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Reducing Inspector Risks During Catastrophic Response

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The risks associated with disasters extend far beyond the initial destruction. For insurers, disaster damage assessment and claims processing can pose both significant financial risk as well as introduce personal risks for claims inspection teams. The safety of these teams is dependent upon a strong understanding of the situation on the ground. As a result, insurers need to take steps to maintain visibility of the situation, efficiently handle damage claims processing, and, above all, limit the risk exposure of claims and response teams on the ground.

Utilize credible catastrophe information
Having accurate geographic information to pinpoint potential asset damage before deploying inspection teams can aid faster claim resolution and provide more efficient claim processing. Looking to trusted resources that offer key data on approaching catastrophes can help teams better prepare for the situation at hand. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) offers constant information and updates on pending and current weather conditions, storms and other catastrophes to allow organizations to stay up-to-date on the latest conditions. Likewise, the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) can also offer deeper insight into disaster recovery efforts so that adjusters are prepared for the situations they walk into.

Knowledge is power when it comes to efficient claims processing and safe deployment of inspection agents. Data from credible resources allows adjusters to more safely maneuver through potentially hazardous conditions. But even the wealth of knowledge offered by NOAA and FEMA is often not enough to minimize an organization’s post-disaster risk profile.

Emphasize image collection of disaster areas
When disaster hits, roads can become impassable, buildings can become structurally unsound, and areas can become impossible to access. The last thing an insurer wants to do is send its claims adjusters into a hazardous zone unprepared.

Preparation is key to effective claims inspection that minimizes time in the field and the risk of unforeseen, hazardous circumstances. To that end, satellite and drone imagery have become key technologies used by insurance companies to improve processes and protect claims adjusters.

The concept of satellite and drone imagery to assist in claims processes and reduce inspector risks is hardly a new concept. Novarica recently estimated that nearly 20% of P&C carriers are pursuing imaging solutions. In fact, PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts that drones alone will have a $6.8 billion impact on the insurance industry in the coming years.

Satellite imagery provides wide-area, high-resolution analysis of damaged areas to help organizations understand the breadth of the damage, while drones can be deployed to specific sites to conduct detailed damage evaluations at a micro-level. Combining satellite and drone imagery can give teams a full view of the extent of catastrophic damage so they know exactly what to expect upon on-site inspection.

In some cases, detailed imagery and analytics can often provide enough information to prevent adjusters from ever having to set foot on a property, allowing them to accurately and efficiently process claims from the safety of a desk. In fact, Cognizant estimated that drone usage can make a claim adjuster’s workflow 40% to 50% more efficient, which can be especially important when managing the high number of claims that come in response to a catastrophe. This can also decrease claims management costs, help protect the well-being of employees and significantly reduce adjuster accidents.

The amount and strength of natural disasters in the U.S. will not decrease anytime soon. But the use of credible information resources and thorough imaging technology can help insurers reduce their financial and safety risks, so they can better help others address their own.

Risk Landscape: Coverage Trends to Watch

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Being aware of your company’s new and changing risks is critical for sound risk management. As the year progresses, we have identified growing risks facing
companies, and their directors and officers, that are likely to impact policyholders. These risks include cybersecurity, Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) lawsuits, drones, wage and hour lawsuits and food recalls. The risks and issues to watch out for are expanded below:

Cybersecurity

Cyberattacks against businesses doubled in 2015 and are expected to continue to increase as attackers become even more sophisticated. Watch out for:

Phishing scams and social engineering fraud. In social engineering scams, hackers utilize phishing, purporting to be legitimate employees or third parties try to trick businesses into wiring funds or allow access to their systems. Although many businesses have crime insurance that covers “computer systems fraud,” ambiguous provisions or liability limits may restrict coverage. SomCompliancee courts have held that fraud coverage applies only when intrusions are unauthorized, but not when an unwitting employee falls prey to an online scam.

Data breaches. Companies should also be conscious about their coverage for data breaches, which increasingly present significant exposures. Insurers often contest whether data breaches constitute “publication” of private information, and, if so, whether an insurer’s duty to defend applies. This is particularly important as the storage of consumer data is a lynchpin of many businesses’ operations and marketing.
Businesses need to ensure that their commercial insurance policies adequately cover their business risks and consider purchasing dedicated cyber policies.

Coverage for TCPA claims

Certain efforts to engage with consumers may come at a steep cost. Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), businesses that send unsolicited faxes, voice calls or text messages to consumers may be held liable for at least $500 per violation.

General liability coverage of TCPA claims. In recent years, commercial general liability (CGL) insurers have increasingly added broad exclusions to their policies for TCPA claims. Moreover, courts are split on whether “right to privacy” coverage in CGL policies cover these claims. Some courts uphold coverage only for losses from incidents that divulge confidential information (secrecy-related claims), whereas others uphold coverage for unsolicited communications, even if they do not republish confidential information.
While such coverage may be restricted under CGL policies, policyholders may have coverage under their directors’ and officers’ (D&O) insurance.

