IRMI Update—Issue #188
An E-mail Newsletter for Risk and Insurance Professionals
ISSN: 1530-7948
July 23, 2008
In This Issue
Message from the Editor
Colleague,
It saddens me to tell you that an icon of risk management education has decided
to cap his pen for good. George Head paid IRMI a great honor when, in 2005,
he called to ask how could he work with IRMI to further risk management education.
Together, we came up with several ideas: an ethics column for IRMI.com, a question-and-answer
service called "Ask George," and a special primer on risk management. Sixteen
articles and more than 1,000 questions later, George is ready to start a second
career—the study of theology.
George spent much of his insurance teaching career with the Insurance Institute
of America and American Institute for CPCU where he developed and maintained
the curriculum and examinations for the Institutes' professional designation
programs in risk management and safety. If you hold an ARM designation, you
benefited from George's work. George's farewell article, "I Shall Write No More
Forever," is featured in this month's Expert Commentary.
George has always derived much personal satisfaction from teaching others,
and I'm certain that he would enjoy hearing from his friends and former students.
To enable you to send him your thoughts, best wishes, and perhaps "thanks for
a job well done," we will take the messages we receive in the next 3 weeks,
typeset them, and place them in a book as a gift from all of us to George. Please
submit your comments.
We're receiving a steady flow of registrations for the 28th IRMI Construction
Risk Conference scheduled in Las Vegas on October 27-30. If you are risk manager
of a public entity or corporation with major construction projects planned,
consider attending to learn the nuances of OCIPs, contractual risk transfer,
green construction risks, and much more. If you manage, buy, sell, or underwrite
insurance for construction companies, hone your knowledge and expertise by structuring
a custom curriculum from the 30 sessions offered. See the full agenda, speaker
biographies, session descriptions and register on our
construction conference Web site.
Thanks for subscribing to IRMI Update.
Have a great day.
Jack
Jack P. Gibson, CPCU, CRIS, ARM
President
IRMI
Risk Tip
Be Proactive during a Soft Market—As we continue
through the current "soft market," it is time to start paying close attention
to your insurance and risk management program. As insurance company profits
continue to struggle from reducing premiums, they will inevitably look for ways
to reduce expenses. This could mean reducing claims, underwriting, and support
services through consolidations of companies, regions, and locations. Service
departments suffer from changes of this type, and that means it could impact
your program. Adjusters will look to outsource more of their routine functions
to vendors (many times at your expense) to reduce their workloads. Errors will
also increase from the shuffling.
As workers compensation premiums continue to decrease, the impact of claims
on your modifier will be more significant. Companies should focus more on controls
to monitor claims closely and stick to programs that will promote claims control,
such as return-to-work programs, safety awareness training, and claims management.
Companies tend to relax safety and risk prevention as premiums decrease. If
you haven't had an audit of your claims performed recently, now would be a good
time to consider a regular schedule of file audits in 6-month intervals or,
at a minimum, once a year. Spending some time and effort now to reducing exposures
and limiting risks will pay off big when the market reverses its cycle.
By: Bill Horner, CRIS, EBS, SCLA, AIC, Producer - Large Accounts
Bowen, Miclette &
Britt, Inc.
Houston, TX
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 Tip. We'll acknowledge your contribution as we did for Kenneth.
What's New in The Risk
Report
The July issue of The Risk Report, "Underwriting
Long-Term Terrorism Risk," by Dr. Gordon Woo, seeks to convey broader understanding
of the long-term terrorism risk and how it can be assessed for insurance purposes.
For
IRMI Online and print subscribers
For
SilverPlume Sage subscribers
New Expert Commentary
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.
Register for the IRMI Construction Conference
Reserve your spot today for the 28th
IRMI Construction Risk Conference, October 27-30, at the MGM Grand in Las
Vegas. See video testimonials to learn why 1,500 of your peers attend this premier
event every year. Early Bird rates end September 12, so reserve your spot today
and save $125 when you register online.
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