STUDY QUESTIONS VALUE OF LIQUOR-SERVER TRAINING

Programs for modifying environments where alcohol is served, including bars and liquor stores, do not help reduce alcohol-related injuries, according to a new review of controlled studies.

"There is no reliable evidence that interventions in the alcohol server setting are effective in reducing injury," fatal or otherwise, said Katherine Ker, lead review author.

Most of the studies included in the review used decade-old data and obtained relatively low levels of compliance. Server training programs were all short-term, ranging from one or two hours to two days, Kerr said.

"There were some interventions that sounded promising, but if you're only able to train 50 percent or 60 percent of the people, you can't tell if the intervention doesn't work or if it's because of lack of compliance," Ker said. "If you could address the issue of compliance, you might be able to get more favorable results."

Examining the effect of interventions on the supply side, instead of focusing on trying to change drinkers' own demand for alcohol, is a quick way for investigators to target a wide range of drinkers, Ker said.

"Every alcohol consumer has contact with the alcohol industry in that they have to go to a pub or go to the shops to buy it, so implementing such interventions in server settings is a good way of reaching a large number of people who need it," Ker said.

The review appears in The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Ker is coordinator of the Cochrane Injuries Group based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

FOUNDER OF CALIF.-BASED BOLTON & CO. PASSES AWAY

Dorance Dean Bolton, founder of Pasadena, Calif.-based Bolton & Company Insurance Brokers, passed away on April 21, 2006, at the age of 96.

Bolton was a pioneer Southern California insurance broker and was a founding governor of what is now the Insurance Brokers & Agents of the West, or IBA West. In 1931 in Los Angeles, Bolton founded Bolton & Company, now one of the largest privately-owned insurance agencies in the United States. In the late 1960s, Bolton's two sons, Bill and Jim Bolton, joined their father in the family insurance business. In 1970, Dorance Bolton retired and sold the business to Bill and Jim.

Born May 13, 1909, in Coleraine, Minn., Bolton was the third of four sons born to George Sidney and Emby S. Bolton. Raised on a farm in Canada, he attended a one-room schoolhouse. In 1921, the family moved to Los Angeles. Bolton graduated from Manual Arts High School and attended U.S.C.

Dorance was preceded in death by his son Robert. He is survived by his wife Helen; sons Bill (Linda) and Jim (Joan) of Pasadena, Calif.; four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. A memorial celebration will be held on May 15, 2006, at 2:00 p.m. at Villa Gardens, 842 Villa Street, Pasadena.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Braille Institute Los Angeles Sight Center, 741 North Vermont Street, Los Angeles, Calif., 90029, or www.brailleinstitute.org/Centers/LosAngeles.htm.

INSURERS TO PAY $1.38 BILLION FOR Q1 LOSSES

U.S. property/casualty insurers are expected to pay an estimated $1.38 billion to homeowners and businesses in insured property losses from seven catastrophe events in first-quarter 2006, according to preliminary analysis by Insurance Services Office's Property Claim Services (PCS) unit.

PCS estimates that the seven catastrophes produced nearly 390,000 claims in 19 states. Personal lines claims accounted for 53 percent of the total, 12 percent for commercial lines claims and 35 percent for auto claims. The large number of vehicle claims stemmed from hail and tornado damage.

The quarter's costliest event was an outbreak of severe weather across six Midwest states from Kansas to Indiana. The insured damage from the event is slightly more than $800 million and the claims count is in excess of 222,000.

Missouri suffered the largest insured loss, estimated at $475 million, in the quarter, followed by Kansas at $113 million, Arkansas at $108 million, New York at $103 million and Illinois at $100 million.

Three winter storms and four wind and thunderstorm events constitute the quarter's seven catastrophes -- slightly above the average of six events during the past decade. Since 1997, 25 winter storm catastrophes in the first quarter have caused over $6 billion of insured property damage, PCS said. During the same period, severe weather outbreaks -- wind, hail, tornadoes and flooding -- produced 35 catastrophe events with $6.5 billion in estimated insured property damage.