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RIMS Canada Conference Kicks Off with Top Honors for Canadian Risk Professionals

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Catherine Dowdall (right) receives the Donald M. Stuart Award from Valerie Fox (left) for lifetime achievement in risk management

OTTAWA—The 2023 RIMS Canada Conference is officially underway here in Ottawa, Ontario, convening more than 1,400 Canadian risk professionals in the nation’s capital.

After opening remarks from RIMS CEO Gary LaBranche and RIMS Canada Council Chair Steve Pottle (below), the conference began with recognition for outstanding accomplishments from RIMS Canada members. Considered the highest honor in the Canadian risk management community, this year’s Donald M. Stuart Award went to Catherine Dowdall, director of insurance and loss control at AECON Construction.

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Presented by the Ontario chapter of RIMS (ORIMS), the award recognizes exceptional contributions to the risk management profession by a risk practitioner from any of the nation’s 13 provinces.

“Risk management is constantly evolving, but the guiding principles behind the Donald M.

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Stuart Award—a commitment to building relationships, sharing experiences, thought-leadership and altruism—have remained the same,” said Valerie Fox, vice president of ORIMS. “In addition to being a trailblazing risk leader, day-in and day-out, Catherine Dowdall graciously devotes her time to helping up-and-coming risk professionals navigate the profession and leverage opportunities to succeed.”

“The risk community is filled with amazing business leaders who are genuinely passionate about supporting others in this wonderfully, rewarding profession,” said Catherine Dowdall. “For those just starting out, don’t be afraid to ask questions, reach out to your peers, volunteer with your local RIMS chapter, take advantage of opportunities that are presented to you. I am truly humbled to be joining previous Donald M. Stuart Award winners, many of whom I have worked alongside with and whom I deeply respect for their continued commitment to risk management excellence.”

Catherine Dowdall accepts the Donald M. Stuart Award

During her 40-year risk management career, Dowdall has worked for an array of prominent Canadian corporations, including AECON Construction, Tim Hortons, Canada Post, OLG, Brookfield Properties, Cadillac Fairview, as well as the Ontario Ministry of Government Services. She has also held a number of positions on the board of ORIMS, including serving as president from 1999 to 2000.

“It is always such a pleasure to be able to present this prestigious award to an outstanding individual in our profession,” Fox said. “This year is extra special as I have known and admired Catherine for a long time and have seen first-hand how she embodies all of the creeds that the award represents, particularly the creed of always giving back.”

The Fred H. Bossons Award was also bestowed during the opening session. The award recognizes the individual with the highest average score on the three exams required for the Canadian Risk Management (CRM) designation.

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This year’s winner was Mattieu Shorgan, a senior account executive at Wells Fargo.

Inflation Considerations for Risk Managers and Insurance Buyers

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According to Beazley’s recent Risk & Resilience Geopolitical Report, inflation is a key area of concern for business leaders and they expect economic uncertainty to remain high through to the end of this year. High inflation impacts multiple aspects of corporate decision making, from the changing value of stock to rising employee wages and cost of borrowing. It is interesting to note that worries about inflation differ internationally; in the US, 42% of companies rated it their biggest concern, while only 33% of business leaders in the UK had it at the top of their list. Even more striking is the lack of perceived resilience to inflationary pressure, with 65% of business leaders in the U.S. and 55% globally feeling unprepared to meet the challenge.

US business leaders’ concerns about the impending impacts of inflation are justified, as financial market volatility and losses are currently driving the greatest run-up in prices that the U.S. has seen in four decades. The S&P 500 officially entered a bear market and is down more than 20% since the beginning of the year, and the prevailing sentiment in the U.S. is an expectation that inflation is only going to get worse. U.S. retail sales fell in May as supply chain challenges drove a decrease in major purchases like vehicles, and record high gas prices pulled spending away from other goods. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates to try and reduce inflation, but businesses face a long road ahead as rising prices for everything from groceries to housing influence consumers’ buying power and economic confidence for the foreseeable future.

Inflation’s Impact on the Insurance Market

In light of current economic conditions, the directors and officers (D&O) insurance market is now facing several notable inflationary risks. Inflation and supply chain constraints led to higher costs of goods sold, including both raw materials and transportation/freight costs. If a company cannot or is not willing to pass the price on to the consumer, the margins will be impacted, leading to softer financial results. At the same time, as consumer prices increase due to inflation, companies (especially those in the retail and hospitality industries) may face a market with significantly less discretionary spending, leading to lower volume sales or lower sales overall. 

