liquid nitrogen induced explosion in a pork rind processing operation on page 254.

Throughout the book Kletz emphasizes the importance of process change control, and that even slight modifications are thoroughly evaluated; this is true in all safety communities, not just the chemical processing industry. Excellent examples of training issues are throughout the book, but are specifically delineated in section 22.5 "Poor Training or Procedures."

Appendix one contains a useful discussion of relative rates of different types of incidents, while Appendix two is perhaps the best in the book, as it discusses accident reporting (page 395) and gives five excellent reasons to publish accident reports, advice that is valid in all industries.

"What Went Wrong?" is a well written book with many insights for safety professionals. It is written for the chemical industries, but is readable and useful to safety professionals in all industries. I deal largely with aviation safety (though I have a background in industrial chemical processing), and the parallels are manifold.

I highly recommend this book, and look forward to reading other books by Trevor Kletz.

Editorial Review:

Expert Trevor Kletz examines the causes and aftermaths of numerous plant disasters--almost every one of which could have been prevented. Case histories illustrate what went wrong, why it went wrong, and then guide you in how to circumvent similar tragedies.

Learn from the mistakes of others. This invaluable and respected book examines the causes and aftermaths of numerous plant disasters - almost every one of which could have been prevented. Case histories illustrate what went wrong and why it went wrong, and then guide you in how to circumvent similar tragedies.

* Learn from the mistakes of others with this important book!

* Examines the causes and aftermaths of numerous plant disasters - most of which could have been prevented

* Case histories illustrate what went wrong, why it went wrong, and then guide you in how to circumvent similar tragedies

Medical Malpractice Claims Investigation

Nancy Acerbo-Kozuchowski

Amazon Price: $99.95 List Price: $99.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Jones & Bartlett Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 12 new & used starting at $51.09

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> Liability
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> General AAS

Editorial Review:

This manual describes all the steps necessary to undertake and complete a thorough medical malpractice investigation. It is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to the elements involved in the investigation of an actual or potential medical malpractice claim, and covers the process of reviewing medical records, other document collection, fact analysis, interviewing involved individuals, and identifying possible departures from accepted medical practice. The new second edition of Medical Malpractice Claims Investigation: A Step-by-Step Approach features a complete revision of chapter five (Developing Interview Questions), additional material on new JCAHO requirements, electronic medical records, office-based surgery issues, and long-term care claims investigation.

Introduction to Aviation Insurance and Risk Management

Alexander T. and Bruce D. Chadbourne Wells

Amazon Price: $88.75 List Price: $88.75 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Krieger Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 8 new & used starting at $69.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> Liability
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> Risk Management
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Popular Economics -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Complete introduction to aviation insurance. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This textbook is an excellent resource for those students interested in developing a knowledge base in aviation insurance and risk management. The text descibes the various policies available for pilots, and aviation related companies. It also outlines the many types of risk management techniques used to ensure company solvency. The authors have made a very large and complicated subject into something more understandable.

Editorial Review:

The third edition of Introduction to Aviation Insurance and Risk Management has provided the opportunity to improve the book and extend its life into the 21st Century. Old material has been deleted and newer, more timely material added. Unlike the previous editions a number of industry professionals have contributed to the new version. Despite these changes the primary purpose of the book remains the same--to introduce the basic principles of insurance and risk with their special application to the aviation industry. It has been designed for several similar, yet distinct audiences: the college student, corporate pilots or fixed base operators, and individuals in the insurance business.

Introduction to Aviation Insurance and Risk Management, Second Edition

Alexander T. Wells, Bruce D. Chadbourne

Amazon Price: $72.03 List Price: $73.50 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Krieger Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 15 new & used starting at $28.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> Liability
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Alexander Wells is Without Peer in his Knowledge 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Anyone who has read any of Alexander Well's texts on the aviation industry knows that he is without peer in his knowledge of the management and operations of the airline industry. He teaches what I believe is still the only course on airline management at any college in the nation and is highly respected for his work.

In this volume, he focuses specifically on the problems of risk and insurance as it applies to the airline industry. Although the book is relatively new, published in 2000, given the events in the industry in the past few years it may already be ripe for a revision. Regardless, the text provides a broad, yet concise, understanding of insurance and risk management as it applies to the aviation industry, both commerical and otherwise.

This book should be required reading for anyone considering a career in aviation management or working in the insurance industry with airlines.

Editorial Review:

This volume introduces the basic principles of insurance and risk as applied to the aviation industry. It discusses aviation insurance in the United States, and includes coverage of underwriting and pricing, risk management, premises liability and workers' compensation. Sample policies are shown.

Medical Malpractice: Theory, Evidence, and Public Policy

Patricia M. Danzon

Amazon Price: $60.00 List Price: $60.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harvard University Press Amazon Marketplace: 15 new & used starting at $4.85

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> Liability
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> General AAS

Editorial Review:

How often are patients seriously injured through faulty medical care? And what proportion of these people receive compensation for their injuries and suffering? This is the first book that tries to answer these questions in a careful, scholarly way. Among its important findings is that at most one in ten patients injured through medical negligence receives compensation through the malpractice system.

