insurance and risk management perspectives available only ...€¦ · insurance and risk management...

A pandlarge recally dopandempandem

IRMI®

InsightsInsurance and Risk Management Perspectives Available Only from IRMI

Risk Management Lessonsfrom the Ebola Crisis*

Kevin M. Quinley March 2015

____________

*This article was originally published as the March 2015issue of The Risk Report.

Zombie movie fans can attest that all suchfilms start with a man in a white lab coat assur-ing the public, “Everything is under control.”While managing risks such as the zombie apoc-alypse is fanciful, the more concrete peril ofEbola evokes public health worries about theefficacy of policy responses. Nevertheless, sti-fling alarmism is no reason for risk managersto ignore the perils of major pandemics.Rather, they should spur tactics to mitigate therisk.

While Ebola and measles have recently been inthe news, other diseases and diseases and pan-demics (think influenza, avian flu, tuberculo-sis) are sure to make headlines in the future.From the narrower context of Ebola, risk man-agers must address the broader challenge ofhow to immunize their organizations from

1

What Exactly Is a

emic is an infectious disease epidemic thagion, for instance multiple countries or eve not include recurrences of seasonal flu. Thics. Tuberculosis and smallpox are two exaic as well as the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

risks occasioned by viruses, drug-resistantbacteria, and international travel enhanced byincreasing globalization.

The purpose of this article is not to fixate onEbola exclusively, but rather to mine theevents of recent months regarding that virusand extract from it crisis “nuggets” and riskmanagement tactics that professionals candraw on to address the broader issue of pan-demics in the twenty-first century.

Pandemic Risks

Pandemic risk to companies has morphedfrom being a “Black Swan” event to a real-life

“Pandemic”?

t spreads through human populations across an worldwide. Flu pandemics, for example, typi-roughout history, there have been a number ofmples. More recent pandemics include the HIV

https://www.irmi.com/products/the-risk-report

IRMI® Insights Risk Management Lessons from the Ebola Crisis

scenario. Following is a brief survey of whereEbola-type, pandemic risks may surface inboth casualty and property insurance con-texts.

Workers Compensation Exposures

Any entity whose employees are exposed tothe Ebola virus while in the course of employ-ment risks occupational disease claims. Promi-nent exposures arise in health care. Nursesand physicians treating patients risk contract-ing disease.

Any employee who travels on business andwho, in the course of that travel, becomesinfected with the virus and shows symptoms,has a viable workers compensation claim foroccupational disease arising out of and in thecourse of employment. For example, anyemployee whose business travel includestraveling to or from West Africa is at risk.Simply being on the same plane with a pas-senger originating from West Africa canexpose a fellow passenger to the risk of Ebolainfection.

According to Christopher Flat, ManagingDirector of Marsh’s Workers CompensationCenter for Excellence, “If something is con-tracted in the course and scope of employ-ment, and it’s particular to their industry, it’slikely that there would be workers comp cov-erage.”1 (This does not equate to expectinginsurance to always cover this exposure, as wewill explore later.)

1“Health Care Professionals Learned Valuable Safety Les-sons from Ebola Cases,” Business Insurance, 1/5/15, p.20.

2

Employment Practices Liability

In the zeal to thwart a pandemic’s spread,many companies may enact employment poli-cies and practices that can provoke claimswhich employment practices liability insur-ance may cover. For example, nurses subjectto mandatory quarantines after treatingEbola patients in West Africa complainedabout strict policies that made them feel likecriminals and prisoners. New Jersey nurseKaci Hickox was placed in quarantine for 21days, despite testing negative twice for Ebola.(New Jersey officials later released her aftercriticism of the action and later—under pres-sure and negative publicity—rescinded thequarantine.)

Disease-driven paranoia may prompt well-intentioned employers to enact measuresviewed by some as overreaching. Employersmust balance workforce health with individualrights. If that balance teeters excessivelytoward workforce health, aggrieved employ-ees may sue for discrimination, harassment,and hostile work environment.

