IRMI Update—Issue #199
An E-mail Newsletter for Risk and Insurance Professionals
ISSN: 1530-7948
February 4, 2009
In This Issue
Colleague,
It is hard to believe that we launched IRMI Update over 8 years ago and will,
in 2 weeks, publish issue #200. Since that inauspicious beginning on July 12,
2000, the readership has grown to about 34,000 risk professionals from around
the world. Over the years we debated on many occasions whether it was time to
shift IRMI Update from the boring plain text format to an easier to read and
more attractive HTML format. We stayed with plain text until now simply because
it works in more e-mail programs. Since most people now have e-mail programs
that have no problems displaying HTML e-mail, we will introduce you to the all
new HTML IRMI Update with issue #200.
As part of this process, we are taking a step back to take a fresh look at
IRMI Update to determine how it meets your needs and how we could improve it.
To enable you to quickly and easily provide your input into this process, we
have prepared a short online reader survey. It will give us insight as to who
our readers are in an aggregate sense (e.g., brokers, risk managers, or underwriters)
and what you like and don't like about the newsletter. We will then use this
information to make more improvements. Please take 5 minutes to
answer the survey right now.
As your reward for completing the survey, we will give you a compilation
of 25 of the best risk tips ever published in IRMI Update. Assistant editor
Bonnie Rogers and I have carefully chosen the tips for timeliness and practical
application and edited them as necessary to bring them up to date. I think you
will find them interesting and helpful.
Thank you for subscribing to IRMI Update. I hope you will complete our survey
to help us make it even more useful to you.
All the best,
Jack
Jack P. Gibson, CPCU, CRIS, ARM
President
International Risk Management Institute, Inc.
Don't Fail To Promptly Forward Summons—In large
organizations, legal papers may be properly served on a number of individuals
who may not appreciate the importance of promptly sending the documents to the
insurer. One case involved a summons served on a regional vice president who
just ignored it. Only when the sheriff seized a local store to satisfy a default
judgment did it come to the risk manager's attention; he then referred the claim
to the insurer. The insurer denied liability.
The risk manager argued that the knowledge-of-occurrence clause in the policy
waived late notice. The insurance company's position was that the duty to forward
a summons is a separate duty. The court agreed with the insurer.
Here's a provision that could be added to your policy which might avoid that
problem:
Wherever this policy imposes a duty based on knowledge of an occurrence,
offense, or other incident or on the receipt of any summons or other papers,
knowledge of or receipt by any director, officer, partner, manager, member,
agent, servant, or employee of any insured shall not constitute knowledge
of or receipt by the insured unless the Risk Manager shall have such knowledge
or shall have received such papers.
By: Jerry Trupin, CPCU, CLU, ChFC
Insurance Consultant/Expert Witness, Trupin Insurance Services
Briarcliff Manor, NY
jtrupin@aol.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
IRMI Update risk tips. We'll acknowledge your contribution as we did for
Jerry.
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 1,100 risk management and insurance
articles on IRMI.com. Below you'll find summaries of some recent additions
with links to the articles.
Brush up on your knowledge of both OCIPs and CCIPs with the most comprehensive
information source available.
The Wrap-Up Guide
provides a balanced treatment of the perspectives of both wrap-up sponsors and
contractor participants.
Get the insight of
14 construction risk and insurance professionals today.
IRMI Update 198 discussed the growing dissatisfaction with broker services
expressed by risk managers for large corporations, asked readers if they think
services are up to par, and requested suggestions for increasing client satisfaction.
Below are some of the responses.
-
A performance agreement with the agent or broker that has a reduction
in fees—as well as a bonus opportunity and annual review—goes a long way
in maintaining the level of service desired and making corrections when
the level falls below expectations.
—Marc R. Shockley, Insurance & Risk Administrator,
Central Arizona Project, Phoenix
-
In spite of 50 years in retail brokerage I still make many mistakes that
other agents and brokers make, but I'm always conscious of the need to bond
with my customers. One of the mistakes small brokers make is in letting
a CSR be virtually the only person from their firm that contacts the customer.
Often, that contact is with a secretary or assistant in the customer's firm,
and this contact often includes policy renewal transactions. The failure
with this is that the broker himself/herself never talks to the customer's
decision maker. The result is that the customer may be shopping around or
just be dissatisfied enough to do so, and the broker never learns of it
until it's too late.