Amid these challenges, there are several signs pointing to a potential U.S. and, likely, global recession. While unemployment rates have been improving since the all-time highs during the peak of COVID, analysts warn of future mass layoffs. With high unemployment and higher costs, this also poses a risk to employment practices liability (EPL) insurers. Workers may look to recover lost wages through whatever means available, including bringing suits against their employer. A strong EPL policy and relationship with insurance carrier and broker can help during this time where unemployment may swing back the other way. 

Wage and labor inflation also remain a challenge in a tight (though softening) labor market as companies either cannot fully staff their businesses or are spending more to attract and retain talent. Both impact the bottom line. The insurance industry has already seen several supply chain and inflation-driven Security Class Action claims. Various companies have made claims as a result of challenged financials in the wake of strong inflationary and supply chain/labor impact. These were driven by everything from a shortage of staff to deal with consumer demand to slowed production as a result of supply chain constraints, and these cases are just the beginning.

In other lines of business, as inflation continues to rise and products become harder to get, we can expect to see increased crime activity, with higher value attributed to stolen goods due to shortages and inflation encouraging more employee theft. In the cyber market, larger ransom payouts are becoming regular and the costs to buy insurance, negotiate ransomware, and rebuild after a breach are all rising, but the need for more experts is also likely to present challenges as wage inflation rises.

Claims teams are seeing social inflation across most lines of business today, most prominently in bodily injury, wrongful death, EPL, and sexual abuse/molestation liability. This trend is driven largely by the plaintiff’s bar, which has been increasingly emboldened to tap into consumer unrest about everything that is happening in the world today. Jurors’ distrust of larger corporations and their empathy for impacted individuals are increasingly factors that the plaintiff’s bar is leveraging to return higher settlements.  

Increasing Complexity of Corporate Insurance Buying

The conflict in Ukraine was already an inflection point for the insurance markets, with hardening rates and capacity changes anticipated in some specific classes as a result. Now, the wider impact of inflationary pressure is likely to push costs (and, in turn, premiums) higher across all classes. This is bad news for insurers, and ultimately even worse news for the business owners who are insurance buyers.

Inflation brings uncertainty and demonstrates the increasing criticality of insurance in certain key areas. For those trading internationally, trade credit insurance becomes essential. With rising business pressure, D&O and EPL insurance-related risks also rise. Business interruption also becomes more likely in a world where energy supply and supply chains are both less certain. As pricing goes up, whether due to supply chain constraints or wage increases, this cannot help but impact companies’ overall performance, leaving them open to potential litigation from shareholders. In a land of rising costs and rising risks, many business owners may consider protecting their business operations as a continued priority, no matter what happens to cost.

Key Action Steps for Risk Managers

One of the most important things that risk managers can be doing in this landscape is proactively seeking to understand what is happening in the world. This includes considering not only the risks that are present, but also what is happening as a result of the inflation and social inflation trends we are seeing—namely higher costs and more pressure from the plaintiff’s bar.

With this understanding in hand, risk managers are then well-advised to call upon trusted experts, including brokers, insurance partners and third-party vendors who are available to test systems and table-top strategies. The priority should always be to find the best vendors and build long-standing relationships with them. This is the time to leverage that trust.

It is essential to be proactive when it comes to risk management. Do not wait for a crisis to come in the door and then behave reactively. Rather, prepare yourself with education and resources and then, after identifying risks unique to your business, proactively seek to mitigate them.

As inflationary risks look to be with us for the immediate future, it is critical for organizations to have a plan. Use your enterprise risk management strategies to develop responses to potential economic and geopolitical events. Communicate regularly and conservatively with shareholders. Consider diversifying your supply chain, as working with different suppliers can add to the confidence level of meeting demand levels. It is also important for businesses to demonstrate empathy for the suffering and hardships that employees and customers may be experiencing.

Many of today’s senior business leadership have not dealt with inflation, unlike the previous generation of leaders who endured double-digit inflation in the 1970s and early 1980s. Use data and rely on the experience of management that survived the Great Recession of 2008 to 2011 to help navigate these new concerns. And of course, work with your carrier partner to ensure that you are properly covered for the road ahead. If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is that companies must be prepared and plan for the unexpected. This adage will continue to prove true as we weather the coming period of inflation-driven challenges.