Ironically, imposing quarantines may deterhealthcare workers from volunteering totreat those infected with a disease, furtheringthe spread of the disease and diluting thefight against it. Other businesses withemployees returning from work or personaltrips from infected areas may also receivespecial treatment, which employees couldview as heavy-handed or discriminatory.Whether the employers have employmentpractices liability insurance, legal exposuresexist. Thus, pandemics create potentialemployment practice liability claims, whichmay or may not be covered by a company’sinsurance.

IRMI® InsightsRisk Management Lessons from the Ebola Crisis

General Liability

Disease-related claims could assert variouslegal liability theories and trigger potentialcoverage under commercial general liability(CGL) policies. Target defendants might behospitals, common carriers, or businessesthat fail to take reasonable precautions toprevent a pandemic’s spread. Business sec-tors particularly vulnerable to such claimsinclude hospitality, healthcare, agricultural,mining, and energy companies. Travel compa-nies and firms that provide entertainment forsporting events face exposure. Any organiza-tion (e.g., RIMS) that manages events whichhost large numbers of people has a significantexposure.

Visitors to a premises who contract a diseasedue to lax procedures by that premises owner,operator, or manager are candidate plaintiffsfor general liability claims. Even if such claimslack legal foundation, and companies success-fully deny them, firms pay a cost in time andlegal fees.

Product Liability

Nature abhors a vacuum. Medical crises inviteplayers in the healthcare arena to developproducts that prevent or treat viruses. Amongpharmaceutical firms, the race is on to developmedicine to prevent or cure a disease or palli-ate its symptoms. The company that is first tomarket such a product will be able to com-mand a premium price and establish itself as aleader in that niche.

However, companies may overreach inclaims regarding what their medical deviceor medication may accomplish. To speedproducts to market, firms may compress clin-

3

ical trials or try to accelerate approvals.While some patients may benefit from newlydeveloped products to treat pandemics,many medications have side effects. Patientssuffering adverse symptoms may file productliability suits. Product liability claims mayallege failure to warn, defective design,defective manufacturing, or some combina-tion of the three.

The plaintiff’s bar monitors adverse eventreports as a weather vane pointing to newpockets of product liability litigation. Personalinjury groups can quickly coalesce into spe-cialty practice areas revolving around a spe-cific medical device or drug. Any producttouted as a disease preventative or cure mayinvite litigation.

Medical Professional Liability

Physicians who fail to diagnose a disease or failto take reasonable steps to thwart the spreadof the disease expose themselves to medicalmalpractice claims. A Texas hospital treatingone of the first patients sent a patient homeeven though the patient was Ebola infected.Hasty, erroneous medical judgments that leadto disease progression render physicians, hos-pitals, and other healthcare workers vulnera-ble to malpractice claims. Plaintiffs will arguethat medical professionals breached the stan-dard of care in diagnosing and/or treatingpatients infected with a disease.

Directors and Officers (D&O) Liability

Company directors and officers must look outfor the interests of the organization. While exe-cution is a management role, directors and offi-cers set the course and direction. They are tothink strategically, to embrace longer planning


horizons than operating management. If a com-pany fails to prepare for pandemic threats andsuffers financial loss, one can expect D&O suits.

If a company’s financial position degrades, orits stock price drops due to lapses in curtailinga disease, derivative shareholder suits mayconfront directors and officers. One theory ofliability would be that a company’s directorsand officers failed to exercise reasonable busi-ness judgment in forging a plan to thwart pan-demics or failing to task management withexecuting strategies to address such uncer-tainty.

Business Interruption

Business interruption losses can arise, evenwithout physical damage to property—arequirement of business interruption insur-ance. This spotlights the importance of contin-gency planning. Companies also face significantfinancial loss from business interruption due topandemics. For example, Texas HealthResources saw its financial performance take ahit after September 2014 problems in managingEbola cases. Its flagship facility, Texas HealthPresbyterian Hospital in Dallas, incorrectlydiagnosed its first Ebola patient after his initialemergency room visit. Some quipped that itwent from being the Neiman-Marcus of hospi-tals to being the Sears-Roebuck of facilities.

