Times change and Gilbert’s Risk Solutions has been in downtown Sharon, Pennsylvania to watch and participate for more than 160 years. We began with W.L. Murdock in 1854 when there were about 700 people living in Sharon. The foundation of the valley’s future industrial might was just being laid. We paid our first automobile insurance claim in 1912 – several years before Ford invented the first auto assembly line.
Our insurance agency continued to grow through two World Wars, a few name changes, and began offering risk management services in 2000. Now, we are one of the largest and fastest growing commercial agencies in Western Pennsylvania, with our client base extending across 25 states. We work with more than 100 of the nation’s premier insurance carriers in serving more than 3,000 businesses and families – five times the population that existed when we opened our doors!
Today, Gilbert’s Risk Solutions is under the leadership of Lew G. Kachulis, the company’s seventh president. We operate based on the foundation that times change, but our core values like integrity, honesty, and trust don’t – and they are what have kept Gilbert’s Risk Solutions growing and thriving for more than a century and a half.
Customer satisfaction is our lifeblood, demonstrated by the fact that our customers stay with us year after year, which can be seen in our recent high renewal rates:
Business owners know that there’s always something that can go wrong. Whether it’s a production delay due to a problem in the supply chain or a worker injury on the plant floor, you need to protect your operations, your productivity, and your bottom line. Gilbert’s Risk Solutions can help.
When we opened our doors, the first blast furnaces were in operation and coal mining was flourishing in 50 neighboring mines. Sharon was an iron and steel center. Products were hauled over wagon roads and shipped via river or rail. Risks were high for businesses, but business insurance coverage was still very limited.
Today, we still work in steel and manufacturing, but our 3,000+ customers have expanded to technology, energy, retail, and service sectors. The workplace is much safer today, but technology, complex regulations, and a global marketplace have introduced evolving new risks. Gilbert’s values haven’t changed, but we’ve kept up with the latest technologies, diagnostics, and risk management tools to help our clients identify exposures, mitigate risks, and reduce losses.
Most manufacturing workers were putting in 65-70 hour work weeks. Modern day labor laws covering hours, wages, and employee safety did not exist. Health insurance, unemployment insurance, sick days, and vacation time did not evolve until decades later.
Today, employee benefits are rich and varied, from health insurance to retirement packages and everything in between. There’s also a labyrinth of federal, state, and local employment laws. We help employers design benefit plans for every budget, and we offer a cutting edge Human Resources Information System (HRIS), compliance consultation, and tools for managing ACA, FMLA, ERISA, ADA and more!
Autos hadn’t yet been invented. Homeowners insurance as we know it didn’t exist until a century later. Fire insurance policies were available, but were pretty basic. Life insurance was also available for male breadwinners to protect widows and orphans, but generally purchased by wealthier individuals.
Today’s families have a much higher standard of living. Personal assets needing protection have expanded to encompass homes, autos and sometimes RVs, boats, and second homes. There’s also an array of income protection, retirement, and life insurance options. While choices are more complex, we can be your guide, providing the same great service to you that has kept us in business for more than six generations.