The focus of public attention has been on the rising cost to physicians of malpractice insurance. Although Patricia Danzon analyzes this question thoroughly, her view is much broader, encompassing the malpractice system itself--the legal process, the liability insurance markets, and the feedback to health care. As an economist, she is concerned with the efficiency or cost-effectiveness of the system from the point of view of its three social purposes: deterrence of medical negligence, compensation of injured patients, and the spreading of risk. To provide evidence of the operation of the system in practice, to distinguish fact from allegation, and to evaluate proposals for reform, she has undertaken a detailed empirical analysis of malpractice claims and insurance markets. It is a major contribution to our understanding of how the system works in practice and how it might be improved.

Buying Greenhouse Insurance: The Economic Costs of CO2 Emission Limits

Alan Manne, Richard Richels

Amazon Price: $40.00 List Price: $40.00 Usually ships in 3 to 5 weeks By: The MIT Press Amazon Marketplace: 9 new & used starting at $10.15

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Economics -> Natural Resources
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> Liability
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> General

Editorial Review:

In recent years a growing concern that the increasing accumulation of greenhouse gases will lead to undesirable changes in global climate has resulted in a number of proposals, both in the United States and internationally, to set physical targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But what will these proposals cost? Based on the authors' earlier ground-breaking work, Buying Greenhouse Insurance outlines a way to think about greenhouse-effect decisions under uncertainty. It describes an insightful model for determining the economic costs of limiting carbon dioxide emissions produced by burning fossil fuels and provides a solid analytical base for rethinking public policy on the farreaching issue of global warming.

Manne and Richels present region-by-region estimates of the costs that would underlie an international agreement. Using a computer model known as Global 2100, they analyze the economic impacts of limiting C02 emissions under alternative supply and conservation scenarios. The results clearly indicate that a reduction in emissions is not the sole policy response to potential climate change.

Following a summary of the greenhouse effect, its likely causes, and possible consequences, Manne and Richels take up issues that concern the public at large. They provide an overview of Global 2100, look at how the U.S. energy sector is likely to evolve under businessas-usual conditions and under carbon constraints, and describe the concept of "greenhouse insurance." They consider possible global agreements, including an estimate of benefits that might result from trading in an international market in emission rights. They conclude with a technical description directed toward modeling specialists.

Alan Manne is Professor of Operations Research at Stanford University. Richard Richels is Director of the Energy Analysis and Planning Department at the Electric Power Research Institute.

Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big Business--and Bad Medicine

Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele

List Price: $24.95 By: Doubleday Amazon Marketplace: 67 new & used starting at $0.85

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> Liability
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Personal Health -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Personal Health -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Exposing the most controversial, little-known practices of America’s most flawed system, Time magazine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative team pulls back the curtain on the health care industry to explain exactly how things grew so out of control.

Dirty examination and operating rooms in doctor’s offices and hospitals . . . Health care executives pulling in millions in bonuses for denying treatment to the sick . . . More than 100 million people with inadequate or no medical coverage . . . This may sound like the predicament of a third-world nation, but this is America’s health care reality today. The U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation, yet our benefits are shrinking and life expectancy is shorter here than in countries that spend significantly less per capita. Meanwhile, HMOs, pharmaceutical companies, and hospital chains reap tremendous profits, while politicians—beholden to insurers and drug companies—enact legislation for the benefit of the few rather than the many, while the entire system is on the verge of collapse.

In CRITICAL CONDITION, award-winning investigative journalists Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele expose the horror of what health care in America has become. They profile patients and doctors trapped by the system and offer startling personal stories that illuminate what’s gone wrong. Doctors tell of being second-guessed and undermined by health care insurers; nurses recount chilling tales of hospital meltdowns; patients explain how they’ve been victimized by a system that is meant to care for them. Drug companies profit by selling pills in the same manner that Madison Avenue sells soap, while Wall Street rakes in billions by building up and then tearing down health care businesses. And politicians pass legislation perpetuating the injustices and out-right fraud the system encourages.

By analyzing the industry and offering an insightful prescription for getting it back on the right track, CRITICAL CONDITION is an enormously compelling investigative work that addresses the concerns of every American.

Professional Liability and Risk Management

Bruce E. Bennett

List Price: $19.95 By: American Psychological Association (APA) Amazon Marketplace: 23 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Business Life -> Ethics
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> Liability
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Mental Health -> General

Editorial Review:

This book answers important questions about professional liability that are asked by all mental health practitioners, and it offers suggestions about how to integrate safeguards into daily practice that will best meet the interests of clients and practitioners.

Settled Out of Court : The Social Process of Insurance Claims Adjustment

H. Laurence Ross

Amazon Price: $27.95 List Price: $27.95 In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. By: Aldine Transaction Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $24.67

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> Liability
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Insurance -> General AAS