Publicity punished the company’s finances.Emergency room visits dropped by over 50percent. Net revenue plummeted by over $8million.2 Patients spooked by the hospital’shandling of Ebola made them bypass a oncesought-after healthcare destination and

2“Presbyterian Details Losses in Crisis,” The Dallas Morn-ing News, 10/23/14, pp. 1A and 12A.

4

eroded the institution’s financial health. Riskmanagers should not assume, however, thatbusiness interruption risks from pandemicsare confined to hospitals or even the health-care sector.

One clear risk management lesson of Ebola isto shore up a company’s immunity to businessinterruption due to disease. Ebola interruptedthe business plans of many companies. Forexample, ArcelorMittal S.A. shelved a $1.7 bil-lion project that it had planned at a Liberianiron ore mine. London Mining, PLC, one of thelargest investors in Sierra Leone, sought bank-ruptcy protection in October 2014 after plum-meting iron ore prices and Ebola worriesundercut its ability to attract needed financing.Rio Tinto, PLC, ceased work on a $20 billioniron ore mine in Guinea, since it was located inan area affected by the virus.3

Pandemic risk even impact internationalsports. In November 2014, Morocco backedout of hosting the 2015 African Cup of Nationssoccer tournament due to concerns overEbola. Event organizers scrambled to find anew host.

Many companies, particularly in the manufac-turing sector, rely on other firms for labor ormaterials to bring goods to market. If key sup-pliers of labor, materials, or outsourced pro-duction face business interruptions due topandemics, this would cripple a company’sability to sustain operations. This creates acontingent business interruption risk by virtueof breaking the supply chain. One lesson fromthe Ebola scare is that business continuityplans are a “must.” Every business needs a

3“Mining Projects Take Hit From Ebola Crisis,” Wall StreetJournal, 11/19/14, p. B1.


plan for continuing operations if employeesare unable, unwilling, or prohibited from goingto the workplace.

Perhaps key employees needed for outsourcedproduction are incapacitated due to a spread-ing disease. Scenarios abound. A precautionaryquarantine of workers who are asymptomaticcould diminish production of key raw materi-als. Government action shuts down a key sup-plier of goods, raw materials, or outsourcedoperations. Any such scenario can disrupt acompany’s supply chain and crimp its ability tomeet consumer demand. This can hurt reve-nues, profits, and—for public companies—candeflate stock prices.

Accordingly, organizations developing pan-demic-related risk management plans mustconsider not only their own preparedness, butthe readiness of key business partners tothwart the disease and sustain operations.Otherwise, interdependencies between therisk manager’s company and key businesspartners can have a domino effect in interrupt-ing business continuity.

Reputational Risks

Modern pandemics can also heighten reputa-tional risk. How a company or an entityresponds to a fast-spreading disease canimpact its reputation, which has a ripple effecton customer confidence, market standing, andshare price. Entities want to build and main-tain platinum reputations and to have in placesound preparedness plans.

For example, some hospital administrators feltconflicted about being specially equipped totreat Ebola patients. The stigma of being “anEbola hospital” can prompt patients to cancel

5

procedures or seek treatment elsewhere. Ofthe roughly 5,000 hospitals in the UnitedStates, dozens have offered to treat Ebolapatients. This includes, but is not limited to,hospitals near five international airports.Healthcare facilities draw sobering lessonsfrom the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital,whose bottom line deflated in October 2014,during which its emergency room closed for 9days, emergency room visits plunged, and netrevenue plummeted.4

For many organizations, its good reputation iseverything—once lost, it cannot be regained.Thus, another lesson from the Ebola scare,therefore, is that the media can turn any unfor-tunate event into a far worse crisis that itwould otherwise be. A well-conceived mediaresponse plan and training of spokespeoplebefore a crisis hits are wise investmentsindeed.

