Over the past two months, millions of workers in the United States have re-arranged to work remotely. It’s not a totally alien concept. Before the coronavirus pandemic, approximately over two-thirds of US businesses provided some form of remote work opportunity (at least occasionally) for their employees.

The insurance industry set itself up for a public relations disaster when it comes to business interruption claims, and it should be prepared to be called out more often on the name given to the coverage, says one risk researcher.

Here I sit at my house. Thanks to COVID-19, my town is pretty much locked down. Most places are closed, including the campus where I work. I am working from home for the rest of the semester. That doesn’t really bother me.

When encountering the term “catastrophic risk”, most people will think about extreme weather, climate change, earthquakes, and other related concepts involving nature. However, Marsh’s Technology Industry Risk Study 2020 has highlighted a widely underestimated risk that could potentially lead to catastrophic results: the failure of technology to perform.

In case you weren’t aware, there’s a pandemic currently sweeping our nation, and the convulsions caused by COVID-19’s impact on our personal lives have only been rivaled by those felt in our professional ones.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold and wreak unprecedented havoc on global economies, the idea of a federal pandemic risk insurance program in the US has been put forward, with several sectors voicing their approval.

Nationwide has announced plans to permanently transition to a hybrid operating model comprising primarily work-from-office in four corporate campuses and work-from-home in most other locations.

As the COVID-19 pandemic response prepares to move into yet another month, many of us are beginning to ask, are we saving lives? Or are we hurting them? The answer is becoming increasingly obvious. It is “yes” to both. But how do we balance the solution?

A product liability claim presents some of the highest dollar loss potential for cannabis companies, according to Chris Boden, cannabis practice group team leader at the California-based wholesale insurance broker, Crouse and Associates Insurance Services. It’s one of the most severe exposures cannabis companies face, and yet not all businesses purchase product liability insurance coverage.

The world is changing. Now more than ever, individuals and companies alike are connecting across the globe, expanding their enterprises as well as opening themselves up to potential risk.

Twenty years ago, corporate risk managers had near-zero public visibility. Most were back-office staffers who focused on securing insurance for environmental and real estate problems (tornadoes, fires, earthquakes, facilities breaches). Young people didn’t aspire to be risk managers: There were just a dozen small academic programs in the U.S. focused on the career.

Individuals perceive risks in markedly different ways. One person may consider a risk to be critical, while another could consider it inconsequential. Often rooted in psychology, these differences in risk perception can create challenges for risk professionals, especially when designing and implementing an effective risk management program.

It is an election year, which means from now until the polls close in November, politics will be a big topic of discussion. With key electoral events every month of 2020 including caucuses, debates, and elections, and with news and social-media coverage of the same, employers should expect political discussions to find their way into the workplace.

Insurance product creation historically has been based on historical data — the rearview mirror view. It always has been, and there is value in doing so. Past trends are likely to be repeated, and coverages and rating need to reflect that. And insurance departments require years of historical data to approve changes. However, there is a fundamental change afoot that cannot be ignored.

Countless articles about the implications of COVID-19 on the insurance industry are circulating in the digital universe. Many aspects of the industry will be affected, but the ultimate impact depends on the length and magnitude of the virus crisis, something that is difficult to predict.