Risk & Insurance articles from March 2007

Risk & Insurance archives from March 2007

A doomed field?(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Dear Editor, Thanks for the article "It Is Hip to Be Square" (Risk & Insurance[R], December 2006, page 48) on how to make the risk management and insurance profession appealing to college graduates. It's something I find interesting. ...

An appalling connection.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Dear Editor, I was appalled to read that your writer (in "Workplace Fatalities Decline," Risk & Insurance[R], November 2006, page 38) chose to impugn President George Bush by quoting the AFL-CIO president, John Sweeney: "Yet six years of...

Tabled dreams.
March 1, 2007... Of the risk management industry's difficulty in attracting top talent into its ranks, there's been talk aplenty. A recent industry awards dinner in New York City may help explain why. At the 2006 Insurance Leader of the Year awards dinner...

Upcoming events.(Calendar)
March 1, 2007... MAY 14-16 Self-Insured Workers' Comp The Self-Insurance Institute of Americas' ninth annual Self-Insured Worker's Compensation Executive Forum focuses on topics such as excess insurance and risk management strategies for workers'...

Steady as she goes: expect more of the same for workers' comp in 2007.(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
March 1, 2007... The more things change, the more they stay the same. That's the prediction many experts in the workers' compensation industry are making for 2007. Although rates are stabilizing in many areas of the country and the frequency of claims filing...

Altered states: nationalization is once again at the forefront of trade credit risk.(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
March 1, 2007... Nationalization and the outright seizure of assets and property belonging to foreign corporations by left-leaning governments has re-emerged as a significant risk in the trade credit markets after lying dormant for more than 20 years, experts...

Show me the postmortem money: Missouri Supreme Court overturns workers' comp axiom.(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
March 1, 2007... Fred Schoemehl's wife can receive his workers' compensation benefits until she dies. As for Schoemehl, he's already dead. His cause of death was unrelated to his total permanent disability--a knee injury suffered in 2001 while working at a...

Another call for clarity; Illinois Supreme Court rules in favor of simplicity in policy wording.(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
March 1, 2007... A recent decision of the Illinois Supreme Court reinforces the notion that in cases of ambiguous policy language, the benefit of the doubt must go to policyholders. The plaintiff in the case, Swiderski Electronics, had been sued for a...

States on board to cover their uninsured: state efforts at mandatory health insurance could become a 'compliance nightmare" for employers.(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
March 1, 2007... When the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shot down Maryland's "Fair Share" health-care law (aka. the "Wal-Mart Law") last week, a host of similar legislative efforts pending in numerous states also fell by the wayside. But if you think...

More than up to PAR; the errors-and-omissions captive for brokerage firms celebrates a 20-year milestone.(BROKERS: People, Ideas and Trends shaping the Brokerage Community)
March 1, 2007... Is it that shocking that in 1986 insurers balked at the idea of providing errors-and-omissions coverage for insurance agencies and brokers? The brokers sure thought it was. Coverage was nonexistent or astronomically expensive. Carriers...

Beecher Carlson.(BROKER MOVES)
March 1, 2007... Beecher Carlson has hired FREDERICK A. RYDER as a managing director on its New York executive liability team. With 36 years of experience, Ryder will focus on business and client development for executive liability products. Prior to joining...

William Gallagher Associates.(BROKER MOVES)
March 1, 2007... William Gallagher Associates has announced the promotion of ANITA VERHEUL to executive vice president. Verheul joined WGA in 1996 and has more than 20 years of insurance industry experience, specializing in large multistate, self-funded...

Marcus Janus.(BROKER MOVES)
March 1, 2007... MARCUS JANUS has joined William Gallagher Associates as a vice president in the broker's executive risk practice. Janus has Marcus Janus more than 18 years of insurance experience, most recently with Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. as its management...

Integro Insurance Brokers.(BROKER MOVES)
March 1, 2007... Integro Insurance Brokers has announced that LYNN AMBROSE has joined the Chicago office as a principal in the management risk practice. She previously served as a senior vice president and national employment practices liability co-practice...

