Friday, June 25, 2010

Don't Walk Away from Business Purely for Environmental Reasons

Started by Mary Busby, Environmental Practice Leader at Oswald Companies

If a real estate deal or financing for a deal seems problematic simply due to environmental issues at the property, you don't have to walk away from this revenue.

Environmental liability insurance and risk management tools can work to solve these issues and can bring greater value to the transaction by reducing the environmental "number" in the equation to a hard cost that, when stacked against the value of the deal, will often appear nominal and appealing.

These protections are also transferrable and can help facilitate a sale to the next buyer at a price that does not include a discount due to environmental concerns.

I facilitate these sorts of transactions every day by reviewing environmental reports, analyzing the environmental issues, and positioning these issues in a light that is most favorable to moving a deal forward. Sometimes, the answer doesn't involve insurance, yet sometimes it does.

Once educated on what this can do, you are certain to increase your business.

I am a licensed attorney who has also served as a senior environmental underwriter for the largest environmental insurance carrier, as the environmental risk manager for one of the largest commercial real estate development firms, and as the director of the due diligence practice of a well-respected environmental consulting firm. I now run the Environmental Practice at Oswald Companies, one of the largest independent insurance brokerages and risk management firms in the country.

This allows me to look at environmental issues from all aspects to find the best solution and to leverage our strong relationships in the market to get things done.

Invovling me early is best, but if you are already far down the road and ready to walk away for environmental reasons, it still may not be too late. Sometimes, it just takes another perspective.

For more information, contact
Mary Busby
: 216 367-4920  |  mbusby@oswaldcompanies.com

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Prepared for the Season?

June marks the return of an annual nemesis, the Atlantic Hurricane Season. In Florida and most parts of the Southeast, local news media are advising us to prepare our homes and families for a possible Hurricane. This is also the time for corporations and risk managers to prepare for a possible hurricane. Here are a few insurance specific areas to think about before a hurricane forecast is issued:
  • Re-visit your limits. Property underwriters suspend activity anytime a hurricane is forecasted for your general area. So it does no good to call your broker a day or two before a hurricane is coming to raise your limits, the time is now. Review your real property and business property limits for accuracy. Another area of concern is business interruption limits. This is a great time to make sure the limits on the policy are aligned with the current budget/revenues (more below).
  • Buy Flood. Flood is fairly inexpensive and easy to obtain. Most property policies exclude flood unless a sublimit has been negotiated. It also has a thirty day waiting period before the coverage goes into effect, so it is critical to get coverage now and not when the meteorologists are tracking a disturbance coming off the Horne of Africa.
  • Wind/Hail deductibles. Be sure to review the deductible language in your insurance policy. Many insureds do not understand most deductibles apply to the insured values of a location and not the amount of the loss at a location.
  • Civil Authority. Review the civil authority coverage in your policy. Do you know the waiting period? Evacuations are common for areas not affected by the storm causing businesses to cease operations. If you are located in an area commonly evacuated, there may be alternative forms of coverage to minimize loss.
  • Contingency planning. Do you know who you will be calling to help with repairs and loss mitigation? This is the time to talk with property restoration companies to determine who can do the work. You can also enter into an agreement where they will come to you first and not when they can “fit you in the schedule”.
  • Business continuity. Does the operations team have a plan to continue operations after a storm? In the event a storm affects a location, you may not have access to the area for a week. Continuity plans should address all CAT exposed locations as well as a combination of one or more affected locations.
 These are a few areas to discuss with your insurance professional, as these are easy things to take care of prior to a storm bearing down on the coast.

For more information, contact
Chip Storm: 813 865-0528  | cstorm@oswaldcompanies.com