RISK MANAGEMENT – PROPERTY & CASUALTY CONSULTING
The distinct advantage in dealing with Peppler Insurance Group is that it is staffed by insurance executives with vast experience who have focused and achieved advanced specialized insurance curriculums in the property and casualty field. Peppler Insurance Group emerged for the sole purpose of providing property and casualty insurance consulting and outsourcing services, including company start-up, expert witness, product research and development, and insurance contract reviews for business-owners, professionals, contractors, high-net-worth individuals, families and the general population at large. Mr. Peppler has over 40 years of experience in the property and casualty insurance field and throughout his career has continued his concentrated property & casualty education as an ongoing accomplishment throughout his years in practice. During the past 10 years, I have turned my attention to insurance consulting and establishing a risk management network concentration.
Managing Risk in Every Aspect of Your Operations
One of the biggest challenges of risk management is simply assessing the potential problems your business may face so you can take the appropriate measures to reduce or eliminate those risks. If you run a commercial operation, there are several vital risk management strategies you can use to protect your business:
- Spend some time identifying your company's specific risks, from customer relations challenges to employee safety concerns, property risks to business interruption, corporate fidelity to employment practices liability, are often complex exposures to name a few.
- Identify the specific proactive methodology you want to implement to mitigate each risk. This step will help you to develop a multi-pronged approach to reducing risk that includes everything from workplace safety measures to security systems, employee education, structured delegation, weekly/monthly employee meetings to commercial insurance protection.
- Work with a knowledgeable licensed and certified insurance counselor to choose the specific business coverage you need to reduce the financial impact on your enterprise in the event of accidents, injuries, property damage, fraud and the other risks you have identified.
- With the guidance of an experienced insurance counselor, after identifying all of your company's risk exposures, determine which, if any, exposures that your business organization can afford to self-insure or retain through a high deductible or self-insured retention.
By assessing your business risks from multiple angles with a qualified Property and Liability Counselor, you can more adequately protect your company from the challenges that can undermine your company's financial health.
Initial Advice Concerning Disclosures & Complete Candor When Providing Underwriting Information
One of the tenets of insurance law is that parties to an insurance contract are expected to deal with each other in utmost good faith. Applicants for insurance or their agents must disclose all relevant underwriting information fully and accurately to prospective carriers. If the application contains any misrepresentation or omits information that could affect the underwriting decision of the insurer, the standard of utmost good faith is not met and the insurer may deny coverage for claims or possibly even rescind the policy after it has been in place. Allegations about misrepresentation or omission usually surface in the course of claim investigations by insurance companies. In some instances, the ensuing litigation may result in denial of the claim or rescission of the policy. Even if misrepresentation or omission is not proven, litigation will cause significant delays in claims payment and direct and indirect expenses to the parties. Rescission of an insurance policy is serious business. Such action could result in serious financial difficulties to insureds, especially if it occurs after a major loss. Furthermore, costly and protracted litigation inevitably follows to contest the rescission. Fortunately, insureds and their brokers can minimize the potential for rescission by simply exercising greater care in ascertaining the accuracy of underwriting information, and by providing all material information to insurers. While in the past, rescission decisions were only made by insurers if they were convinced and could substantiate relevance regarding adequate justification. However, in recent years more activity has developed regarding policy rescission by some insurers based on facts pointing to circumstances surrounding the loss rather than conclusive material misrepresentation by the insured which are germane to the loss.
Business Insurance Covers Your Risks
Business insurance can be complex, and it takes an experienced insurance counselor to help you identify and analyze the right commercial coverage for your enterprise. Peppler Insurance Group will help you examine, analyze and negotiate an insurance program with your current agent or perhaps two new agencies who can provide more than just a portion of your business insurance needs, an agency that takes responsibility for your entire portfolio of commercial coverage, from premises-operations liability to commercial vehicle insurance, employment practices liability to professional E&O. The independent agency distribution method can provide business and commercial insurance programs from a number of financially sound, Best A Rated carriers that can do just that. Unlike captive and exclusive agents such as State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, Farm Bureau... who are limited to a single insurance company they work for, independent agencies work with many carriers. Peppler Insurance Consultants can provide you with an independent professional analysis of both existing, new, or renewal proposals and take you through an insurance carrier's contract itself, demonstrating how each coverage would respond in various loss scenarios. Moreover, our forté is to point out to you where it falls short. We will oversee and provide you with solid proficiency in all directions pertaining to your risk exposures, alternative factors to reduce or eliminate some exposures, and then find a home for those that need be transferred to a third-party, often a highly respected financially strong carrier with experience in your industry. Should you require a specialty coverage contract due to the inherent risk of your product or service, perhaps several different policies from different carriers, would prove to be most advantageous. Peppler Insurance Group has over 40 years of experience today fueled by a generational proliferation value of 3. This statistic adds significant credence to our long-standing reputation for integrity, trustworthiness, and knowledge as according to Forbes Business Magazines concentrated study, only 16% of family businesses survive to the third generation. Being raised in primarily an insurance office setting, there is philosophical truth to integrity and "utmost good faith" passing into your DNA and "bloodline". This is how and why three generations speak volumes to the meaning of insurance.