Lockton Cos. Inc.(BROKER MOVES)
March 1, 2007... Lockton Cos. Inc. has added three new executives to its property/casualty insurance brokerage practice in Chicago. T.J. KNAUS, a former vice president with Wachovia Insurance Services, has been named senior vice president. GEFFREY PRICE,...

Willis: Bruce Brumbaugh.(BROKER MOVES)
March 1, 2007... Willis announced that BRUCE BRUMBAUGH has been hired as vice president. He will focus on risk management and large property/ casualty accounts in the upper-middle market. With 20 years of experience, Brumbaugh will work to expand Willis' client...

Willis: Steven E. Regnault.(BROKER MOVES)
March 1, 2007... STEVEN E. REGNAULT has been hired as executive vice president and regional partner for Willis of New York. Regnault previously served as the New York branch manager for Wachovia Insurance Services.

Willis: Richard Bucknall.(BROKER MOVES)
March 1, 2007... Willis has announced the retirement of RICHARD BUCKNALL, chairman and CEO of Willis Ltd., the company's U.K. business unit. The retirement, effective March 31, 2007, comes after a 40-year career in the insurance brokering business, 21 of which...

Can't keep a good man down.(BROKERAGE)
March 1, 2007... One morning some years ago, I dialed up AIG with the mad idea, driven by a clueless publisher who thought the likes of Maurice Greenberg was easily accessible, that I could reach him. I told the p.r. flack at the other end I wanted to interview...

The twisted life of a policy.(ROGER ON RISK)
March 1, 2007... As a youth, I owned a life insurance ladder. This might be a tried and tested mechanism, but I've never heard anyone else mention such a thing. The idea was my Dad's. On my first day of work, I took out a 10-year, with-profits life insurance...

Likelihood versus certain.(RISK MANAGEMENT)
March 1, 2007... Hurricane Katrina is not yet over. While the first round of destruction created gruesome damage, the secondary and tertiary waves are wreaking havoc on our assumptions about uncertainty and risk management. Uncertainty, it appears, is not quite...

Dirty duty brings civil liability.(THE LAW)
March 1, 2007... The next time you pop into a colleague's office and he scrambles to shield what's on his computer, you need to run, not walk, directly to the nearest company lawyer. That is because, for the first time, an appellate court held that knowledge of...

Work safety emerges in China.(WORKER'S COMP)
March 1, 2007... Before I had set out to learn more about China, its work-injury problems seemed like distant disasters, as detached as a photo in a waiting-room magazine. Then I spoke with John Ingram of Esis Inc., who is leading an environmental, safety and...

Laying down new rules of engagement: a new leader in Bermuda promises to tackle the issue of the rising cost of doing business by implementing labor reform.(Cover story)
March 1, 2007... Summary * Captive insurance managers say it's too expensive to do business in Bermuda and that it's difficult to find qualified labor. * Bermuda's new premier, Ewart Brown, has a plan to increase the local supply of qualified...

Getting them out alive: evacuation planning for routine and extreme emergencies takes planning and preparation.(CATASTROPHES)
March 1, 2007... Since Sept. 11, 2001, governments, businesses and local communities have been trying to identify all possible hazards in order to prepare for emergency planning and evacuation. Whether the effort is called infrastructure preparedness, disaster...

The changing face of disability management; siloed no more, the new thinking requires a multidisciplinary approach and pays attention to the employee, not how a case is handled.(DISABILITY MANAGEMENT)
March 1, 2007... At H.E. Butt Grocery Co., which operates more than 300 retail stores in Texas and Mexico, disability management brings together what had been two separate parts of the company: benefits and risk management. With distinct yet complementary...

Getting old people's business gracefully: for insurers, the long-term-care industry is a worthwhile risk again. Loss figures are down, so new capacity is rolling in. But some facilities believe they're better off living independently--risk management or not.(LIABILITY)
March 1, 2007... Summary * Carriers have resurrected their interest in insuring long-term-care facilities and are entering the market with more aggressive pricing strategies. * The "land grab" may fall flat, as many long-term-care facilities prefer...

