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Spencer Educational Foundation Reaches $5 Million Milestone

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Yesterday, at the RIMS 2013 Annual Conference & Exhibition, the Spencer Educational Foundation announced it hit $5 million in donations since the organization’s inception in 1979. The latest round of funding secured $282,500 worth of scholarships to 50 risk management and insurance students from 19 universities.

“This allows us to touch the lives of students who will eventually be the leaders of risk management,” said John Phelps, RIMS President.

Peggy Accordino, Spencer chairwoman, announced that the organization will use the $300,000 donated by RIMS to promote the establishment of risk management and insurance courses at schools around the country. “We would like to have RMI courses be as commonplace as accounting, statistics, marketing — all those subjects that are needed for business,” she said.

Additionally, Temple University was awarded a $50,000 loss prevention education grant funded by FM Global.

Saving Your Company From a Social Media Nightmare

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Facebook has more than 1 billion users worldwide. Twitter processes more than 340 million tweets per day. What is the liability for your company? Are you liable for postings made from employees’ own devices? Can you legally access your employees’ social media sites or base hiring and firing decisions on them?

“Social Media in the Workplace: Litigation Risks and Insurance Coverage” — a RIMS 2013 session — covered these critical issues. Presenting on the topic were:

  • Karen Bachman, director, risk management and privacy for Shire Pharmaceuticals
  • Max Perkins, underwriter, specialty lines for Beazley Group
  • Joann Lytle, partner, McCarter & English, LLP
What is social media? According to Merriam-Webster, it’s:
Forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)
“It’s basically what we have done for years in terms of networking and interfacing but it’s now in an electronic format that moves at the speed of sound and speed of light,” said Perkins.”It can be scary at times but can also be used to your benefit.”By now, most of us are aware of the reasons why companies use social media, including:
  • marketing
  • customer service
  • market research
  • hiring

But what are the concerns?

  • Privacy “What if someone makes a mistake and mentions a patient’s health history,” asked Perkins. “How is your HR team using social media? Are they able to do that legally?”
  • The speed and ease of communication lead people to make impulsive, ill-considered comments
  • Permanent record

But alas, as the speakers pointed out, there are resources available to organizations that wish to manage the risks of social media? They can:

  • Draft a social media use policy
  • Require employee training
  • Monitor social media use
  • Purchase insurance “It’s not all there right now, it’s still developing,” said Perkins.
Joann Lytle used an interesting, real-world example. A health clinic employee disclosed the contents of a patient’s medical file, including the fact that the patient had a sexually transmitted disease from a sexual partner other than her husband. Another employe created a MySpace page with picture of the patient and disclosed the contents of her medical file, disclosing she has an STD. Though the page was only up for a few days, it was enough for a legal case against Fairview (Yath vs Fairview Clinic).
It seems like it would be a cut and dry case, ending in Yath’s favor.But that’s not what happened.
Fairview had a policy prohibiting the use of social media at work. Technical evidence demonstrated that the MySpace page was not created at the employer’s place of business.
“It really saved Fairview,” said Lytle. “They did the right thing and took the right steps. If any of the factors were different, it could’ve been a huge liability.“
How should a company respond to a potentially damaging post? “This is the kind of thing you should be planning for in advance,” said Bachman
  • Take full responsibility — in social media, it’s impossible to run and hide
  • Make no excuses — stick to clarifying an incident — stick with real data
  • Respond immediately 
  • Do not get into an ongoing conversation with other posters — you’re just going to get deeper and deeper into trouble with no way to dig yourself out

We only need to look at LinkedIn’s Top 5 Corporate Twitter Disasters of 2012 to understand how a simple mistake or an irate employee can cause a media nightmare.Companies can establish a framework to manage risk these risks, however. Aside from monitoring and training, companies can purchase media content liability coverage, including:

  • Defamation, libel, slander, infringement of copyright
  • Infringement of domain name, trademark, trade name, trade dress
  • Plagiarism, piracy, misappropriation of ideas under an implied contract
  • Invasion or interference with an individual’s right to privacy

“One thing to think about is where your culture is within the organization,” said Perkins. “Do you have a cultural awareness of what social media is?”

RIMS Presents Awards and Honors

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RIMS announced the winners of its series of industry awards yesterday, which were presented during the RIMS 2013 Annual Conference & Exhibition Award Luncheon in Los Angeles.

The Harry and Dorothy Goodell Award, RIMS’ most prestigious honor, was presented to Daniel W. Houston (pictured above), executive director, enterprise risk management and learning for The McCart Group in Duluth, Georgia. Named in honor of RIMS first president, the award pays tribute to an individual who has furthered the goals of the Society and the risk management discipline through outstanding service and achievement.

The Richard W. Bland Memorial Award was presented to Janet Kerr, vice president of risk management, Boston Properties, Inc. The award was created by RIMS Kansas City Chapter in 1974 to recognize a member’s dedicated commitment in the area of legislation or regulation.

The Ron Judd “Heart of RIMS” Award pays tribute to the legacy of Ron Judd, who served as RIMS executive director for 22 years. Individuals are nominated by chapters for outstanding performance in furthering risk management at the chapter level.

This year, there were two “Heart of RIMS” Award winners.  Scott B. Clark, risk & benefits officer for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools and former RIMS President in 2011, was presented with the award for his work with RIMS Greater Miami Chapter.  Karin McDonald, director of risk and insurance for Hydro One Networks Inc., was also presented with the award for her work with the RIMS Ontario Chapter.

The Cristy Award was presented to Ed C Mitchell, director of risk management for Metropolitan Stevedore Company in Wilmington, California. This award acknowledges the individual who earned the highest marks on the three exams required to earn the Associate of Risk Management designation.

RIMS and Business Insurance magazine presented the 2013 Risk Manager of the Year Award to Lori Gray, risk management division chief for Prince William County in Virginia.

RIMS also recognized the exceptional work of its chapters for outstanding chapter programming and conferences, advancing the risk management profession, outstanding member services, and membership growth. Details about chapter award winners will be available at www.RIMS.org/newsroom.

RIMS 2013 Opening Reception in Pictures

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Last night, RIMS 2013 Conference & Exhibition attendees took over downtown Los Angeles to enjoy the beautiful weather and celebrate the start of a great experience. Held at LA Live, the party was full of great food and drink, lively music and true Hollywood entertainment, including Joan Rivers, Humphrey Bogart and Elizabeth Taylor to name a few.

A few pics from the red carpet: