Canadian Underwriter

Features


Susan Philchuk & Maria Vandenhurk
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Disability Management Consulting: Help or Hindrance?

April 1, 2004 Maria Vandenhurk & Susan Philchuk

For those involved in the field of disability management consulting (DMC), it is not uncommon to encounter skeptical and cynical comments from the payers of these services. Disability management consultants are sometimes perceived as “gullible” and/or “advocates for the client”, who fail to contribute substantially to the closure of the file. But forming a cost-effective and successful partnership with a DM provider can be achieved if business goals and client outcomes are kept front of mind.

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Ouch!

April 1, 2004 Sean van Zyl, Managing Editor

You have to give the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) one thing – they sure know how to keep things interesting. The latest rumpus ignited by the property and casualty insurance industry’s main lobbying body has been commonly dubbed by

Dan Danyluk
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IKEA Ruffles Insurance Feathers

April 1, 2004 by Canadian Underwriter

Canadian brokers have added their own voice to broad insurance industry disapproval of an IKEA television ad recently aired which many believe promotes insurance fraud. In a letter to Advertising Standards Canada, Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC) CEO Dan

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Risk Managers Look for the Right Price

March 1, 2004 Vikki Spencer

At the end of 2003, two commercial insurance surveys came out suggesting the market turn risk managers had been praying for was on its way. First, the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) benchmark survey (inclusive of U.S. and Canadian

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Communicating Value

March 1, 2004 Vikki Spencer

As Nancy Chambers gears up for her term as president of the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS), she knows risk managers are in the midst of a difficult insurance market and increasing expectations from the highest corporate levels. Chambers follows a long line of Canadian RIMS presidents and says she will build on the successes of the past to forge new channels of communication for risk managers and their partners.

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Global Political Risks – Post-9/11

March 1, 2004 Sean van Zyl, Editor

Suicide bombings in Baghdad continue to see a rising toll in deaths of “reconstruction” foreign workers and military personnel…Ongoing conflict between Palestinians and Israelis continues to produce reprisal acts of violence…A coup de tat in Haiti results in mass civil

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Vicarious Costs

March 1, 2004 William Blakeney

Sexual Abuse in the Church Under Scrutiny; Vicarious liability is the startling legal concept that someone can be held liable for a third party’s injuries when they were not actively involved in the incident that caused the damages. Parties sued for vicarious liability are generally, but are not always in a supervisory position over the person who would ordinarily be personally responsible.

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The Next Big “Tail” Liability?

March 1, 2004 Allison Murray

While many insurers have written food-processing risks with a lenient attitude – with an eye cast at the food processing industry’s historically attractive underwriting result – warning lights are now beginning to blink, suggesting that litigation involving the entire food processing enterprise, both animal and human, may be the next big thing in long-tail product liability.

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Tough Times for Main Street

March 1, 2004 by Canadian Underwriter

Premium hikes and availability issues have prompted the Canadian Federation of Independent Business to call for a federal review of the property and casualty insurance industry. But, insurers and brokers say solutions for small businesses should be market-driven, not political. They also contend that the market is working.

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The Dawn of Corporate Criminal Responsibility

March 1, 2004 Glenn McGillivray

More than eleven years after an explosion ripped through the Westray coal mine in Plymouth, Nova Scotia killing 26 miners and triggering a decade-long legal battle for victims’ families, new federal legislation will make corporations, their management, directors and officers legally responsible for unsafe work environments.

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Outsourcing: Regulators Take Notice

March 1, 2004 Brian Reeve

One of the most important trends to have evolved in the insurance industry is the use of outsourcing to reduce costs and improve the quality of service to customers. Most insurers have already reduced their costs as much as possible. However, the use of outsourcing, particularly to offshore low-cost jurisdictions, is rapidly becoming unavoidable in order to remain competitive in the insurance industry.

From left: Gordon Rasbach, Bob Carter, Jim Eso, Norm Groot, Keith Edwards, mediator Brian Maltman, Ann Cavoukian
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CICMA/CIAA Joint Conference: Testing the Limits

March 1, 2004 Vikki Spencer

As claims managers and adjusters entered the new year they faced tough federal privacy legislation which presented a host of unknown factors to their work environment: public reaction, professional limitations, and whether the industry’s existing claims handling standards would hold