Individual and Commercial Insurance - Term Paper Example

Executive Summary In the several regions of the world tourism industry is facing a difficult time due to the lack if risk management strategies. The strategies are such designed to enhance the productivity as well as the reputation of the industry. The J. Paul Getty Museum is a good visiting place and it can easily be determined while going through the number of people that visited the museum. The important aspect of the museum is that is has portion to depicts the culture and history. However, the assigned industry is not is a good condition and there is need to manage risk by adopting the health and safety tactics. Individual and commercial insurance is a good way to reduce the personal as well as commercial financial risks. Risk Study Report (Occupational Health and Safety) I have selected the J. Paul Getty Museum as the visiting location. The location is situated in Los-Angeles. Los Angeles itself is blessed with beautiful landscapes and the building of the museum is made uniquely so that it would attract as many visitors as the museum can hold. On the other hand the entry to the museum is absolutely free, while visitors are charged $15 for the parking. However, after 5p.m the parking is free too. Museums are good places to find cultural, religious and ancient aspects of the location. Around 1.3 million people visit the museum each year (The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2012). The most significant feature of the tourism business is the capability of the operators to deal with the risks and associated factors regarding the tourism business. It is equally viable for the operators to maintain a smooth, receptive and cost efficient insurance that will ensure to meet the legal necessities and requirements. Risk management ensures to make clear reduction in the unnecessary and unintentional events. However, it is important for the risk managers to develop such strategies to reduce the impacts of the unplanned events. The third important perspective of the risk management is to improve the capability to have full control on all the events and associated risks and maintain cost-efficient insurance within the business environment. Risk management strategies will ensure to enhance the recognition of the risks, analyze the risks and the make strategies to reduce the risk. It not only benefits the organization but also the individuals. On the other hand, the risk management techniques will help to face the accident and help us to be prepared for any accidents. The techniques will also reduce the severity and the after effects of the accidents. Financial damages are heavily influenced by the risk the tourism organization facing and risk management strategies are such made to reduce the financial risks, the organization is facing. Thus risk management strategies for the tourism industry must have the capability to encounter all the risks associated with individuals as well as organization. Fitzgerald (2003) defines the risk management as, “Risk management is a strategic process that will protect the assets and ensure the financial stability of an organization from the consequences of competitive business decisions. Risk management will reduce uncertainty and the potential for accidental or unanticipated loss and will provide the basis for maximizing opportunity”. The risks associated to the location and activities may involve the health problem. There is a need to keep in mind the elderly person in the group of people. The sun may burn the elderly people due to the reception of immense heat from the sun in the summer season. On the other hand the location may be disturbing for the children and the pregnant woman due to lack of health and safety measures at the location (Fitzgerald, 2003). On the other hand, the hospitals are far from the location and thus, there is need to maintain safe return of the visitors. There is a small health facility near the location but it would be more appropriate to have first aid with the visitors regarding the illnesses of the visitors. Like the pills, bandage, etc. The operator should have the numbers of concerned doctor to be utilized in case of emergency. In the visiting group, we have four people (three male and one female), who have ages in between 60 to 70; there is a need to give special attention to that age group of more than 75. The two children with asthma and peanut allergy should also be cared a lot. However, one woman of the group has 18 weeks pregnancy that should also be given attention and should be kept in mind and risks associated with the pregnancy. As, we have the mentioned set of people, the risks associated to location will differ from person to person. According to the given set of people, the most suitable location will be the J. Paul Getty Museum. Museum is the best place in my view for the given set of visitors. Museums not only provide excitement for the elderly people but also for the children. However, J. Paul Getty Museum is considered one of the best museums in the world and its cultural and historical importance can never be neglected (Oroian, 2011). In the businesses, several risk management models are presented. The risk management models depend on the particular situation and the nature of the business. Risk management models can be altered for a particular business like the model suggested for the banking industry may be applied to the tourism industry but after careful considerations regarding the tourism industry (Fitzgerald, 2003). Any risk management model has two significant fundamentals; one of the elements is the risk control element and the other is the risk finance element. The risk control element of the risk management model is associated with the risks of fire, safety, security, health of the employees, emergency training and management, loss of vehicles due to lack of control and legal responsibility. However, the risk financing circulated around the finance and it flow like the general insurance, company’s assets, maintaining the cash flow, etc (Fitzgerald, 2003). The major common risks that can be associated with the given set of tourists are natural risks, political risks that may involve the riots, political culture and instability with the visited location. In most of the American regions, the political situations remain constant due to rich political heritage of the region (Fitzgerald, 