While terrorism still tops the list of global concerns for risk managers of multinational organizations, other pressing worries--including natural disasters, an aging workforce, workers' compensation across U.S. borders and the lack of timely guidance advice from brokers--vie for their attention.

"Global security is an obvious concern for business--particularly for U.S. companies operating abroad," said Bradley Wood, senior vice president of risk management with Marriott International Inc. in Bethesda, Md.

Although he declined to go into detail about specific strategies used to combat terrorism, Mr. Wood said his company employs a "turn the back porch light on" approach. "Our objective is to be the hardest target among softer targets so the bad guys go elsewhere," he said.

This is coupled with efforts to forge closer relationships with local and national authorities with respect to the company's preparedness plan, he said, noting that "there are a lot of elements that can be dealt with, and they vary by country and specific hotels."

With locations in about 70 countries, he said, "you can't lose sight of day-to-day safety and security that is provided to guests. There is an expectation on the part of the traveling public today that hotels offer a reasonable amount of security."

Mr. Wood acknowledged that providing security has become increasingly difficult in today's environment--and not just because of terrorism exposures.

"One of the things we learned out of [Hurricane] Katrina is that business can't solely rely on the public sector," he said, adding that as a result, "the private sector has to take a step upward and work more closely with local and national authorities to develop plans that are workable and can stand the test of time."

While many associate Hurricane Katrina with a wind and flood event, "for residents and businesses down there, there's a heavy security element."

Basic evacuation planning, he said, is one of the key elements toward protecting guests, "and when you have a breakdown in the public sector, it becomes more difficult to safely evacuate people. So you have to think more about the preparedness aspect so businesses and the public sector are working in harmony."

Since natural catastrophes don't discriminate according to national borders, for global companies, achieving economy of scale "through larger blanket insurance programs is becoming more difficult, as bigger is no longer seen as better in the insurance market."

Mr. Wood said that loss mitigation efforts have become more critical than ever to distinguish a company as being best-in-class. "That, coupled with building long-term relationships with your underwriters, will greatly improve the likelihood of garnering the capacity that's necessary in today's times," he said.

Mr. Wood added that loss mitigation goes beyond contingency planning to wind mitigation efforts. "A lot can be done around anchoring roof systems, around the integrity of the windows and frames, and around the type of landscaping that is used to mitigate debris so you don't have any objects that could cause damage to a building," he explained.

He said risk managers can take steps to help mitigate wind exposure. "In today's times, where the market has shifted a lot of responsibility to policyholders--via large deductibles and retentions and higher costs--those efforts are payback to most policyholders," he said.

Mr. Wood noted that an evolution has been taking place, with insurers becoming more sophisticated in wind mitigation.

"Developing good partnerships with wind engineering teams of your major insurers is something that is successful," he said. However, since not all carriers offer such services or under the same terms, he noted, partnering with the right insurer "can get you there."

State and county authorities, he added, have come up with plans for wind engineering in many jurisdictions, particularly in Florida. The most well known, he added, are Dade County, Fla. standards, which he said are "universally accepted as a target for businesses to achieve. What you're trying to do is protect the envelope of the building and mitigate penetration from water."

Beyond terrorism and natural catastrophes, however, Mr. Wood said that another growing concern internationally is the aging workforce. "This transcends boundaries," he said, noting that the dramatic growth of workers over 50 has challenged employers significantly with productivity, lost time, financial insecurity and employee relations.

"It's clear that older workers have fewer workplace injuries than younger workers, but the average cost of their injuries is significantly higher," he said.

While older workers are "extremely valued and needed in today's workforce," he said employers and employees need to work together to overcome some of the challenges. For example, some work being performed "may need to be redesigned for the older worker," he said. "I think you're going to hear more about this--it's not a U.S. phenomenon, it's global. And the demand for talent and workers is clearly an issue. It's a creeping exposure."

With globalization on the rise, other exposures beyond U.S. borders are also emerging in importance, noted Greg Dodd, risk manager of Perot Systems Corp., an information technology services company based in Plano, Texas (started by Ross Perot, but no longer owned by the former presidential candidate).

Like many other companies, "we are expanding slowly into several other countries--largely for offshore operations," said Mr. Dodd, who noted that one-quarter of the company's revenue is generated outside the United States.

The company's biggest operations outside the country are in India, "through an acquisition several years ago," he said. The company has about 6,000 employees in India and is looking to expand into Eastern Europe, China, the Philippines, as well as Central and South America for a combination of call centers and on-site IT support for clients, he noted.

Mr. Dodd said that although the company has a globally controlled insurance program, he would like more upfront information from his broker "when we're getting ready to buy-up or start-up an operation in a country, or tag onto a client that's already in the country."

"My hot button is on the early end," he said. "It's being able to get guidance and initial information and implementations as to what should be done, what needs to be done, who are the right people to do it, and when is the right time to do it--for insurance in the country."

He also would like more upfront information on "what admitted insurance is needed in the country, how to dovetail it with a controlled master program, and when do we need to buy it." Also important is not inundating "our people there with sales blitzes that they don't want to be handling at that time."

The challenge when entering a new national market is that "there is not much money for the broker or the insurer at that phase." From their standpoint, "in the short-run and even in the first couple of years, there is not going to be much compensation for them," he said. "So we have to figure out a way to pay them a fair amount for that time and effort."

While the company's broker has been responsive, he said, "it seems to take a little more effort and propulsion on my end than I might like. I don't think our broker is better or worse than others, but this is just something that a risk manager has to be aware of and take some steps to address."

Mary Lynn (Mel) Bangs, director of risk management with Omni Hotels Corp. in Irving, Texas, as well as vice chair of the conference programming committee for the Risk and Insurance Management Society, said her primary concern with a property located in Canada is workers' comp.

Canada is "very similar to the U.S.," she said. "The only thing that makes it different is that the workers' compensation is handled completely separate because of the territorial programs."

As a result, she said, from a U.S. perspective, "it's hard to get your arms around it because you can't apply incentives in Canada the way you can in the U.S."

In the United States, she said, losses are charged back, "and we can really get our operations to focus on safety. It's harder to do that in Canada because you have no control over the costs related to workers' comp."

While keeping costs down has an effect in Canada, "it's not an immediate effect like you see in the U.S. It's a lot easier to say, 'if your claims happen, you'll get charged for them,' versus, 'if your claims don't happen, your premium will go down in two or three years,'" she added.

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