Posts Tagged: weather
May 10th, 2012
The Ball is in Your Court
By Katharine M. Nohr, JD
Nohr Sports Risk Management, LLC
Recently, Hawaii was hit by unexpected tornadoes, hail and thunder and lightning—weather events that are rare for the islands. Tornadoes are more common on the continental United States, with foreseeability resulting in better preparedness. Hopefully, your sports facility did not suffer any damage from the tornadoes that recently struck Kentucky, Indiana and Alabama. Even if your area is not accustomed to experiencing weather events such as tornadoes, consider that tornadoes have even struck Hawaii when doing your disaster planning.
Weather and Natural Disaster Risk Assessment
In assessing your organization’s weather and natural disaster risks, identify what possible weather related risks that your facility faces. Once those risks have been listed, the likelihood of such risks should be assessed. For example, your region may have frequent lightning storms, intermittent hurricanes and tornadoes, and very infrequent cold spells. Your risk management planning should focus on lightning storms, tornadoes and hurricanes, by developing detailed action plans for such events. Addressing cold spells should be a lower priority.
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November 21st, 2011
Katharine M. Nohr, JD
Nohr Sports Risk Management, LLC
Japan is in the process of recovering from a horrendous 9.0 magnitude earthquake and a deadly tsunami. The west coast of the United States and Hawaii also sustained millions of dollars of damages because of the tsunami generated from the Japan earthquake, but such damage was far less than feared. Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, mud slides, and fires are some of the natural disasters that occur in the world every year, costing lives, destroying property and ending viable businesses. Some of those businesses are sport and recreation facilities, Universities, colleges, and schools. Just as families have to prepare themselves in the event of disaster, so should those in the business of sport and recreation.
Does your organization have an up to date, detailed and practiced disaster plan? Is the plan designed to protect people, property and business continuity? Most likely, your organization has somewhat of a disaster plan, but it is missing elements and staff and volunteers may not be aware of its details. With recent catastrophic disasters in mind, it is a good time to establish a committee and employ a risk management consultant to update the plan.
Three objectives should be met in considering your organizations’ disaster plan:
- Protect People
- Protect Property
- Protect Business Continuity
The following are some of the considerations for meeting such goals.
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July 14th, 2011
Katharine M. Nohr, Esq.
Nohr Sports Risk Management, LLC
Does your organization have flood insurance? If so, are the policy limits high enough to repair your damaged facility and replace damaged equipment? It seems that every time I turn on the news there is a story about flooding somewhere in the world. Those stories combined with the fact that I live on a koi pond, blocks from the ocean and on an island where hurricanes and tsunamis are a constant threat, led me to e-mail my insurance agent inquiring about the possibility of my purchasing flood insurance (I already had hurricane insurance). The agent replied with a quote and I responded accepting his offer. We met at my residence and I showed him the koi pond and wrote a check for the amount of the premium on October 11, 2008. I followed up in an e-mail less than one week later, asking that the agent confirm that my flood insurance coverage was bound. He responded by e-mail, assuring me that he submitted the application and explained that the policy through FEMA would take 30 days to be in effect. This was cause for celebration. While my neighbors worried about the constant threat of the pond flooding (as it had done in 2003), I felt confident that even if it flooded, any losses would be paid under my shiny, new flood insurance policy.
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April 07th, 2011
Robin Whisman
Assistant Director for Injury Prevention and Care
Campus Recreation
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Heat illness poses a serious risk to individuals engaging in physical activity, especially when exercising outdoors or in facilities that are not climate-controlled. Unfortunately, people are often unaware that they are at risk for heat illness until it is too late. Even in less-than-scorching heat, high humidity levels can impair the body’s ability to cool itself. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Campus Recreation has adopted a proactive approach to dealing with heat illness that involves monitoring conditions, educating patrons, and closing facilities if conditions become hazardous.
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