IRMI Update—Issue #169

An E-mail Newsletter for Risk and Insurance Professionals
ISSN: 1530-7948
September 19, 2007

In This Issue

• Message from the Editor
• Risk Tip: Use Quick References for Insurance Information
• What's New in Your IRMI Library
• New Expert Commentary
• Additional Spots for IRMI Construction Risk Conference
• Your View—The Risk Management Dilemma
• How To Get IRMI Update E-mails

Message from the Editor

Colleague,

The Internet never ceases to amaze me. It is incredible just how much information you can quickly find on almost any topic. But, while using information from the Internet has its pluses (e.g., it is easily available and free), it also has its dangers (e.g., it may be biased or out of date). Lacking a definitive "how-to" for using the Internet for risk and insurance research, most of us are self-taught, relying on trial and error.

Last year, IRMI conducted research and discovered that most risk professionals turn to Google to search for answers to their questions. We also learned that a course or two on how to conduct insurance research on the Web could be very helpful to those in the industry. So we set out to do just that and are now offering them to you at no cost.

The courses are in the form of PowerPoint presentations you can download. There is a basic Internet course, a more advanced Web search course, a course showing how to use IRMI Online, and one designed to familiarize SilverPlume Sage subscribers with the IRMI publications available on that platform.

Review on your own or use them to conduct a how-to-research class in your organization. Even those who are Web proficient are likely to learn a thing or two from these courses. I certainly did. You will find them here.

I sincerely hope these courses are helpful.

On another note, we are still taking registrations for the 27th IRMI Construction Risk Conference, and some of the workshops are nearing capacity. If you plan to attend, please consider registering now.

Thank you for subscribing to IRMI Update. Have a great day.

Jack

Jack P. Gibson, CPCU, CRIS, ARM
President
IRMI

Risk Tip

Use Quick References for Insurance Information—Clients often have multiple insurance policies in effect, leading to confusion as to what constitutes a "claim," when it should be reported, and to whom. We designed cheat sheets for our clients that they can attach to the outside of the file jacket. It provides the definition of "claim," along with a simple-English explanation. The reporting requirements are also summarized: how to report, to whom, and what information should/must be included.

We also provide them with a cross-reference to other policies that might be affected by the receipt of a claim. This gives the client a logical starting point and cuts down on time spent looking for and reviewing policies.

We always remind them that the insurer has the final say on whether coverage is afforded.

By Stephanie A. Cafiero, President
Callie Consulting & Insurance Services
La Canada, CA

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 Stephanie.

What's New in Your IRMI Library

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 and Print subscribers

For SilverPlume Sage subscribers

New Expert Commentary

There are now over 900 risk management and insurance articles on IRMI.com. Below you'll find summaries of some recent additions with links to the articles.

• Key Coverage Issues in the TRIA Debate—James Macdonald examines arguments over duration, group life, domestic acts of violence, NBCR, and "other liability."
• Further Comments on Katrina-Related Coverage Disputes—Tim Ryles provides a brief background of how the insurers sought (and failed) to insulate themselves from water damage liability.
• Is an Umbrella Just a Bumbershoot?—Pete Polstein questions whether umbrella policies are worth the paper they're written on considering how fractured our industry has become.
• Enterprise Safety Management (Part 1)—Peter Furst discusses ESM as a framework for achieving an injury-free workplace, including the history, evolution, and foundational elements.
• Protection of Architectural Plans—Ken Slavens discusses a recent Fourth Circuit case that illustrates the legal system's mechanism to protect intellectual property rights.

Additional Spots for IRMI Construction Risk Conference

More than 1,500 of your industry peers have registered for the 27th IRMI Construction Risk Conference. In years past, this would be a sellout, but you and your clients or colleagues have more space available this year! Secure your place today at this premier educational and networking event.

Your View—The Risk Management Dilemma

In IRMI Update 168, readers were asked about how they go about convincing management to focus on risks that may never occur. Also, how do risk professionals deal with being called the naysayers of the company? Below are some of the responses we received.

