United States: Insurance and Risk Management Services, LLC, Continues to Provide Value-Added Services to Its Clients

Insurance and Risk Management Services, LLC (IRMS), has entered its fourth year of operation. It continues to provide a variety of insurance and risk management services to its clients. Having worked with more than 75 companies over the past three-and-a-half years, IRMS has developed a range of services to assist with virtually every aspect of its clients’ insurance and risk management needs. This article will focus on three key areas of service that have resulted in significant savings to the bottom line while protecting IRMS clients against unforeseen exposures.

To date, IRMS has completed approximately 50 comprehensive risk assessments for its clients. While the scope of these risk assessments varies, the typical risk assessment addresses the following:

• General risk management recommendations to reduce exposure;
• Potential to reduce premiums by identifying coverage overlaps;
• Uncovered exposures resulting from gaps in coverage;
• Insurance coverage alternatives for particular transactions or new business opportunities; and
• Coverage limits, deductibles, and other insurance program structures to reduce cost, improve coverage, or both.

In one recent risk assessment project, IRMS assisted the City of Winchester, Indiana, in evaluating risks associated with the planning and implementation for a new household hazardous waste recycling facility. Steve Longnecker, Director of the Randolph County Solid Waste Management District, was pleased with the results: "During the planning phase for our new household hazardous waste recycling facility, Kevin Thompson was instrumental in evaluating our risks, and provided numerous risk management recommendations regarding the acquisition of our site and exposure once we began operation. We are just finishing our first year, and are extremely pleased with the results to date and the safe and efficient performance of the recycling facility, due in large part to his advice."

Longnecker’s comments are fairly typical of many of IRMS’ clients, since IRMS frequently consults with clients on specific risks relating to unique business opportunities.

Another area in which IRMS has been able to create significant benefits for its clients is in their property and casualty insurance renewal and marketing efforts. Whether the client has been with the same commercial agent over a long period of time and has not actively marketed its insurance program, or if the client is simply interested in surveying the market for other commercial agents and/or insurance carriers to competitively shop, IRMS can provide a comprehensive network of alternatives to enhance competition while improving service to the client. IRMS recently assisted Rick Schweitzer of Superior Petroleum with its annual renewal, developing specifications for its insurance program to ensure that competitive quotes were received on a comparable basis and with similar insurance protection. According to Schweitzer, "Thompson and IRMS are an important part of our insurance renewal process. He not only tells what the policy says, but what it means. He then compares it on an apples-to-apples and value-added basis. We estimate the savings through this process to be about 20 percent value on the premium, a significant cost savings for our company."

IRMS has also been acting as the de facto risk manager for companies not having in-house risk management resources. This involves not only insurance marketing and renewal activity, but addressing various risk management issues throughout the year. For the last year-and-a-half, IRMS has been working closely with Indiana Corn Products, an ethanol manufacturing facility start-up in Putnam County, Indiana. According to Jim Zegar, Chief Financial Officer, "IRMS has helped Indiana Corn Products from our inception. First, we get great advice with respect to the kinds of insurance we need. Then, we get help reviewing all the documentation to ensure we are complying with investor, bank, and contractor insurance requirements. Kevin acts as our de facto risk manager, and has positioned us well to secure additional coverage and manage our risk as we construct additional manufacturing facilities throughout the state. Insurance in our business and for our construction projects is a very complex matter and we have no in-house experts. We rely heavily on him to help us make the right decisions, and he keeps us completely informed on a timely basis. It’s a real asset to have IRMS."

Most recently, IRMS completed a risk assessment project for Plews Shadley Racher & Braun. Curt DeVoe, the current managing partner of PSRB, commented regarding the process: "Kevin helped us review and analyze the annual renewal of our insurance coverage. He identified both missing and unnecessary areas of coverage, reviewed and commented on specific policy provisions, and participated in discussions with our agent. With his extensive background and experience, Kevin was able to spot issues very quickly and then suggested practical, cost-effective solutions."

IRMS continues to add new clients in virtually all areas of business, and the range of services continues to expand to meet very diverse client needs. IRMS is always looking for additional opportunities to assist Plews Shadley Racher & Braun clients in addition to other companies needing IRMS assistance.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.