McCurdy Group - Insurance and Financial Consultants

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Pool Safety

  • Always watch children when they are in or around the pool.
  • Teach children basic water safety tips: no running around the pool, no roughhousing, etc.
  • Keep children away from pipes, filters, tubes and drains to avoid hair or clothing from becoming entangled.
  • Know how to shut off pool equipment quickly in case of emergency. Post instructions for others.
  • Never leave toys or floats in the pool when not in use. They can make tempting targets for toddlers.
  • Teach your children to swim and be sure you know how to swim as well.
  • Learn how to do CPR on children and adults and update these skills regularly.
  • Keep the pool area free from electrical devices, glass and other hazards.
  • Never let anyone swim alone.
  • Limit alcohol use around the pool area. The CDC reports that alcohol is a factor in many adolescent and adult deaths related to water recreation.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Protecting Customers by Shredding Documents

Identify theft is one of the most organized and costly crimes today. With the number of claims increasing every year, it can happen to anyone at anytime. Identify theft occurs when thieves acquire personal information to create fraudulent accounts and make financial transactions at the victim’s expense. The most common way to acquire such important information is by searching through trash for documents with names, social security numbers, bank account numbers, etc. Although identity theft cannot be completely prevented, there are many easy ways to minimize risk.

Paper shredding is a simple, but very important part of protecting customers and employees of a business. Shredding valuable documents is essential to our customer’s security at The McCurdy Group. Destroying these documents eliminates the risk of thieves searching through dumpsters or discovering our customers’ precious information. Before shredding, all paper documents are kept in a locked room and out of reach. After shredding, the paper is recycled and the private information remains protected.

Other tips to protect yourself from identity theft:

  • Bring in your mail daily from the mailbox
  • Immediately report lost/stolen credit cards
  • Safely store social security cards, birth certificates, and other valuable documents
  • Be careful what information you send in emails/post on the internet
  • Monitor your bank accounts and credit card usage