LA Lakers test case for D&O coverage. In 2016, the Ninth Circuit will likely address this issue in an appeal by the Los Angeles Lakers. The franchise’s marketing campaign included sending unsolicited text messages to fans. When sued under the TCPA, the franchise sought coverage for its defense costs under its D&O policy. In April 2015, a California federal court rejected coverage, finding that the policy’s “invasion of privacy” exclusion precluded coverage.
As businesses seek to engage consumers directly through various media, they should consider whether their insurance protects against TCPA claims.

UAVs and Insurance in 2016

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, promise to revolutionize not just commerce but insurance as well. The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) estimates that, by 2023, annual global spending on UAVs will total $11.5 billion, and by 2020, about 30,000 commercial and civil drones will dot the skies.

Drone property loss and liability. The rise of drones raises several risks. The most obvious of these risks are loss of property and third-party liability. Use of drones for package or cargo delivery raises the risk of damage to the UAV itself—or its payload, which is usually the bigger loss. As shown by recent news reports and the first lawsuit, Boggs v. Merideth (W.D. Ky.), operators face liability for costs of defense and settlements or judgments payable to third-party claimants when UAVs go astray. With drones’ ability to film and collect data, other risks include privacy-related claims and data breach and hacking.

New coverage provisions. In June 2015, the Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), approved new coverage provisions addressing commercial use of drones. The new ISO provisions modify standard CGL and umbrella/excess liability policy forms and merit close consideration by policyholders.
Because these new provisions are untested, policyholders should review them carefully against their entire insurance program and consult with insurance advisors to ensure that new provisions or policies provide the protection needed. Companies using UAVs should consider the aviation insurance market and also assess the need for cyber insurance coverage for privacy and data-breach exposures.

Wage-and-Hour Lawsuits

Cases alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) have shot up in recent years. In 2015, almost 9,000 FLSA cases were filed in federal court, up more than 10% from 2014, and 30% from 2011. State courts have also experienced high volumes of wage-and-hour cases. California and New York recently enacted laws that allow directors, officers, and in New York, “top 10 shareholders” to be held personally liable for wage-and-hour violations.
Traditionally, companies have looked to their employment practices liability (EPL) and D&O insurance to protect against the defense and liability costs in wage-and-hour lawsuits. However, EPL insurance policies today regularly exclude coverage for such claims. Unlike EPL policies, D&O policies do not routinely exclude such coverage, but are including such exclusions with increasing frequency. As a result, policyholders must review D&O policies carefully to ensure that they protect against the threats posed by such claims.
Brokers and insurers have been developing new insurance products that specifically address these increasing wage-and-hour exposures. Policyholders, particularly those with significant operations in California and New York, should consider these newly emerging wage-and-hour specialty policies to ensure that they are adequately protected.

Food Contamination and Recall Coverage

The number of food product recalls for alleged contamination, undisclosed ingredients and other mislabeling issues also has risen dramatically. Although CGL and business property insurance policies provide some protection against liability for food contamination and recalls, savvy food companies should also consider specialized recall and contamination coverage.
These specialized policies may cover the reasonable costs that a policyholder incurs, for example, to examine its products for contamination, announce and institute a product recall, safely destroy contaminated products, and reimburse distributors and retailers for down-stream recall costs. Such policies often include crisis management coverage to help the policyholder mitigate negative media reports.

Varying types of special coverage. Because recall and contamination policies are not standardized, individual insurers offer differing policy terms and levels of coverage. Companies contemplating the addition of such coverage, or pursuing coverage under an existing policy, should closely examine the policy to understand the scope and limitations of coverage.

Items to watch. When purchasing such coverage, food companies need to identify their primary risks and negotiate the broadest possible coverage. In addition, because such policies often include very strict notice requirements, policyholders should give notice as soon as a recall arises to avoid coverage denial on late notice grounds.

Christina Buschmann, Linda Powell and Adrian Torres, Perkins Coie Insurance Recovery attorneys, also contributed to this article.

Cybersecurity, Product Recall and Drones Top List of Emerging Casualty Risks

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The cybersecurity insurance industry is booming, with demand for this specialty coverage vastly outpacing any other emerging risk line, according to a new survey by London-based broker RKH Specialty. In fact, 70% of the insurance professionals surveyed listed cyber as the top casualty exposure.

The brokers, agents, insurers and risk managers RKH queried after April’s RIMS 2015 conference said their top casualty concerns after cyber are product recall and drones (11% each), with others including e-cigarettes, autonomous vehicles and telematics totaling only eight percent.

RKH Specialty Study Graph

“Losses stemming from cyber-related attacks and business interruption can be catastrophic for individual businesses,” said Barnaby Rugge-Price, RKH Specialty’s CEO. “Healthcare and retail have been the major buyers in the cyber space to date but we are seeing an increasing conversion rate across the whole of our portfolio. After a number of years of looking at the offering, clients are increasingly deciding to purchase the cover as the product has improved and the frequency of attacks has continued to increase. There has also been a heightened focus on the business interruption aspect, where cyber attacks can cause whole facilities to shut down. But whether cyber related or not, any interruption to the supply chain can cause a disproportionate loss. The survey highlights the importance of specialist insurance for a whole host of emerging risks.”