• I ask myself these questions everyday. The only answer I can come up with is "Shock and Awe." I have found over the years that management tends to only respond to the big events. Big Savings. Big Loss. They love when a risk manager saves money on a new insurance program or wins a big lawsuit, and their ears perk up if you lose a big lawsuit as well. In the construction business, the unfortunate part of "Shock and Awe" is when it comes as a fatality on a job site because no one paid attention to trend reports on claims. I think the only way to combat this is to create a "Shock and Awe" approach to the information you do have. How is one fatality going to affect our program? Where is the support data? I think the other aspect fall on our personalities as risk managers. We always look at the world differently and, as you said, are often seen as naysayers. Maybe if we pointed out the positives more often. We need to highlight the good risks as well. If we are looked at as people that support rather than always attack, then management will be more willing to take us seriously.

  —Adam Clark, Insurance Administrator, Moretrench American Corp., Rockaway, NJ

• You hit home with me on this one! During the past year, I have been involved in three "once in a lifetime" claims. In counseling my clients, I often look at loss history over the past 5-10 years and talk about what claims have occurred (insure against those happening in the future) and potential claims that have never happened (self-insure against those). I think the best advice is to cover all the potential risks/losses and document with the insured which items you've offered insurance to protect against, and which items they have declined—get a signature and date!

  —Larry Lansen, Senior Producer, PJC Insurance, Springfield, MO

• Corporate risk management rises and falls based on how well the position is staffed. Management can also be incredibly helpful and receptive, or they can be stoic and unresponsive to planning ahead of problems.

  In short, you get the best results from hiring those who are generalists, typically outgoing, interested, engaged, optimistic, and able to understand that you can't win every battle. And while you might be 100% right that something needs to be done, the reality is that you get everyone's attention just after a loss—and that window of opportunity is small.

  The best risk management professionals are politicians first and sound risk professionals second.

  —E. Bernard McGlynn, Jr., Sr. Manager, Claims & Surety Services, Lewis-Chester Associates, Inc., Summit, NJ

• I think the strongest attention grabber is to provide real-world examples of the risk you are identifying, particularly if it is/was front-page news recently. You may also want to pick a topic that has a higher probability of occurring for your example and then cross over to the higher severity, lower probability type of risk.

  —David Riggs, Insurance & Claims Specialist, Asplundh Tree Expert Co., Willow Grove, PA

• Quite honestly, most people can't be bothered with the additional work that comes with risk management, and managers are therefore loath to delegate the workload because of the ensuing resentment that may follow. The job of the managers, however, is to predict the most "cost-effective" measures of risk management in terms of employee time relative to the likelihood of a preventable loss occurring. You can't control every risk, but issues such as the careful review of contractual liability language need only pay off occasionally to justify the effort expended and expenses incurred.

  —Walter Gray, Contracts Manager, Marr Scaffolding Co., Boston

• As your question and themes illustrate, the effectiveness of conventional risk management to achieve damage prevention has a long, checkered history. You note further that the same constraint on prevention competency is manifest at every level of the institutional realm. These facts alone reveal that the core issue here is deep-rooted and ubiquitous. Such attributes command respect on their own, for they will not yield to superficial remedies.

  Unfortunately, like many other primary societal functions gone awry, such as education, history also shows that throwing more money at such matters does not work. The tacit assumption that the methods employed to manage these damage-producers are appropriate and that we just need more and more of business as usual, is not warranted by the dismal record of results. What is crystal clear is that using the venerable methods of risk management on issues already proven impervious to them, writes more of the same history.

  Before risk management can come of age, all illusions must end. The real-world constraints to preclude damage must be acknowledged before they can be dealt with. When the discipline of risk management refuses to question the viability of its own methodology to deliver prevention, it exhibits the same character as the institution it serves—confusing what has become poison with medicine. History also shows, oblivious to all consequences, the discipline will choose piety over curiosity.

  The mammoth in the closet of prevention these days is the fact that the competency to deliver effective prevention, foresight engineering, has greatly advanced. The availability of serious computer horsepower has been leveraged to transform what was a subjectivity-ridden process into a prevention delivery system that is both transparent and completely objective. Examples of this expanded competency, such as your cell phone, are all about us.

  —W.L. Livingston, PE, Consulting Engineer, FES Ltd., Jensen Beach, FL

• Risk managers need incidents and near misses to justify their existence. It is likely that any risk manager that prevents losses will do him/her self out of a job. The sign of an efficient risk management process is one that allows minor incidents that don't erode future earnings too much. If there are no incidents, it is likely that too much is being invested in prevention which will be restricting change, growth and profitability.

  —Ian Hord, Hord Consulting, Melbourne, Australia

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