IRMI Update—Issue #175
An E-mail Newsletter for Risk and Insurance Professionals
ISSN: 1530-7948
January 9, 2008
In This Issue
Colleague,
Happy New Year, my friend. I am very excited about the prospects for 2008.
This will be IRMI's 30th year providing risk professionals with practical risk
management and insurance solutions through its publications, conferences, seminars,
continuing education programs, and Web site. Coincidentally, we recently published
the 1,000th article on IRMI.com, making it one of the most robust risk management
resources on the Web.
With this, the first issue of IRMI Update to be published this year, I thought
you would appreciate a review some of the major improvements we made in the
IRMI reference library during 2007. You probably have access to one or more
of our publications, and this review will help you take advantage of your subscriptions.
If you do not subscribe, it will give you an idea of what you are missing.
- Reported on changes introduced with the 2007 edition of the standard
CGL form in
Commercial Liability
Insurance.
- Added 33 new D&O policy analyses to
D&O MAPS
- Discussed ways to reduce liability exposures from corporate wellness
plans in
EPLiC
- Updated the discussions of insuring agreements, limits, claims-made
triggers, deductibles, defense provisions and procedures, conditions, and
exclusions in
Professional Liability
Insurance."
- Updated and expanded the discussion of vocational rehabilitation in
IRMI Workers Comp.
- Added a discussion of coverage issues associated with follow-form umbrella
policies to
Commercial Liability Insurance.
- Included an extensive discussion of horizontal-versus-vertical exhaustion
of primary and umbrella limits for additional insureds in
Contractual Risk
Transfer.
- Expanded the state construction anti-indemnity chart in
Contractual Risk
Transfer to address whether and how the state anti-indemnity
statutes apply to additional insured requirements.
- Expanded the annotated commercial property forms discussions in
Commercial Property
Insurance, adding over 400 court cases along with related commentary.
- Explained how the courts resolve coverage disputes that arise when a
loss is the result of more than one cause and at least one of the causes
is not covered in
Commercial Property
Insurance.
- Expanded the discussion of the garage coverage form in
Commercial Auto
Insurance.
- Added color-coded, hyperlinked maps showing the position each state
has taken on pollution coverage issues in
Pollution Coverage
Issues.
- Explored layered property insurance programs in
The Risk Report.
- Discussed proposed captive tax changes in
Captive Insurance
Company Reports.
- Added an in-depth discussion and comparison of homeowners insurance
for the affluent to
Personal Risk Management
and Insurance.
- Added a discussion of wrap-up program feasibility studies to
Construction Risk
Management.
- Added an extensive analysis of the 2006 AAIS homeowners form to
Personal Risk Management
and Insurance.
- We introduced a new reference service,
RMIS Review,
which analyzes and compares the features in risk management information
systems.
- Deepened our coverage analyses by citing more than 1,000 additional
court cases in the reference library.
This is a small sampling of the many additions to the library in 2007 and
much more is headed your way in 2008. Many risk managers and most agencies,
brokerage firms, and major insurers subscribe to these IRMI publications on
SilverPlume Sage or IRMI Online. Or maybe you still get them in print. Regardless,
make sure you are taking advantage of this great information to stay ahead of
the competition or keep your company out of hot water. If you don't have access
to the IRMI library, review the list of our
risk management and insurance publications.
All of us at IRMI send our very best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous
2008.
Jack
Jack P. Gibson, CPCU, CRIS, ARM
President
IRMI
Think Like an Underwriter—Many small business
owners outsource much of the regular day-to-day insurance management/selection
functions to an insurance company representative or agent/broker. However, it
is important to retain control over your loss and coverage information and know
how it is being presented to potential insurers. To achieve the greatest satisfaction
relative to your insurance requirements and your associated servicing and pricing
expectations, you have to think like an underwriter and be prepared to provide
what they need to write your business. Build and maintain a risk profile so
you can show a historic record of your exposures, loss data, and insurance contracts.
It is important that you maintain the file—you don't want to depend on past
insurers for this historical loss and coverage information. Keep on hand and
current:
- A narrative/history of the firm—Be positive and realistic. Well-managed
accounts which have adapted well during all economic cycles will result
in an underwriter competitively pricing your business.
- Resumes of key management—Show you know your business and have a great
team behind you.
- Sales brochures/Web pages, if applicable.
- D&B Report on your business—If D&B is unable to complete a report, you
may get a lower financial grading. Had a few bumps in the road financially?
There are companies willing to work with you, but less so if they have to
pull teeth to get the information.
- Audited financials, if applicable.
- Estimated sales, workers compensation payroll, automobile fleet and
property and equipment values.
- Historic sales, payroll, and auto units for the past 5 years
- Insurer loss runs/claim runs of the previous 5 years for all policies,
valued within 90 days of your renewal.
- Outline of your safety plan(s).
- Fleet maintenance schedules
- Your workers compensation experience modification factor, if applicable.
Insurance companies have invested greatly in computer systems that track
all client insurance data. Be sure to review this information for accuracy and
add it to your own database. By maintaining your insurance profile information
in a comprehensive, accurate, and current manner and staying on top of how that
information is being presented, you stand a far better chance of securing a
competitive and effective insurance program.
By: Ted McKenna, Assistant Vice President
AIG Small Business Construction
Berkeley Heights, NJ
ted.mckenna@aig.com
www.aigsmallbusiness.com
Suggest a Risk Tip.
Send us a practical tip (less than 300 words) for identifying and managing risks,
buying insurance, managing claims, or filling gaps in insurance coverages.
Submit your risk tips. We'll acknowledge your contribution as we did for
Ted.
We have recently updated a number of the reference manuals in the IRMI library
and published new issues of
The Risk Report
and
Captive Insurance Company
Reports. To make sure you don't miss any of this new information
take 30 seconds to scan the "What's New" summary page.
For
IRMI Online subscribers
For
SilverPlume Sage subscribers
There are over 1,000 risk management and insurance articles on IRMI.com.
Below you'll find summaries of some recent additions with links to the articles.
More than 1,300 professionals have earned the Construction Risk and Insurance
Specialist (CRIS) certification. Contractors can use the CRIS Broker Directory
to find an insurance professional with a demonstrated commitment to the construction
industry. The CRIS continuing education program demonstrates specialized expertise
and consists of five courses presented entirely online. Only $59 per course!
Learn more about the
CRIS continuing
education program.
If you haven't already done so, please send
IRMI Update to your business associates. Thanks so much!
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