Proactive Tips for Businesses Facing Hail Damage Claims

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Last week, a severe thunderstorm unleashed massive hailstones in Alberta, Canada, damaging dozens of cars and unleashing potentially record-breaking hailstones the size of grapefruits. While the stones were notable, the storm was less of a rarity—indeed, hail is becoming increasingly common and increasingly costly as a natural catastrophe peril around the world. In 2020, Aon’s Global Catastrophe Recap identified hail damage in a severe thunderstorm as the driver of one of Canada’s costliest severe weather events on record. In 2021, insurers faced multiple billion-dollar loss events resulting from severe convective storms in the United States, with the greatest damage inflicted by hail that impacted the Plains, Midwest, Southeast and Northeast.

“Public perception often assumes that tornadoes drive the bulk of annual severe convective storm (SCS) damage costs,” said Steve Bowen, managing director and head of catastrophe insight on Aon’s Impact Forecasting team. “The reality is that large hail typically accounts for a majority of thunderstorm-related losses in North America during any given year.”

Further, North America is not alone in facing this peril, as hail also caused significant recent damage events in parts of Europe last year, struck Australia yesterday, and NOAA reports China, Russia, India and Northern Italy are all prone to damaging hailstorms.

As companies assess their natural disaster preparedness, there are some proactive measures that should be taken specifically for hail to leave organizations best positioned for any resulting insurance claims. Many commercial property policies contain provisions that any lawsuit against an insurer must be filed within one year following the “inception of loss,” otherwise it is barred. In other words, the “inception of loss” date starts the one-year clock ticking. The question then becomes, when exactly is that date? The Wisconsin Supreme Court hit this issue head-on in the case of Borgen v. Economy Preferred Ins. Co. In this 1993 opinion, the court determined that the phrase “inception of loss” in the context of hail damage essentially means “the date of the specific hail storm,” not “the date I discovered the hail damage.”

In 2018, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals took things a step further in Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London v. Lowen Valley View, L.L.C. In that case, a hotel filed a lawsuit against its insurer for refusing to cover hail-related roof damage under a commercial property insurance policy. The 5th Circuit agreed with the insurer’s argument that: 1) several hail storms had struck the vicinity of the hotel in the several years preceding the claim; 2) only one of those storms fell within the relevant coverage period; and 3) the record lacked reliable evidence permitting a jury to determine which of those storms, alone or in combination, damaged the hotel. The 5th Circuit further rejected the hotel’s engineering report, which asserted the subject storm was the “most likely” cause of the damage, deeming it insufficient.

Taken together, these decisions can blindside businesses that believe their insurance policies will automatically respond in the event of hail damage.

Let’s say you operate a business in Plano, Texas, and have a commercial property policy with a renewal date of January 1, 2022. You’ve noticed some recent leaks over the past week in your 8-year-old roof. Based on this discovery, you enlist a roofing contractor to investigate further. You learn that the roof needs to be replaced due to the existence of hail damage, so you submit a claim to your insurance carrier. Now, consider Plano has had at least 11 significant hail strikes since your roof was installed, according to StormerSite: 

Storm Date                 Min. Hail Size Range (Max)
11/10/2021                         1.00”
4/23/2021                          1.00” (up to 2.00”)
5/18/2019                          1.00”
3/24/2019                          1.25” (up to 1.75”)
6/6/2018                            1.00”
4/6/2018                            1.50” (up to 2.00”)
4/21/2017                          1.75”
4/11/2016                          1.50” (up to 2.50”)
3/23/2016                          1.25” (up to 2.00”)
4/27/2014                          1.25”
4/3/2014                            1.75”

Based on the Borgen case, the relevant “inception of loss” date would be the most recent hail storm on November 10, 2021, and each specific storm prior to that. This would mean any claims potentially implicating the events on May 18, 2019, and earlier could be time-barred, assuming your prior insurance policies contain the one-year filing limitation mentioned above. Given the number of equivalent hail strikes over the course of those eight years, you will likely have an uphill battle under Lowen Valley View in attributing the recent April 2021 and November 2021 storms to a loss under your current policy.

Even if it were somehow possible to assign each item of roof damage to a particular hailstorm—and further that statute of limitations issues would not limit recovery almost entirely—the number of storms creates another problem. With 11 storms occurring over the life of your roof, the insurer could argue that would mean 11 separate occurrences, which in turn would mean having to go through 11 separate deductibles before you ever saw a single dollar of insurance proceeds. Depending on the amount of your deductible, this means recovery could be impossible as a practical matter.