Pandemic Risks and Enterprise Opportunities

Companies establishing themselves early in themarket of new disease diagnostics can com-mand a favorable revenue stream and maxi-mize profit. In an enterprise risk managementcontext, new risks can create positive opportu-nities. For example, Ebola already spikeddemand and business in certain economic sec-tors, particularly for personal protective equip-ment.5 So-called medical moon suits have beenin short supply, to the point where purchasesfrom U.S. buyers have crimped the availabilityof such equipment for African nations. Manu-

4“Hospitals in the U.S. Fear Association with Ebola,” WallStreet Journal, 11/29/14, p. A1.

5“U.S. Buys Up Ebola Gear, Leaving Little for Africa,” WallStreet Journal, 11/25/14, p. A1.


facturers of personal protective gear havestrained to meet unexpected demand. The abil-ity of industrialized Western nations to buy theequipment has siphoned supplies from areaswith higher risks, accentuating Africa’s suscep-tibility to contagion.

The Chinese kanji symbol for danger also rep-resents opportunity. Enterprise risk manage-ment urges companies to consider not only thecosts of risk but also its opportunities. In likecontext, the emergence of new viruses and dis-eases—while, on balance, negative phenom-ena—creates opportunities, particularly forlife science firms.

For example, multiple companies are racing todevelop a quick diagnostic test for Ebola. Thisincludes: BioFire Defense, Corgenix Medical(portable test that delivers results in 10 min-utes), Chembio Diagnostics Systems, Inte-grated BioTherapeutics, and Genalyte. Some ofthese are point-of-care tests using reagents.Others use blood drawn by a finger stick. Othersdeploy a silicon chip to test a drop of blood witha pinprick.6 Lakeland Industries, based in LongIsland, saw its sale of hazmat-type protectivesuits jump over 400 percent after Ebolaemerged in the fall of 2014. Johnson & Johnsonand GlaxoSmithKline are racing to developEbola vaccines. Simultaneously, Takeda Phar-maceuticals and Mapp Biopharmaceutical areworking to develop Ebola cures.

The challenge of developing products to meetpandemic challenges already attracts somestartup companies. For example, ColumbiaUniversity biomedical engineering majorsdeveloped new protective suits to keep health-

6“Racing to Create a Fast Ebola Test,” Wall Street Journal,11/6/14, p. B8.

6

care workers from overheating. Near Wash-ington, DC, a startup known as Qore Perfor-mance has adapted cooling packs for athletesto fit into medical protective suits. Anotherstartup company, Inspire Living, is developinga watch-like device to use with protectivesuits. When the device is placed in a patient’sthorax, it can quickly measure vital signs.These examples illustrate the fact that newrisks create new opportunities for companiesembracing an enterprise perspective on riskmanagement.

Aethlon Medical has produced a specificallydesigned cartridge that attaches to dialysismachines. The cartridge’s filter actuallyattracts Ebola viruses and filters them fromthe blood as it flows through.

Emerging pandemics also drive a demand forpharmaceuticals that counteract the ailments.Many drug companies are working to developEbola-resistant antibiotics. In early stages ofpublic awareness of Ebola in the United States,sales of hazmat suits spiked. Along with legiti-mate drugs, nutritional supplement companiestried to exploit Ebola phobia. For example, adiet supplement firm marketed an “Ebola-C”pill, implying its effectiveness in combating thedisease through vitamin C. (Little to no medicalevidence, however, supports the notion thatvitamin C megadoses prevent or cure Ebola.)

New threats create markets for new products.This underscores the fact that, from an enter-prise standpoint, risk brings not only potentialloss but potential gain.

Insurance Coverage Issues

Pandemic-related claims may give rise toinsurance coverage disputes. Following are


some exclusionary provisions that insurerscould cite in denying coverage.