We always need to self-initiate regular contact with the customer—lunches
are perfect venues for this—and just ask "how are we doing?" Most people
know that they are the one who selected you in the first place, and therefore
when you stop performing, they know that they need to tell you or your failure
becomes their fault!
—David R. Doig, CPCU, ARM, Producer, Kern Insurance
Associates, Bakersfield, CA
-
Every economic cycle (downturn) and market cycle (hardening) brings out
the negative perspectives on a more vocal basis, and this current cycle
has reflected that. To say that one's relationship is worse in these times
versus "good" times tells me that risk managers (or the procurement individual)
have expectations that are not being communicated effectively. And why do
they now say they are dissatisfied and weren't in early 2007? The most difficult
issue to manage in tough economic times is keeping your vendor(s) focused
on your expectations and service needs. They (the vendors) are struggling
as we are, and probably voicing dissatisfaction with their partners and
vendors. The reality of all of the negative activity and commentary is that
it, more often than not, is illusory as opposed to factual, and changing
brokers, agents, and vendors rarely makes changes the perspectives.
—Wayne L. Salen, Director of Risk Management, Labor
Finders International, Inc., Palm Beach Gardens, FL
-
Developing objective (ideally quantitative) ways to measure broker performance,
in addition to the more traditional subjective means, is the very reason
we subscribed originally to your newsletter. We're working very hard with
key clients to continue that process and appreciate IRMI's input.
—Don Bowles, President, MHBT, Dallas
-
My vision is that some brokers are emphasizing the "short-term output"
of the relationship instead of the long term. For these brokers, "this year's
income" is more important than the trust they can earn in the long term.
Brokers should build a very confident relationship with clients, acting
as a true adviser, being more a buyer for the client than a seller for the
insurer. Behave in this way, and you can see that the income will come as
a result, and more importantly, the client will trust you and your advice.
—Ruben Pena, Account Executive, Lopez Castilla—Futuro
Seguros, Montevideo, Uruguay
-
Now is a time of opportunity where the providers of good service will
be as richly rewarded as the lack of service will be penalized.
—Joseph A. Bishop, President, Associated Insurance
Agencies, Inc., Branford, CT
-
The article verifies the "value-added services" concept that many agencies
have examined in the past. The current economy may impact the insureds to
the point where the addition of no cost risk management analysis and reviews
will establish the valuable and cost-effective service delivery to be appreciated
by risk managers and C-suite executives. Our firm has offered this nationally
to agencies for the last 21 years, and we hope to achieve the results for
agencies that will benefit them from both client retention and an effective
set of prospect sales tools.
—Monte J. Gale, J.D., CPCU, CEO, CompAudit Services/National
Risk Services, Inc., Glen Rock, NJ
-
For many years, I have felt that the insurance brokers were too tight
with the insurance companies and did not give full representation to their
clients. They appeared more interested in making transactions that fit their
interests than serving the client they represented.
—Gary R. Nelson, Safety Manager, Chevron Energy Solutions
-
In addition to being a captive manager I serve on the board of a local
utility. My comments relate to the conventional coverages for the utility.
They are not provided through the captive for whom I work. Briefly:
* Little risk management is provided by the agent/broker through review
of operations, facilities, or training for staff responsible for helping
manage risks, e.g., linemen (very high risk), warehouse personnel, field
workers, and design/engineering. Ninety-five percent of such training is
provided through the utility association.
* There is limited dialogue between the general manager and broker.
* Coverages are not bid on a regular frequency, and while the markets
may be limited, conversely, the utility has had no claims.
* No assessment or report on conditions with recommendations is provided.
* As a result of the lack of service, the utility is considering establishing
a risk management function in-house and eliminating a broker relationship.
—Jess Sixkiller, Captive Manager, Intercontinental
Captive Insurance Company, Phoenix
-
One thing is for sure (speaking as an expert who has testified in several
broker malpractice actions involving environmental insurance), there are
a lot of regular P/C brokers trying to handle environmental risks and doing
a very poor job of it. They don't understand environmental liabilities or
policy language and think environmental insurance can be treated like life
insurance.
—Susan Neuman, President, Environmental Insurance
Agency, Inc., Larchmont, NY
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