Back to front: regulators and customers are demanding front-office treatment, seeking to be handled as critical business partners, not as back-end receivers of back-office results.(TECHNOLOGY)
March 1, 2007... Everybody remembers the back office, that place deep in the organization where numbers get crunched, reports get produced and data gets warehoused. Nobody admits to working there but it's where everything happens. At least, it used to be where...

One long, long mission: it took 21 years to close the estate of the Mission Insurance Group. This is the story of why and how it took so long.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... Mission Insurance Cos. was one of 72 property/casualty insurers that failed during the period from 1984 to 1987 with an ultimate tab of $2.4 billion as of 1990. A congressional report, titled "Failed Promises: Insurance Company Insolvencies,"...

Taking a toll: construction companies rush into captives as the courts, shoddy work and construction defect claims make life difficult for builders.(SPECIAL REPORT: ALTERNATIVE RISK)
March 1, 2007... Over the last few years, residential home builders have seen their insurance deductibles soar as a result of a wave of big losses on construction defect claims. With insurers demanding they accept more of the risk in the form of higher...

Surviving in a Darwinian world: technology companies live and die by their latest offerings, and executives may have to bet the company every few years just to survive. In this world, risk management takes on a whole different meaning. Insurance is just one part of the program.(RISK & INSURANCE[R]: INDUSTRY RISK REPORT: COMPUTER INDUSTRY)
March 1, 2007... In an industry where some of the biggest risks come with the tag "uninsurable," technology risk managers have a lot more on their plate than just finding the best price for insurance. They have to deal with investor expectations, as well as...

Industry risk report: computer hardware.
March 1, 2007... INDUSTRY RISK REPORT COMPUTER HARDWARE The irony of managing risks in the computer hardware industry is that risk exposures come from everywhere except the hardware: third-party outsourcing, currency fluctuations, unstable political and...

Technology directory.(Directory)
March 1, 2007... DIRECTORY TECHNOLOGY Below are paid listings of specialty software packages for the insurance companies, risk managers and brokers. This guide is not intended to be a complete directory but is an overview of some of the packages...

Insurity.(EXECUTIVE MOVES)
March 1, 2007... Insurity, a national provider of business-processing services and technology to the property-casualty insurance industry, has named JERRY MARKLAND to the position of chief technology architect. Markland comes to Insurity from Benefits...

Towers Perrin.(EXECUTIVE MOVES)
March 1, 2007... Towers Perrin, a global professional services firm, announced that PATRICK FINEGAN has joined the firm's Enterprise Risk Management practice as a senior consultant. Prior to joining Towers Perrin, Finegan was managing director of Finegan &...

HealthMarkets.(EXECUTIVE MOVES)
March 1, 2007... HealthMarkets, a leading provider of affordable health and life insurance for self-employed individuals and small businesses, announced the appointment of MICHAEL BOXER as the company's chief financial officer. Boxer has more than 20 years...

The Disability Management Employer Coalition.(EXECUTIVE MOVES)
March 1, 2007... The Disability Management Employer Coalition has announced MARCIA CARUTHERS is the new president and CEO, following Sharon Kaleta's retirement effective Dec. 31, 2006. Kaleta remains chairman of the board of directors and chief financial...

McQueary Henry Bowles Troy LLP.(EXECUTIVE MOVES)
March 1, 2007... McQueary Henry Bowles Troy LLP, one of the largest privately owned insurance and risk management firms in the United States, has named MIKE HARRIS to the new post of chief information officer. Harris oversees all technical operations for the...

The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co.(EXECUTIVE MOVES)
March 1, 2007... The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co. has appointed CHRISTOPHER CAIRNS as regional director of its Pacific Region, leading the region's sales, marketing and recruiting initiatives. Cairns previously served as regional sales vice president for the...

Acclamation Systems Inc.(EXECUTIVE MOVES)
March 1, 2007... Acclamation Systems Inc., a company that develops technology solutions for employee benefits management, has hired FRED THIERBACH onto the company's sales force. He brings more than 30 years of marketing and sales experience in health and...

