In a Business Week interview, Vinay Mistry of AON stated that the company’s management team covers more than 370 risks, from nanotechnology through climate change. They have designed and implemented realistic disaster scenarios for the top 20 exposures, from hurricanes to plane crashes and earthquakes.
The emerging risk areas discussed included synthetic biology, digital risk and cybercrime, “space risk,” which is based on the impact the solar cycle has on satellites, as well as the impact of climate change.
What can we learn from this? First, identify the dozens of risk exposures that apply to your company. Work with your insurance broker and legal counsel to make sure you do this the right way. Then focus on the most likely scenarios and have a plan for preventing and dealing with each of them. The risk exposures your company faces are both insurable and non-insurable and include, but are not limited to:
- IT systems and their ability to handle hurricanes, power outages, hacking attempts, etc.
- Employment Practice Liability exposures
- Errors and omissions exposures
- Health and safety exposures
- Work Comp exposures
- Product Liability
- Environmental liabilities
- Rapid loss of clientele
- Poor vendor or supplier relations
- Economic pressures, including diminished markets
- Exposure to competition, including offshore activity
- Financial exposures lacking proper checks and balances
- Lack of available capital
- Cyber-liability and social media exposures
- Turnover and morale problems
This is, of course, a short list that applies to most companies. If you’re an HR That Works member, take comfort in knowing that we can help you with your HR risks!