Pollution Exclusion

Insurance companies may contest coverage fordisease claims based on pollution exclusionsfound in liability and property policies. Thismay be a dicey coverage defense, inasmuch asit may be a strained interpretation to allegethat a virus constitutes pollution.

Communicable Disease Exclusion

A standard exclusion of liability arising out ofthe transmission of a communicable disease—Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), form CG21 32—is commonly attached to the generalliability policies of insureds that face the expo-sure. It was developed in response to theemergence of avian flu, severe acute respira-tory syndrome (SARS), and rotaviruses as pub-lic health threats, but would apply to claimsinvolving the Ebola virus as well. For policiesthat include this endorsement, insurers wouldhave grounds to contest claims for liabilitystemming from causing actual transmission ofthe disease, hiring and supervising of employ-ees, testing for disease, failing to prevent thespread of the disease, and failure to report thedisease to authorities.

Virus or Bacteria Exclusion

Many commercial property policies contain anexclusion of loss due to virus or bacteria. Forexample, the ISO commercial property endorse-ment CP 01 40, which is in use in a majority ofjurisdictions, excludes loss or damage resultingfrom “any virus, bacterium, or other microor-ganism that induces or is capable of inducingphysical distress, illness, or disease.”

7

Insurers confronted with either direct damageclaims (such as for destruction of property dueto contamination) or business interruptionclaims (whether resulting from contaminationof insured property or not) would likely raisethis exclusion as a defense.

Direct Physical Damage Requirement

Commercial property policies require physicaldamage to insured property for business inter-ruption coverage to apply. Insurance compa-nies facing business interruption or contingentbusiness interruption claims may assert thatthere is no coverage because the insuringagreement requires direct physical damage tocovered property. For example, if a contagionarises within a workforce, causing an interrup-tion in operations or a breakdown at a keysupplier for a business partner, insurers mayargue that such loss is excluded because it wasnot the result of direct physical damage to theinsured property.

“Occurrence of Injury” Controversies

Insurers facing liability claims due to emerg-ing diseases may disclaim coverage orreserve rights based on the uncertainty as tothe time when injury occurred. This wouldarise most often in cases where it is unclearwhen a disease-related exposure occurred.What is the date of loss or accident? Is it thedate of exposure? Pinpointing this may betough. Is it the date symptoms first mani-fested? Is it a continuous trigger? If thesedates straddle different insurance policy peri-ods, with either different insurance compa-nies or differing insurance structures (forexample, differing limits of liability, differentself-insured retentions, etc.), such issuescould spawn coverage litigation.


Bodily Injury Exclusion

D&O forms are universally written with bodilyinjury exclusions because D&O liability cover-age is intended to cover only financial lossarising from managerial decisions. Usually,this exclusion precludes coverage “… forbodily injury…,” meaning “direct” bodily injuryonly. However, in some policies, this exclusionprecludes coverage for claims that “... arise outof or are in any way related to bodily injury.”This latter version of the bodily injury exclu-sion could, for example, be used by an insurerto deny coverage for a situation where it isalleged that the failure of a publicly tradedhospital’s directors and officers to contain thespread of an Ebola outbreak caused the com-pany’s stock to plummet.

Insurance Market Responses

The reaction to the Ebola crisis teaches us thatthe insurance market will react warily to pro-viding financial protection for disease-relatedclaims. For example, in October 2014, ACEannounced that it might exclude Ebola fromgeneral liability policies. Commercial generalliability policies are likely to contain suchexclusions. Risk managers placing or renewinggeneral liability coverage should carefullyreview such policies to spot disease-relatedexclusions. Such reticence by insurers is notsurprising. Until insurers fully understand thescope of the problem, it is impossible for themto rationally rate for potential liabilities.

By contrast, health threats in the form of pan-demics create new opportunities for insurancecompanies as well. This links to the notion ofenterprise risk, wherein twenty-first centuryrisk managers look not only at potential draw-backs from new risks but new opportunities.