Towers Perrin.(EXECUTIVE MOVES)
March 1, 2007... Towers Perrin, a global professional services firm, has appointed MAUREEN BREAKIRON-EVANS the firm's chief financial officer. Breakiron-Evans' audit and financial management experience has included positions at Cigna and Inovant, an operating...

Wiggin and Dana LLP.(EXECUTIVE MOVES)
March 1, 2007... Wiggin and Dana LLP has announced the addition of CHARLES PLATTO as a partner in its New York office, in charge of the firm's national and international insurance practice. Platto has more than 25 years of experience representing insurance...

A waste of talent.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Dear Editor, Gary C. Bhojwani, a president at Fireman's Fund, wrote a hand-wringing opinion piece about the lack of available talent in the insurance industry, "Thirsting for Talent," Risk & Insurance[R], December 2006, page 62....

Feeding new talent.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Dear Editor, Ernesta Procope's article "It Is Hip to Be Square" in the December 2006 issue of Risk & Insurance[R], page 48, raises several important questions crucial to the future of the insurance industry. There is no question that we,...

Timely topic.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Dear Editor, I wanted to write to let you know that I enjoyed reading Philip G. Kircher's column, "A 'Dog's Life' Upheld," on page 17 of the Sept. 15, 2006 issue of Risk & Insurance[R]. There is a case being heard in a Pennsylvania...

Claims collapsing.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Dear Editor, I am the program director for the Associate in Claims program here at the Institutes. I just finished reading Peter Rousmaniere's two articles, "Cascading Into Collapse" and "Crawling Back From the Brink," on page 26 of the...

Risk history.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Dear Editor, I enjoyed Beaumont Vance's Risk Management column in Risk & Insurance[R] on page 15 of the January 2007 issue. My friend Ken Rado and I both had the privilege of having Dr. Wayne Snider as an instructor in risk management at...

Thank you.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Dear Editor, Thank you Philip G. Kircher for the very well written article, "A 'Dog's Life' Upheld" on page 17 of the Sept. 15, 2006, issue of Risk & Insurance[R], on an important topic. It's unfortunate that the law and courts do not...

Workers' compensation.(TECHNOLOGY)
March 1, 2007... Workers' Comp Kit, an online workers' compensation cost-containment program from Amaxx Risk Solutions Inc., features a 10-module improvement plan offering more than 60 forms, sample letters, sample employee policies and formatted brochures to...

Claims management.(TECHNOLOGY)
March 1, 2007... Crawford & Co. has released its newest claims management program, Crawford Works, developed in consultation with noted workers' comp expert Richard Pimental from Milt Wright and Associates Inc. The program seeks to reduce costs by helping...

Drug history.(TECHNOLOGY)
March 1, 2007... Hooper Holmes Inc. has released Hooper IntelliScript, a Web-based prescription history service for the life insurance and property/casualty industries. Hooper IntelliScript provides reports specific to each customer's underwriting guidelines,...

Biosecurity.(TECHNOLOGY)
March 1, 2007... Originally developed by DuPont for its own employee disease preparedness plan, Personal Biosecurity Kits and Worksite Biosecurity Kits are now available to other businesses interested in maintaining the well-being of employees and ensuring...

Cost prediction.(TECHNOLOGY)
March 1, 2007... D2Hawkeye, a leader in healthcare data analytics, has enhanced its integrated medical management system with "Risk Buckets," an innovative predictive model.

Professional liability.(TECHNOLOGY)
March 1, 2007... Victor O. Schinnerer & Co. announces its new online application for land surveyors professional liability. This latest technological development helps to simplify the application process for both brokers and clients.

Thermal drying.(TECHNOLOGY)
March 1, 2007... A new thermal drying system could help to close water damage claims. The technology, called the Thermal Energy System, developed and manufactured by Utah-based Bridgepoint Systems, allows most drying jobs to be completed in less than 30 hours,...

