Why The Institutes’ CEO Pete Miller Thinks A Predict & Prevent Focus Will Revolutionize The Way Society Approaches Risk

Benjamin Franklin, in urging a more robust approach to firefighting in Philadelphia, wrote: ‘an Ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure.’

Today, nearly 300 years later, we see again that prevention is needed. In fact, the National Institute for Building Science estimates that every dollar spent on prevention saves six dollars on recovery.

Traditional risk management, which relies heavily on risk transfer and detecting and repairing after a loss occurs, is no longer adequate to keep up with the colossal forces transforming the risk landscape -- and society.

These influences are volatile and complex and include climate risk, technological revolution, societal trends, macroeconomic reversals, legal system abuse and political upheaval. And as the levels of risks are increasing, so too are the levels of loss severity, creating the potential for insufficient insurance capital to cover the growing magnitude of losses with risk transfer alone.

We need that ounce of prevention.