Top 10 Global Business Risks for 2024
- • Global Inflation (natural-gas crisis OPEC limits output, fueling inflation)
- • Business interruption (Supply Chain disruption)
- • Resurgent Covid-19 waves (New vaccine-resistant variants)
- • Liability of all forms, incl. products, accident/injury, libel, malpractice, and discrimination
- • Cyber incidents (cyber-crime, IT failure, data breaches and data loss)
- • Natural catastrophes (storm, flood, earthquake)
- • Political risks and violence (war, terrorism, etc.)
- • Political Polarisation (political disruption in pandemic's aftermath)
- • Market developments (volatility, intensified competition, market fluctuation)
- • New technologies (impact of increasing interconnectivity, artificial intelligence)
Extreme cyber-attack could cost as much as Superstorm Sandy. A major global cyber-attack has the potential to trigger $53 billion of economic losses according to new research. Every company, large and small, has unique risks. Some have workers who operate heavy machinery or drive vehicles while on the job, while others serve food and alcohol or handle toxic substances. Doctors and hospital staff handle patients, body fluids, sharp needles, and equipment. Some employees handle sensitive documents, data, or money, potentially opening the door to business fraud. For this reason, every company needs commercial insurance coverage specifically matched to the risks unique to their operations. Determining your risks and making sure you have the right commercial insurance in place requires an evaluation of a wide range of factors, including:
- • Your business needs
- • How you serve your customers
- • How many employees you have on staff
- • The materials or substances those employees handle
- • Whether your employees drive in the course of their work
- • The safety of your building, equipment, and processes
- • The security of your data and intellectual property
- • Risks facing your corporate officers, ie., discrimination
The passages show below concerns Director's & Officer's Liability and provokingly demonstrates the increased complexity and need for a specialist: "All organizations, whether public, private, or nonprofit, and the people who lead them are vulnerable to a multitude of D&O exposures. These can include securities litigation, regulatory actions, and allegations of misrepresentation and breaches of fiduciary duties." "Over the years there has been a marked tendency in D&O insurance policies to try to spell out each new embellishment to the product. This has resulted in an insured perils approach to the cover, which has bred length and complexity. It is not unusual for D&O policies to be 40 pages long, with as many defined terms, whereas errors and omissions insurance, a close cousin, is typically half the length." Source: Travelers Insurance Company To adequately assess your intricate business insurance needs, start by contacting a Property and Casualty Insurance Consultant who specializes in commercial insurance portfolio management. Our organization can address all aspect of your commercial property and liability insurance contract(s) and help to ensure that you do not have gaps that could leave your business exposed to financial risk. Employment Practices Liability (EPL), is a good illustration of an available coverage which needs quickly developed as employees became increasingly aware that they could sue their employer for most forms of harassment and discrimination to retaliation and other alleged civil-wrongs when employers were addressing employee misconduct. Defense costs which are provided in EPL has become a financial loss exposure we often find missing from new prospects insurance programs along with seasoned veterans who have either been unwilling to spend the time keeping abreast of the litigious nature of today's society, or are relying (to their detriment) on a naïve insurance agent to bring into focus, the specific policy or endorsements required on this subject matter, even though it's one of such consequence and such magnitude it can and will devastate a business organization.
Types of Commercial Insurance Policies
Every commercial operation needs business insurance. The specific blend of coverages you need for your business depends on many factors, such as whether your employees handle money, dangerous substances, sensitive data, or expensive merchandise. But our first step will begin by probing into the area regarding your personal appetite and individual tolerance to risk that will guide us in determining when and if, risk assumption is suitable as an alternative to dollars allocated to insurance expense. Once we have established a meeting of the minds, we will be able to move forward with an informed decision-making recommendation for an insurance program combining the coverage types, tailored to your risk management objectives, exposures, and concerns. For example, you will need some combination of the following types of commercial coverage: Areas of expertise: Builder's Risk Insurance Business Interruption Insurance Casualty/General Liability Insurance Directors & Officers Liability Insurance Errors and Omissions Insurance Facultative Reinsurance Fidelity Inland Marine Insurance Insurance Claims Insurance Coverage Property Insurance Rescission of Insurance Policies Surety CATEGORY OF INSURANCE CONTRACTS
- • Premises/Operations liability, contractor's liability, professional liability (errors and omissions)
- • Directors' and officers' liability
- • Malpractice insurance
- • Commercial property insurance
- • Commercial vehicle or commercial truck insurance
- • Contractors and builder's risk coverage
- • Inland marine coverage
- • Business interruption insurance
- • Employment Practices Liability
- • Crime coverage or fidelity insurance
- • Cyber-crime insurance
- • Workers compensation
- • Construction/Performance bonds
While you do not need all of these coverage types to safely run your business, it's good to know that you have a variety of ways to manage the specific risks your company faces. While you do not need all of these coverage types to safely run your business, it's good to know that you have a variety of ways to manage the specific risks your company faces.