8

Certainly executives at insurance companieshave an opportunity to view pandemics aschances to develop new insurance products orendorsements. However, the default mode willlikely be one of exclusion until insurers assem-ble more data.

Insurers avoid risks they cannot rationally ratefor or quantify. The universe of data on Ebolaand other emergent diseases is likely too smallor embryonic to enable underwriters to pricesuch coverage. Until then, underwriters’modus operandi will likely be to exclude Ebolafrom coverage. The moral: be aware of suchexclusions and—if pandemic risk is a concernfor the company—try to negotiate removal ofsuch exclusions.

Pandemic Loss ControlStrategies

Ebola’s high average mortality rate (around 70percent) obscures the fact that it is relativelyineffective at spreading in controlled environ-ments, if patient contacts are minimized.Therein lies one key to loss control for pan-demic risks. Loss control measures includetemperature checks on employees and visi-tors, providing hand sanitizers at key check-points, avoiding unnecessary company traveland meetings, and utilizing email and telecon-ferencing to replace traditional meeting prac-tices. Other tactics include the following.

➤ Create organizational awareness throughmultiple media: announcements, emails,and text messages to employees, meet-ings, company intranets, etc. Invest inprevention through workforce education.

➤ Implement mandatory “clearance” proce-dures for employees, vendors, and busi-


ness partners who have travelled in af-fected regions. Once a companydiscovers an infected employee, the chal-lenge switches to tracing possible contact.(The latter may be more of a governmentthan private business responsibility.)

➤ Reinforce basic hygiene practices, such ashand washing, by employees.

➤ Establish an infection monitoring team.This group should be the focal point forcreating staff and customer awareness.Organizations may also install help linesfor staff who are concerned or needhelp. Additionally, companies and otherorganizations may consider travel re-strictions for staff, opting increasinglyfor teleconferencing and tools such asSkype.

➤ On a “micro” basis, loss control includesupdated training and checking for per-sonal protective equipment and cleaningsupplies for custodians, receptionists,and salespeople who have daily contactand interaction with a wide range of oth-ers.

One impediment for risk managers to over-come is the organizational or corporate per-spective that, “It can’t happen here.” Riskmanagers should be proactive, identifyingcontact points, vectors, or disease pathwaysthat they can block. This is an interdisciplin-ary role, drawing from occupational healthand human resource specialists. The riskmanager’s role includes making sure that thecompany has pandemic plans in place, thatthey are kept current, and that they are wellknown and understood by company employ-ees.

9

Future Contagions: The Broader Challenge

As menacing as Ebola appears, perspective forrisk managers remains important. Obesity andalcoholism—just to name two conditions—injure and kill more people per year thenEbola. In stratifying a hierarchy of risk, manag-ers must temper concern with a reticence tochase “The Next Big Thing” blaring from over-hyped media coverage. As of November 2014,more Americans had married a Kardashianthan had died from Ebola.

In the spectrum of risk management needs,company management must ask itself, “Whatpriority do we assign a particular disease asa risk for us to manage?” Any risk managerhas finite resources of time, budget, andattention span. Bandwidth must be intelli-gently parceled amid an ever-widening arrayof crises, problems, and priorities. Risk man-agers pondering Ebola must peek over thehorizon, beyond today’s headlines and“breaking news” flashes, peering beyond theimmediate threat. Microsoft’s Bill Gates sug-gests that society must look at the broaderissue of preparedness for other pandemicsand disease threats. He asks rhetorically,“What’s to stop some form of SARS or SARS IIshowing up?”7

The broader issue is that of organizationsbeing prepared for illness and disease. Accord-ing to Laurie Laudano, Network Safety Officerwith Seton Healthcare Family (Austin, Texas),“There’s going to be some type of emerginginfectious disease on the horizon. It may not beEbola, it may be something else … and we just

7“Bill Gates Says Crisis Provides Lessons,” Wall Street Jour-nal, 11/4/14, p. A7.


