January 30th, 2010 by admin

Bad weather conditions keep people off the beaches while on holiday, but there is always the hotel pool, right?

Wrong.

Villas with pools are typically a nice retreat for the British and Germans on holiday in Majorca – however, a recent test of pools at local villas and resorts in Majorca showed that one-fourth of them were contaminated.

Some pools were using too much chlorine, which has a bleaching effect on clothes and is irritating to the skin and eyes. Some pools had no disinfectants. Others still were contaminated with fecal bacteria.

Water Safety: What to Watch Out For in the Holiday Pool

When you think about water safety during holiday, people typically think of accidents in the ocean.

Pool water can be equally as dangerous though. Contaminants in the water, depending on which type, can cause irritation and rash, ear infections and even death.

E. coli is a real risk when swimming in water with fecal bacteria. Coming in contact with E. coli can cause urinary tract infections and vomiting. Long-term effects of some strands of E. coli are life threatening.

Be on alert for issues with the hotel pool. Start before you even leave for your trip. Check the local area you plan to visit to see if there are any outbreaks or health concerns.

You can even ask the hotel or villa when you make your reservation about the chlorine levels of the pool and how often the pool water is tested.

You can take a few precautions when sitting pool side as well. First, notice the color of the water. Is it green and mucky or crystal clear? Read the rest of this entry »

January 30th, 2010 by admin

Choosing a group health insurance plan for your small business requires careful research. Affordable health insurance is very important to potential employees, many people will accept a lower salary in exchange for affordable health insurance. Your small business may be able to attract better quality employees with a good group health insurance plan as one of the benefits your company offers.

Once employees get married or start a family, affordable health insurance becomes more important to them. If you do not offer a group health insurance plan, you will see employees leave to take another job at a company that offers affordable health insurance. Your company will lose experienced employees to other companies that chose to offer a group health insurance plan as a benefit.

You may think this is not a problem in a recession, when unemployment is at an all time high, but it is. For every employee that leaves, you will have to hire and train another employee. This takes time and costs money. If the new employee doesn’t work out, you will have to start all over again.

Rising health care costs have made many small business owners shy away from offering affordable health insurance to their employees, but if your company is experiencing a high turnover rate, you should consider group health insurance as an employee retention tool.