Boston's John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. last week put the finishing touches to an elaborate self-insurance program that may well become the model for other big firms in the U.S. The project: a company civil defense program aimed at sheltering and protecting its 6,000 home-office employees in case of a "major disaster."
In Hancock's 26-story building, the tallest in Boston, the first six floors and the basement have been designated the shelter area. After a warning of a possible nuclear attack over an interoffice alert system, all Hancock personnel and non-company tenants in the building would be directed to...