Turning specifically to property exposures, supply chain disruption was identified by 61% as the top risk, followed by flood (30%) and tornadoes (9%). The findings reflect a growing recognition of the potential exposures that longer and more complex supply chains introduce, the firm said.

The brokerage also asked insurance professionals what they think clients are and will be most concerned about when evaluating a broker’s service, and in turn, what brokers will need to focus on to stay competitive. They predict:

RKH Specialty broker service

FAA Announces Drone Testing Partnerships Beyond Current Regulations

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Drone regulations FAA

Yesterday, the Federal Aviation Administration announced three partnerships with companies to expand the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in an initiative the agency is calling the Pathfinder program.

U.S.-based drone maker PrecisionHawk will be exploring the possibilities of flights over agriculture while testing tracking and a system for drones and planes to remain aware of each other in flight to avoid collisions. CNN will be testing the use of drones for newsgathering in urban areas where drones will remain in the line of sight of operators. BNSF Railroad, owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, received permission to test drone operations outside of the operator’s visual line of sight. The company will “explore command-and-control challenges of using UAS to inspect rail system infrastructure,” the FAA reported.

“Government has some of the best and brightest minds in aviation, but we can’t operate in a vacuum,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “This is a big job, and we’ll get to our goal of safe, widespread UAS integration more quickly by leveraging the resources and expertise of the industry.”

To that end, Pathfinder will allow these corporate entities to research operations that push the boundaries of the recent draft rules released regarding small unmanned aircraft, namely by operating both within and without the visual line of sight requirements currently mandated by the FAA.

“Even as we pursue our current rulemaking effort for small unmanned aircraft, we must continue to actively look for future ways to expand non-recreational UAS uses,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, who announced the initiative at a conference held Wednesday by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. “This new initiative involving three leading U.S. companies will help us anticipate and address the needs of the evolving UAS industry.”

This effort is also the first step in realizing some companies’ grander aspirations for drone use, such as the package delivery applications being pursued by Amazon. That being said, the information gathered by these companies will merely provide data to inform future FAA regulations, which are still pending and may only approve broader operations in a few years. Other companies looking into similar applications that are beyond the scope of current draft regulations would still need to apply for and receive a Section 333 exemption from the FAA. While about 300 of these requests have been granted, the agency has received repeated criticism for an exceptionally slow and sometimes mystifying review process.

“The impact of the Pathfinder Program could be profound for several reasons — perhaps most importantly, it shows the FAA is serious about moving quickly to safely and practically integrate commercial drone use in the U.S.,” said Anthony Mormino, senior legal counsel at Swiss Re. “Allowing drone flights beyond the sight of a drone operator is considered the key to unlocking the true potential of commercial drone use.  This collaboration could impact the future rules promulgated by the FAA regarding the line of sight requirement for commercial drones.”

Such developments could also significantly impact insurers. As discussed in “Drones Take Flight,” the April cover story of Risk Management magazine, one of the most promising near-future applications for UAVs could be in the insurance industry in the wake of natural catastrophes or other major claim events. “Reducing or eliminating the visual line of sight limitation on commercial drone use will allow insurance companies to employ UAVs to their fullest extent in insurance underwriting and claims management,” Mormino said. “Consider that the FAA has already granted a number of insurance companies permission to test and use UAVs for insurance inspection purposes. These companies include AIG, State Farm, Erie Insurance Group, and USAA.

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They plan to use UAVs, for example, to more quickly process insurance claims after natural disasters by allowing them to inspect damage —especially in remote locations—in real time.

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Insurers also plan to use UAVs to obtain imagery and data for use in underwriting, such as roof inspections. Until the FAA mitigates the visual line of sight limitation, however, the foregoing insurance uses for UAVs will remain drastically limited. Success for the FAA’s new Pathfinder program would open the door to potentially even larger scale use of UAVs by insurance companies.”

The implications for insurers also extend to the products and pricing offered. “First, the current dearth of UAS loss data makes it difficult for insurance companies to properly price insurance policies covering drone use,” said Carol Kreiling, senior claim manager at Swiss Re. “It is therefore no surprise that only a handful of insurers actually issue stand alone drone insurance coverage, such as Zurich Insurance in Canada, and Tokio Marine in the Lloyd’s of London market. An increase in commercial use of drones in the US could provide a steady flow of data that would allow more insurers to price and issue coverage for use of UAS. On the other hand, if the Pathfinder program’s goals are fulfilled—to find ways to safely use UAVs outside a pilot’s visual line of sight—increased remote use of drones could raise risk profiles for insurance coverage.

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At the conference, Huerta also announced a new smartphone app called B4UFLY, designed to help model aircraft and UAS users know if it is safe and legal to fly in their current or planned location by pairing geolocations with the relevant restrictions and requirements.

For more about drones, UAV regulations, and the potential impact these machines may have on the insurance industry, check out “Drones Take Flight,” the April cover story of Risk Management magazine.