The World We Live In: Disasters and Pandemics
Presented by Paula Taylor, CIC, CRM
This class will outline the steps in natural and man-made disaster management from the standpoint of an insurance professional. In addition, these common principles apply to all individuals who are subject to natural and man-made disasters. These principles include pre/post-loss activities as well as how to prepare and reduce the impact of a natural disaster. The class includes a discussion on the importance of the insurance professional understanding the specific peril risk(s) for their locations in educating and insuring their clients appropriately.
There are two relatively new disasters that will be reviewed in this class. As we witnessed in the 2020 COVID –19 pandemic, the total cost will be calculated over time, disruption of businesses, unemployment, retail stores suffering, etc. Also, other losses that will impact the industry include event cancellations, supply chains, liability (failure to protect others), and Workers Compensation (injury, illness, or death in the workplace) i.e. lack of protective equipment. In addition, cyber-attacks are ranked as the second risk of greatest concern for businesses globally over the next 10 years according to the World Economic Forum Global Risks Report 2020.
There will be an exercise for participants to practice using a self-evaluation approach to measure their potential loss from both personal lines and business insurance perspective. Recognizing the exposure to disasters in their areas, and how they would evaluate their exposure to loss? Do they have the right coverages? If you use social media in your business, how can you use this tool to educate your insureds on managing disasters? Do they know what their financial losses would be in the event of a catastrophic loss? They will also have an opportunity to outline what a Disaster Management Kit might require for both personal lines and business insurance.