Failing to identify risks ranked top mistake on claims

Some of the 10 most common mistakes made in property damage and business interruption claims could be avoided by undertaking some of the most rudimentary tasks, such as identifying risks and negotiating favourable policy terms.
Roberta Martoza, first vice president of enterprise risk management at Washington Mutual, listed her Top 10 most common mistakes at a Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) session in San Diego.
According to Martoza, the Top 10 worst mistakes made on property and business interruption claims are:
1.Failing to identify risks;
2.Failing to negotiate favourable policy terms;
3.Failing to explain BCP and mitigation strategies to insurers;
4.Failing to take charge;
5.Communications breakdown;
6.Ignoring the coverage issues;
7.Preparing an inaccurate claim;
8.Preparing an unconvincing claim;
9.Failing to understand goals of all parties; and
10.Failing to maximize the recovery.
A large property claim carries with it a number of different consequences, including a loss of income, extra expense, loss of market share, damage to reputation, delay of strategic initiatives and closure of a location or even an entire company.
“No matter what your business is, these are all important to you,” said Martoza.
She said a lot of these consequences could be minimized through preventive measures such as business continuity planning and property loss prevention, but oftentimes these don’t go deep enough.
“There’s the little things that come up during a property claim process that strip through you,” she noted, “so it’s important to plan and anticipate any type of things that may happen that you are not expecting.”