2003). The health issues are another problem the visitors may face. As, most of the people in the given set of visitors have certain health problems, it is important to carefully select food, drinks and medicines. The other significant risk that the visitors may face is the crime. As, crime is emerging in the major regions of the America, it is important to provide a level of security to the visitors. However, due to the steps taken towards lowering the crime rate in the Los Angeles, the crime rates in the vicinity are lower as compared to the other regions. One of the major risks is the economic risk. Sometimes the social risks are also present, like the difference between the social setups may bring some problems to the visitors. However, the given set of visitors is suitable for the social setup of the region (Oroian, 2011). The other risks include the technological risks that can influence the visitors. Lack of technology or sometimes enhanced technology may disturb the visitors and may become a reason for the mental disturbance. On the other hand, the management or the risks associated with the organization are the calculation regarding the finance, inputs and outputs. However, there is a need to identify the risks, calculate how to reduce the risks, apply certain principles to reduce the risks and then to wait for the reaction from the applied strategies (Fitzgerald, 2003). The risk management model should have capability to be altered after the response. The designed risk management model should cover the individual risks, which can be local risks or international risks. However, internal and external factors can make variation in the model and come in the domestic risks category. The individual risks can be categorized as the low, medium and high risk. In order to reduce the risks and enhance the efficiency of the risk management strategies, there is a need to include regular reports after the implementation of the risk management strategies (Oroian, 2011). On the other hand, auditing is another important aspect to maintain checks on the risk management strategies. The results attained from the reports and the audits should be utilized to enhance the productivity of the risk management strategies (Oroian, 2011). As the location is commonly known, there is also of information is already available for the location. However, if there is need of more information, research should be conducted to business opportunities. The J. Paul Getty Museum has a good reputation and most of the people who visited the location have good experiences. Since, the crime rates and the stable political situation in the Los Angeles are the key players to enhance the tourism industry. Legal Jurisdiction and Legal Requirements There are certain laws and legislations that should be in knowledge of the operators as well as the tourists. According to Legislative Council Office (2010), there is a license issued to the tourist operator with the help of which, the tourist operator can participate in performing, functioning, administering and retaining a tourist establishment and without that license, the tourism operators are restricted to perform any of the said duties. For the license, an application needs to be sent to the Minister on annual basis and the prescribed fee is also to be deposited. When a tourism operator rejects to pay or is unable to submit any charges imposed on him as a penalty, he is restricted to gain access to any governmental services or licenses for his respective business (Legislative Council Office, 2010). According to Legislative Council Office (2010), registers are to be maintained by the tourism operators that keep information about tourism establishment that are rented such as name and address of renting person, ‘number and type of the rental units or sites rented by the person’, ‘the motor vehicle license number of the person’, ‘the number of people in the travel party’ and other relevant details (pg. 7). Tourism operators are authorized to make claims against the possessions and belongings of the registered people on account of the provision of equipped lodging if the person fails to clear his dues. The operators are not held responsible for the damage or spoilage of any belongings of the registered person if the belongings are not damaged or embezzled intentionally by the administration or staff of the establishment or if the registered person has not handed over his belongings to the protected supervision of the establishment. In other cases, tourism operators are held responsible for safekeeping of the baggage and possessions of the registered people. The tourism operators are also accountable for the vehicles of the guests that are handed over to them or their staff for the purpose of storing or parking at places allocated by the operator for the guests’ vehicles (Legislative Council Office, 2010). The tourism operators are required to fulfill all the obligations and jurisdictions mentioned above in order to work successfully under governmental controls. Rejection or ignorance of any legal requirement may lead to financial and repute loss of the tourism operator; therefore to safeguard the risk of financial loss and bad reputation, laws and jurisdiction should be followed. Every business is considered as incomplete without taking in mind the risk associated to that business. In the similar way, tourism industry is also incomplete without considering the risks associated to the industry and the individuals associated with the business. The individual as well as the commercial risks should be encountered by designing risk management strategies. Risk management strategies should be audited for the alteration in the strategies and thus improve the cost effectiveness of the strategy. Bibliography Fitzgerald, Paul, 2003. Risk Management Guide for Tourism Operators. Canada: National Library of Canada cataloguing in publication data. Legislative Council Office, 2010. Tourism Industry Act. [Online]. Available at: http://www.gov.pe.ca/law/statutes/pdf/t-03_03.pdf (Accessed 31 August 2012). Oroian, Maria, 2011. Contributions to a Possible Risk Management Model for the Tourism Industry in Romania. Vol. 9. Romania: Dimitrie Cantemir University, Faculty of Geography, Mure. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2012. The J. Paul Getty Museum. [online]. Accessed from http://www.getty.edu/museum/ (Accessed 31 August 2012). Read More