At the 2018 RIMS Annual Conference, Kimberly George from Sedgwick and Dawn Watkins from LAUSD talked about the challenges and benefits of embracing a whole health model for your workforce. The definition of “whole health” varies depending on your point of view. For some, it means integrating the benefit delivery model to include workers’ comp and disability. For others, it is a more holistic approach to total employee wellness. Whole health is about breaking down silos and fully focusing on the person and their needs, not which bucket pays for it. If your employees are not at work for any
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At the 2018 RIMS Annual Conference, Finley Harckham with Anderson Kill discussed insurance coverage for defense costs on class action litigation. There is a perception that there is no coverage available for class action suits and the associated defense costs. Because class action suits require common problems to prevail over individual issues, the suit often does not trigger a response from a traditional liability, D&O or E&O policy. They often involve breach of warranty and seek fines, penalties and restitution for members of the class. These elements are usually not specifically excluded by policies. Defense costs are typically the biggest
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At the 2018 RIMS Annual Conference, Tom Srail with Willis Towers Watson discussed cyber extortion. Cyber extortion is a significant risk to your business operations. One common form of this is ransomware. Ransomware is malicious software that gets into your company’s computers and locks up the data, rendering it inaccessible until you pay the “ransom”. Cyber extortion can also be performed by collecting confidential data from your system and bribing you for its return or threatening damage to your system if funds are not paid. Some of the bigger losses from cyber extortion include a technology firm that went out
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At the 2018 RIMS Annual Conference, Max Koonce from Sedgwick discussed decisions around risk management claims program administration. The first significant challenge is figuring out what is the most important aspect of your program and whether your focus is short term or long term. Do you view your risk management vendors as just a commodity where you want the cheapest possible solution? Is your focus more on the claims outcomes? Or is it something in between? What is your interest in the program and the partner? If you want a longer-term relationship, you need to make sure the fees you
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At the 2018 RIMS Annual Conference, Christopher Loebler from the firm McCarter & English discussed business interruption claims. Business interruption usually falls within your property policy. The coverage is triggered by a property loss from a covered peril under the policy that shuts down your business for a period of time. One-in-five U.S. companies sustain a loss in this area with an average claim over $2 million. Often times these losses are less obvious, more complicated and larger than the property claim. Unfortunately, the focus on the front end tends to be on the property loss when any incident occurs.
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During a session at the RIMS 2018 Annual Conference, Shiraz Saeed, National Practice Leader – Cyber Risk, Starr Companies and Jean Nkamdon, CPA, CFE, RIMS-CRMP, Risk Management & Compliance Manager, The Washington Post lead a conversation about cyber risk dynamics. During the session he covered new risks presented by the Internet of Things and the interconnectedness of multiple technology systems. How do we identify exposures? Do you handle private information? PII, PHI, PFI Corporate confidential information Company (employees) Clients (consumer or commercial) Where do you store the information? Online vs offline information System topography Do you operate the network yourself
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At the 2018 RIMS Annual Conference, a panel discussed political issues that could impact risk management. The panel included: Lance Ewing – EVP Global Risk Management, Cotton Holdings Inc Joel Wood – SVP Government Affairs, CIAB James McIntyre – RIMS Washington Counsel RIMS has an External Affairs Committee that reviews issues and coordinates lobbying efforts on behalf of RIMS members. The Committee has been focusing on the following issues at the federal level: Tax Reform The recent tax reform packages have had a variety of impact on the insurance industry, with some companies benefiting more than others depending on their
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At the 2018 RIMS Annual Conference, Harry Rhulen from Firestorm talked about emerging risks from drones, artificial intelligence (AI), and autonomous vehicles. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are not the same thing. Artificial intelligence means computer systems are able to perform tasks that usually require human intelligence, including visual perception, speech recognition, decision making and translation between languages. As artificial intelligence advances, it creates many risk management challenges. AI will be able to mimic any voice, pull information from your social media account, and could be able to pretend to be someone on the phone. How do you manage the
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This session at the RIMS 2018 Annual Conference was led by Sean Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of Lootok, Ltd., and Ben Densham, CTO of Nettitude. According to research developed by Cybersecurity Ventures, cyber crises are estimated to cost $2 trillion by 2019 and $6 trillion annually by 2021. Cyber security spending on products and services is on the rise and by 2021 spending is expected to top $1 trillion. Exposure is rapidly increasing as 50 million IOT devices are expected by 2020, with 6 trillion people online. Cyber is the fifth area of warfare (land, sea, air, space) and is
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Each year, workers’ compensation, sexual harassment and discrimination claims and lawsuits start with bullying. Employees play a critical role in helping your organization to understand the implications and develop and implement strategies to eliminate this ugly hazard. A session at the RIMS 2018 Annual Conference discussed how to protect your employees from hidden workplace violence. The speakers included Kendra Schropp, Director of Risk Management and Safety, On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina and Jeffrey Adelson, Partner, Adelson, Testan & Brundo. Characteristics reach from obvious to subtle and include ongoing name calling or derogatory statements aimed at specific individuals, questioning
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