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50 of the Best Risk Management Blogs

Masters in Risk Management recently put out its list of the the Top 50 Risk Management blogs. We were fortunate to be included, which is nice. More importantly, there are a lot of other very good resources listed here that you should check out.

Clear Risk Blog, Crisis Blogger and the Risk and Safety Blog are all among my favorites.

Here’s an excerpt of their list.

12. BCU Risk Management and Insurance Blog: BCU handles property and liability insurance for the affluent, focusing on high net-worth individuals, families and related business activities.
13. Insurance & Technology Blog: Part of UBM TechWeb, this blog covers risk management and information about technology insurance.
14. Insurance for Techs: Commentary and advice on technology insurance and risk management.
15. Lloyd’s Blog: Experts discuss the latest issues that impact the insurance industry and Lloyd’s market.
16. Paperless Insurance Business Blog: This blog covers a large number of topics under the risk management umbrella.
17. Professional Insurers Blog: This company specializes in risk management audits, service plans, consulting and goals.
18. Risk Management Monitor: The Risk Management Monitor is the official blog of Risk Management magazine and provides daily stories, commentary, interviews, podcasts and videos related to the world of risk management and insurance.
19. Sports Insurance Blog: John Sadler designed and teaches courses in risk management and sports insurance to hundreds of recreation professionals each year.
20. WorkComp Edge Blog: This blog a resource on workers compensation and other risk management issues.

Click through for to see all 50.

A Safety Lesson for Your Holiday Party

The holidays can be the best time of year, but as we have seen on Thanksgiving, sometimes they can also be the most disastrous. The fire marshal of South Dakota has some advice to help you keep things safe.

Christie says smoke alarms should be in working order and don’t borrow smoke alarm batteries to power Christmas gifts.

I agree. Don’t do that during your holiday parties this season. Safety, of course, is the gift that keeps on giving. Think about it.

Southern California Gets a New Earthquake Plan

Southern California just got a little safer when it comes to earthquake preparedness. Along with FEMA, the California Emergency Management Agency today launched a new plan to help respond and recover from an earthquake.

It was a long time coming, Southern California Catastrophic Earthquake Plan (CATPLAN) is now a reality.

When participants began the planning almost two years ago, rather than planning for a manageable event, the focus instead was on addressing the highest, most critical and widespread consequences of mass casualties, tremendous shelter and housing needs, infrastructure calamity and enormous economic disruption.  By facing the “unthinkable,” what has been developed is a realistic, flexible and scalable CATPLAN.

“We know that it’s not a matter of ‘if,’ but ‘when’ the next big earthquake is going to shake California to its core,” said Bettenhausen. “Our number one priority is to ensure we’re doing everything we can to be ready for it, and have a carefully-crafted, comprehensive plan in place to enable maximum coordination between federal, state and local agencies.  This plan is not the end, but another critical step in our on-going process of planning.”

The similar San Francisco Bay Area Catastrophic Earthquake Plan was formalized in 2008, so along with the new plan, the bulk of the state now has another layer of security.

All Californians should take some solace in that — although us on the East Coast will still question the sanity of those of you who build your houses above fault lines.

Improving the Treasurer’s Critical Risk Management Role

Over the years, the role of the treasurer has evolved from a mainly operational function to something more strategic that involves board-level accountability and the responsibility to help manage enterprise-wide risks. At its most basic, the treasurer must safeguard the assets of a company and manage liquidity to support the operations of the company’s principal business. This task is complicated by the minute-to-minute fluctuations in the financial markets and was never more challenging than during the recent financial crisis. In an online exclusive article for Risk Management, Andrew Woods of SunGard suggests that these circumstances demonstrate the need for treasurers to utilize the latest technology and risk management best practices in order to get a better picture of their organization’s risk profile.

Effective use of technology is the only way a treasurer who manages global exposures can consolidate and analyze information quickly and accurately. Automating the exposure management process eliminates errors, creating opportunities for optimal cost savings and risk reduction. By interacting with enterprise resource planning (ERP) and accounting systems and other exposure data sources, treasurers and risk managers are able to accurately identify, quantify and manage exposures based on complete data, with minimal dependence on IT or finance.

To read the full article, be sure to visit RMmagazine.com.