The Hartford is adding another tool to the agent's arsenal tohelp small business clients plan for disasters and take the stepsthat will permit recovery.

The Hartford, Conn.-based insurer has introduced a new losscontrol Webinar to help small business owners focus on the threatsthey face heading into 2006.

According to The Hartford, natural disasters account for onlyabout 5 percent of the calamities that typically affect businesses.Approximately 68 percent of calamities are caused by human error,25 percent by technology failures and 2 percent by intentionalmalice.

While commercial enterprises are assessing their plans for 2006,The Hartford's new loss control Webinar is readily accessible withdisaster recovery planning tools to help them prepare for allmanner of crisis, both natural and man-made.

"The need for disaster preparation for small businesses hasnever been more important," said Jim Ruel, senior vice president,small business operations, at The Hartford, in a statement.

"We know that half of companies suffering a disaster with norecovery plan will fold within two years, and that's not a resultanyone wants to see. If our Webinar can help spur action beforedisaster strikes, we're meeting our goal," he said.

The new Webinar, "Surviving Beyond Disaster," is a 22-minutepresentation that walks small business owners through preparationfor various types of disasters, including natural disasters such asflood and wildfire, and man-made calamities such as human error orindustrial sabotage. The Webinar helps businesses create a 10-stepplan to handle a catastrophic situation.

"For many years, The Hartford provided in-person seminars tohelp small businesses prepare for the inevitability of disasters,but we were limited by venue and time in the number of people wecould reach with this critical business continuity information,"said Mr. Ruel. "Now, through the Internet, we've expanded our reachand look forward to bringing our message far and wide."

The Webinar is accessible for free by anyone through a link onThe Hartford's small business Web site atwww.sb.thehartford.com.