Read together, these rulings put the onus on business owners in areas at risk for hail damage to proactively conduct at least annual inspections to determine the existence of any roof damage potentially attributable to a particular insurance policy. It further puts the onus on business owners to understand the insurance claim process, including seeking tolling agreements to extend the deadline for filing a lawsuit.

Navigating the Supply Chain Crisis

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Two and a half years since COVID-19 emerged and set off a sea change in how we work and live worldwide, business leaders continue to grapple with the challenges it has created for the global supply chain. Extraordinary congestion at critical global ports, decreased availability of key raw materials and component parts, rising freight bills and an increasingly tight job market have all contributed to the need for companies to create an effective logistics risk management program. Such a program must focus on the detailed assessment of key risks to the supply chain and the creation of mitigation strategies that limit their impact on a company’s ability to satisfy its customers.

How Did We Get Here?

To better prepare an organization for the future, it is important to reflect on events in the past. Some of the critical issues that have contributed to the unparalleled supply chain pressure within the logistics world include:

  • Increasing reliance on foreign suppliers for key inputs, adding to the time it takes to secure goods and also leading to a diverse range of exposures that could impact customers
  • Greater dependence on ever more sophisticated components
  • Labor shortages impacting the transportation and port industries
  • Crumbling infrastructure, especially domestically, contributing to increased time and expense to move freight
  • The continued movement to just-in-time procurement, leading to challenges matching supply to demand as supply chains are strained
  • An increasingly sophisticated electronic network to plan, monitor and maintain the logistics chains, leading to increased vulnerability to cyberattacks

While these issues may have been the fuel, it is certainly the COVID-19 pandemic that was the spark for the current challenges facing the supply chain, as the pandemic affected the global supply chain in many ways. For example, reductions in production capacity overseas due to government quarantines left many components in shorter supply.

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Overseas port capacity was restricted because of quarantines and worker shortages due to illness. Already operating at its maximum after years of limited investment, United States port capacity became overtaxed and less efficient at moving product to final destinations. Additionally, increased consumer demand for foreign produced goods, such as home office equipment, clothing and furniture, further stressed global supply lines.

According to maritime research and consulting firm Drewry, these issues resulted in freight rates increasing by more than 100% year over year, transportation time increasing by almost 50%, and logistics professionals facing greater difficulty guaranteeing the ability to meet their company’s needs. Companies with logistics professionals who developed and implemented supply chain risk management strategies have likely experienced a limited impact in comparison to those without such processes in place.

It’s Not Over Yet

While the majority of the world is now emerging from the most dramatic parts of the unprecedented global shutdown and hope is on the horizon, significant threats remain that require vigilance and focus. This is best illustrated by the impact of the early 2022 lockdowns implemented in parts of China as part of the country’s zero-COVID strategy. With an export volume of more than trillion, what happens in China quickly ripples around the world and impacts every sector.
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From semi-conductors to resins, active pharmaceutical ingredients to petroleum products, China is a critical node in the supply chain of almost every consumer product. With major production and transportation hubs like Guangzhou and Shanghai implementing sweeping lockdowns, companies are once again feeling the pinch in reduced ability to source product and significantly expanded time lines for delivery.

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What Can Be Done?

Business leaders should consider several best practices to minimize disruption to their organization’s supply chain:

  1. Develop risk assessments on primary and secondary suppliers, determining the impact they could have on the company’s ability to produce product.
  2. Create a detailed mapping of critical suppliers that includes manufacturers and service providers, such as freight forwarders, in order to assess catastrophic risk potential.
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    Have multiple suppliers, preferably in multiple geographic areas, as sources of critical raw materials and components. This reduces reliance on any single supplier or oversized exposure to geographical catastrophe risk. For identified critical areas, create a business continuity plan that outlines the process to shift to another resource in a separate geographic area.
  3. Maintain increased inventory on hand versus reliance on “just-in-time” methods, increasing the ability to quickly match supply to customer demand.
  4. Invest in supply chain intelligence data and telematics to increase visibility on goods in transit, which will help business leaders identify a quick and effective response to catastrophes as they occur.
  5. Manage customer expectations in respect to delivery schedules. The old adage “Patience is a virtue” may never have been more apt.

Looking Ahead

Corporate executives now have a heightened understanding of the supply chain’s importance to a company’s bottom line, leaving logistics professionals uniquely positioned to gain investment in resources to help address emerging logistics and supply risks. By conducting regular risk assessments and developing risk mitigation strategies to address the exposure, business leaders can better position their company to limit the impact of supply chain challenges and create a stronger, more operationally resilient enterprise.