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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Incident Reporting, Information Privacy, Information Security, Risk Management

  CVS Caremark Corp has agreed to pay $17.5 million to resolve claims that it overbilled Medicaid.  The case was brought to the Justice Department by a whistleblower in Minnesota, who will receive $2.6 million. Which makes more sense to you and your bottom line?  A) Having employees report illegal and unethical situations internally so your organization can address situations and document them for legal and CYA purposes or B) having employees report illegal and unethical situations to the federal government and then dealing with expensive multi-million dollar fines, spending time and money and resources on repairing reputations and having the whistleblower get paid millions too?Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Incident Reporting, School Safety

  In response to the January 2011 shooting at a Nebraska high school that killed one school administrator and seriously injured another, Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial has introduced LB 516.  The bill would allow security guards, administrators and teachers to carry a concealed handgun at Nebraska public and private schools, including colleges and universities. The policy would be optional and would require a two-thirds majority vote by a school’s governing body, like the school board.  In Texas, lawmakers are also preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus Is allowing administrators and teachers to bring weapons into aRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Human Resources, Incident Reporting, Risk Management, School Safety

  Already in 2011, tragedies in Tucson and Omaha have reminded each of us about the consequences of missed opportunities involving red flags and warning signs.  Lives were lost and lives will be changed forever because of these and many other tragic incidents. We are now learning numerous red flags and warning signs existed involving the gunman in each tragedy, which has many people asking why these two tragedies were not prevented and how can we prevent future incidents like these from occurring? Some people are suggesting new gun control laws in Arizona or new laws that do not allow guns within 1000 feet ofRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Incident Reporting, Legal, Regulatory Compliance, School Safety

  Under a law signed by Governor Patrick in May 2010, all Massachusetts schools had a December 31, 2010 deadline for filing comprehensive bullying prevention and intervention plans. On November 10, only 3 of the 394 school communities had responded.  On December 31, it was reported early in the day that 355 had submitted their plans, but right before the deadline, a flood of plans came in, resulting in 99 percent compliance (only six schools failed to meet the deadline). I believe 99% compliance is an outstanding result, however I do have a few questions: Were the plans submitted comprehensive? Did the schools take theRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Incident Reporting, School Safety

  In a recent Boston Globe article, several Massachusetts school administrators discussed how they were implementing (or not implementing) the new state requirements for bullying. The new anti-bullying law can potentially expose schools — and individual staffers — to lawsuits by parents or state authorities if incidents of bullying are not handled properly. One of the key requirements is for school leaders to thoroughly investigate all reports of bullying and document actions taken.  One superintendent claimed, “I like to keep the informal stuff in my head.”  But, keeping informal reports and incidents in one faculty member’s head provides no documentation of a student skipping school,Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Emergency Management, Incident Reporting

  Airline security is a hot topic and it reminded me about my experiences flying to Israel earlier this year. Have you ever flown into or out of Israel?  I flew in and out of Tel Aviv this past year and the differences between airline security in the USA and Israel were like night and day in so many ways. Have you heard of Isaac Yeffet? For those of you who do not know, Isaac Yeffet is the former head of security for El Al of Israel.  In an interview I listened to last night, Yeffet said…”technology in general can never replace a qualified andRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Business Continuity, Emergency Management, Human Resources, Incident Reporting, Information Security, Regulatory Compliance

  General Information Personally Identifiable Information Intelligence Information Industry Information Regulatory Information Legal Information Risk Information Customer Information Emergency Information Competitive Information Etc…. Most people and their organizations would agree they are overwhelmed by information that is spread all over in e-mails, web sites, binders, intranets, etc. BUT, most people and their organizations would also agree they are not overwhelmed by awareness, and more specifically they are not overwhelmed by Situational Awareness. Lessons learned continue to reveal that just having information is not enough.  Most of the highly publicized tragedies and incidents reveal that information in the form of red flags or intelligence or riskRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Emergency Management, Incident Reporting, Information Security, Legal, Regulatory Compliance, Risk Management

  How is your incident reporting system working for you?  Or perhaps the question should be – Is your incident reporting system working against you? Lessons learned continue to show that organizations find themselves in ‘reaction mode’ more than they are in ‘prevention mode’.  How can this be when most every organization claims to have an incident reporting system in place? Are traditional incident reporting systems obsolete? Multiple surveys reveal that 90% of bystanders who witness a bullying incident DO NOT report the incident.  So why aren’t bystanders not reporting incidents? Perhaps bystanders are not reporting because of one or more of the following reasons:Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Incident Reporting, Risk Management, School Safety

  Do you know what the legal definition of “deliberate indifference” is? The conscious or reckless disregard for the consequences of one’s acts or omissions. If you are a school leader, school board member or community leader, you might do a quick web search using the words below:                 deliberate indifference lawsuit school 2010 Over 8,000 results came up from my search and many of the results were related to lawsuits being brought against schools and universities under violation of Title IX.  I heard the term “deliberate indifference” over the weekend when one of the national news channels did a bullying feature on a schoolRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Emergency Management, Incident Reporting, Risk Management, School Safety

  Did you see the story from the San Jose International Airport this past weekend? Just before 3pm on Saturday, an SUV pulled up to the arrival curb outside Terminal A at Mineta San Jose International Airport.  Two men dressed in black got out of the SUV and approached the information desk to inquire about flight 1205 from Dallas.  Both men carried assault rifles that were strapped across their chests and they had handguns in their holsters. One of the volunteers politely asked if they were one of those people on planes that look for terrorists…one of the men simply answered no. The volunteers commentedRead More →