Risk Manager

Know what could go wrong, what it would cost, and whether you are covered for it.

Your Risk Manager keeps a register that is actually current, because it is reviewed against what happened rather than refreshed once a year. An incident, a failed control, a new contract, a new location, a bigger payroll: each one moves a number, and each one has an owner who has to look at it.

The insurance renewal stops being a scramble. Most companies start their renewal too late and take the first quote they get. This employee works backward from the day your broker needs the submission, gathers the exposure data and loss history before it is asked for, and drafts answers to the questions the underwriter always asks. You go to market with time, which is the only thing that gets you a better price.

A claim gets reported on time. Every policy has a notice requirement and some of them are strict enough that late means uninsured with no argument available. This seat reports inside the window even when the facts are still incomplete, says they are incomplete, and then works the evidence.

It prices the choice instead of making it. Keep the risk, transfer it, or reduce it: each with a number and what it means in a bad year rather than an average one. Then it puts the decision in front of the person whose decision it is.

It checks the cover you actually promised. Contracts routinely require insurance the company does not carry. This employee reads the requirement against the policy and tells you where they do not match, before somebody needs to claim.

It never binds anything. It does not place insurance, does not tell you that you are covered, and never admits liability. Those are your broker's, your insurer's and your lawyer's calls.