Truck safety.(TECHNOLOGY)
March 1, 2007... Audiovox Specialized Applications, a manufacturer of mobile electronics for commercial vehicle operators, offers UpTime Parts with its heavy-duty audio and video equipment and its Voyager Observation/Back-Up Camera Systems.

E&O.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... Specialty insurance provider Hiscox USA is now licensed to provide technology errors-and-omissions insurance to U.S. businesses. This insurance is written on a nonadmitted basis through Hiscox USA's two New York locations.

Machinery.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. has launched its select machinery warranty to used-machinery dealers and new machinery manufacturers to provide extended coverage against mechanical or electrical breakdown of their...

Excess environmental.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... The Environmental Division of Markel Underwriting Managers Inc. released the Follow Form Excess product, a new coverage that can be placed over underlying coverage provided by Markel for contractors' pollution liability, professional liability,...

Pandemic.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... The American Association of Insurance Services is filing a new virus or bacteria exclusion designed to exclude losses that arise from organisms that can cause disease. Effective countrywide on May 1, 2007, the exclusion will address...

Wineries.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. has introduced comprehensive insurance for wineries, providing coverage for businesses engaged in all aspects of winery operations, including vineyards, equipment, employees, wine-making and production, retail...

Health care.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... AIG Healthcare has released a new product: AIG Healthcare Security & Liability Insurance. This portfolio of coverages is meant to protect healthcare organizations from the costs and liabilities of the negligent handling of private data.

Midsize business.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... Zurich has introduced a new, broader property insurance policy for midsize businesses. The all-risk policy offers Zurich's proprietary rates and includes improved options on more than 36 additional coverages.

Excess liability.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... AIG Specialty Excess has added Accident Site Advisor and PublicResponse to its excess liability insurance products. The enhancements to the coverage will provide policyholders with immediate access to funds and support in the event of a serious...

Reinsurer default protection.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... The first-ever reinsurer default protection policy has been offered by Aspen Insurance Holdings, with the assistance of Carvill, a reinsurance intermediary in specialty lines of business. The RDP policy will cover a portfolio of reinsurance...

Professional liability.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... West Chester, Pa.-based Venture Insurance Programs released a new heterogeneous professional and management liability product called Venture Professional. The coverage will include directors' and officers', errors and omissions, and employment...

Parking.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... The new parking and valet operations program, released by USRisk Brokers, is designed for self-parking garages, assisted-parking lots, valet operations and other businesses involved in parking customer vehicles. The program includes general...

Managed care organizations.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... Lexington Insurance Co., a member company of American International Group Inc., will now offer its managed care organization policyholders a complimentary suite of risk and management services. Offered in conjunction with the Law Offices of...

Lawyers PL.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... The underwriting manager of Evanston Insurance Co., Shand Morahan & Co. Inc., has updated its professional liability coverage for lawyers. Designed for hard-to-place law firms and attorneys, the new version is called Designed Protection for Law...

Workers' compensation.(INSURANCE)
March 1, 2007... Appalachian Underwriters Inc. and Specialty Underwriters' Alliance Inc. have come to a new agreement to provider workers' compensation coverage for small businesses with less than $15,000 in premium and relatively low hazard grades. The...

Trucking.(SERVICES)
March 1, 2007... A partnership between Pitt Ohio Express and The CEI Group Inc., called TruckGuardian Group, has formed to assist the heavy-duty trucking industry to improve safety, find and retain qualified drivers, and reduce operating costs.

Process re-engineering: make it your mandate: the rewards of overhauling a claims system far outweigh the risks, and success stories abound.(POINT)
March 1, 2007... Re-engineering offers great opportunities to improve performance in claims organizations because claims processes are so complex. Insurers receive policies from only a few kinds of organizations, such as internal agents, independent agents and...

Process re-engineering: fruitless busywork: this exercise in window dressing does nothing to change the fundamental economics of the business.(COUNTERPOINT)
March 1, 2007... Insurance companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in claims re-engineering projects without significantly reducing their operating costs. Despite re-engineering, the industry has needed to hire ever-more claims staff. This wave of...