We manage more than a quarter billion dollars of premiums for a diverse range of clients around the globe.
Certain indicators early in the life of a workers’ injury are red flags — a strong possibility your employee’s healing will be delayed or that the claim may be fraudulent. If you notice any of the following signs, discuss the claim with your adjuster as soon as possible. Once the management of a workers’ compensation injury goes astray, it is usually difficult to bring it back to center.
As workers’ compensation rates rise across the nation and the National Council of Compensation Insurers (NCCI) institutes new rating strategies that could negatively impact your premiums, the importance of reducing the frequency and severity of workers’ compensation claims becomes even more crucial.
A recent Wall Street Journal article highlighted the differences in safety records between small and large drilling companies. Essentially, the large drilling companies (i.e. market cap in excess of $50 billion) realized a 183% reduction in safety violations per rig drilled compared to small companies (i.e. those with a market cap of less than $2 billion). While it is tempting to take the viewpoint that “bigger is always better”, in this case that is not necessarily true. There are some small drilling companies with outstanding safety records (some actually performing better than the “big boys”). The question is, “What did their management team do to drive great results from operations?”
So, I changed the famous line a bit so we can all remember that changing to a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy needs to be a well thought out plan for organization of any size. There are a myriad of risks that must to be addressed, not the least of which is cyber risks from downloading a malicious malware program disguised as a “cool application”
Many senior leaders look for a mythical “silver bullet” to improve the effectiveness of their Safety Program without recognizing that they can be the catalyst as the key safety “champions” in the company. By setting the proper “tone at the top”, senior leaders can establish safety as a priority for managers across the company. Managers are not only who the employees look to for leadership and guidance, but the ones front-line supervisors rely on to provide safety training, enforce safety rules, and help monitor employee performance. It’s a big responsibility, but these ten simple, easy-to-implement suggestions can help.
Imagine a hacker infiltrated your website; the names, contact information, credit cards and social security information of every customer (and/or employee) are now being sold on the cyber-crime black market. Your website is no longer accessible, your overall reputation is tarnished and your company may possibly never recover. This has been the reality for many businesses. The “risk mitigation” steps to avoid these events are where the focus really needs to be placed. Buying insurance, while nice, will not insulate the Company from all the “nasty” things that will likely occur from a data or privacy breach.
Cyber threats are a hot topic now and seem to be on news coverage everyday, but what does that mean for your business? These cyber threats may not seem serious (for YOUR company) until they directly affect your business, and if they do, you will realize very quickly how much damage these attacks can cause. If your business uses computers or the internet in any capacity you’re vulnerable to cyber attacks. While the use of technology in the work place continues to rise along with productivity, so does the number of access points for hackers.
When business owners shop commercial insurance coverage, the solvency rating of the proposed insurance company is one critical factor they consider. However, savvy commercial insurance buyers should consider another vital factor — how will the proposed insurer handle your claims?
To continue the discussion of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and its role within the business world The ALS Group held its second ERM meeting to discuss recent articles that show the influence of ERM today in business. One periodical that often speaks of ERM is Rough Notes. This week’s discussion revolved around The Institutes update of the ARM course curriculum to include ERM into its material; see here for the article written by Michael Moody.
When American International Group (AIG) conducted a research survey of 323 risk managers, IT decision-makers, C-suite executives and brokers in the insurance industry in some capacity, they may have enlightened their audience even more than anticipated. The article states that 85% of all corporate executives polled (258) were “very or somewhat concerned” about the impact of cyber risks on their company. Executives are more concerned with cyber liability risks than any other risk, including income loss, which clearly demonstrates the importance of cyber liability coverage.