What’s Next?

Even when Ebola is under control, risk managers must look over the horizon, taking a broader per-spective on future pathogenic risks. Here are four candidates:

➤ Drug-resistant tuberculosis. In 2013, 1.5 million people died of the disease.

➤ Chikungunya—a mosquito-transmitted virus, first detected in Tanzania, reached the Caribbean in 2013 and was found in Florida in the summer of 2014.

➤ Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), likened to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), 325 patients have died out of the near 900 confirmed cases.

➤ Avian flu—his new strain of flu virus was reported by China in 2012 and carries higher mortality rates than other flu variants.

always need to stay prepared.”8 Whether thedanger is Ebola, tuberculosis, avian flu, or Mid-dle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), pre-vention and containment are core strategiesfor risk managers to implement.

Risk managers must stratify threats amid anarray of competing concerns, prioritizingaccording to the individualized needs and con-cerns of their respective organizations. Eachpractitioner must assess whether pandemicpreparedness merits top-shelf or peripheralattention. After all, there is much to worryabout. Global warming could cause sea levelsto rise, damaging property and threateningbusiness continuity. Solar flares could disruptcommunications. Global destabilization couldcause a rogue state or terrorist to detonate anuke, generating an electromagnetic pulse thatsends civilization back to the nineteenth cen-tury. Large near-earth objects could strike theplanet, as one did millions of years ago, trig-gering a new Ice Age.

8“Health Care Professionals Learned Valuable Safety Les-sons From Ebola Cases,” Business Insurance, 1/5/15, p.20.

10

A thin line separates risk managers from beingproactive to being so “out there” that top exec-utives perceive them as wearing the risk man-agement equivalent of a tinfoil hat. Thus, riskmanagers must weigh not only possibilities,but the temperature of their managementteams to determine how receptive they are toforward thinking. They will win no credibilitypoints with upper management and the boardif the latter perceive them as twitching fromrisk to risk, depending on the day’s headlinesor media hysteria du jour, exhibiting the riskmanagement equivalent of attention deficithyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Risk managersmust walk a tightrope between proactivity andalarmism, deciding where in the hierarchy ofrisks facing the company they position emer-gent diseases.

Richard Preston’s 1994 nonfiction thriller, TheHot Zone, tells a riveting tale of what—at thetime—was an unknown and terrifying disease.Few people had heard of Ebola 21 years agowhen the book hit the best-seller list. Fast-for-ward to 2015, and the disease has morphedinto a peril on the radar screens of risk manag-


ers worldwide. The good news is that a toolboxof tactics is available for risk managers in

11

* * *

Kevin M. Quinley, CPCU, ARM, AIC, AIM, ARe, RPAQuinley Risk Associates LLCwww.kevinquinley.com

Kevin M. Quinley is the principal of Quinley Risk Assbooks, including Litigation Management, published bversity and his M.A. degree is from the College of Wwide and often serves as an expert on issues relatedagement, and good faith claims handling. Mr. [email protected].

This publication does not give legal accounting, or other professional adtant, or other qualified adviser.

Copyright 2015. All RInternational Risk Manag

12222 Merit Drive, Suite 1600 • Dallas, TX 7

attacking the broader problem of pandemics inthe twenty-first century.

* *

ociates LLC. He has written 700+ articles and 10y IRMI. His B.A. degree is from Wake Forest Uni-illiam & Mary. He consults with clients nation-

to claims process improvement, litigation man-y can be reached at www.kevinquinley.com or at

vice. If such advice is needed, consult with your attorney, accoun-

ights Reserved.ement Institute, Inc.

5251 • (972) 960–7693 • www.IRMI.com

http://www.irmi.com

IRMI.com/RiskReport

https://www.irmi.com/RiskReport

insurance and risk management perspectives available only ...€¦ · insurance and risk management...

Documents