School Violence Begets Insurers' RM Programs

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting massacre, two insurers and an insurance brokerage have announced programs to deal with such situations.

The firms are offering risk management services to deal with the aftermath of an incident. Darwin Professional Underwriters Inc., based in Farmington, Conn., Hawkeye-Security Insurance, a member of Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group, and insurance broker Willis Group Holdings in New York announced programs primarily focusing on kindergarten through 12th grade.

Hawkeye-Security and Willis are offering risk management services, and the two insurers are offering underwriting programs as well to cover costs after an event.

Christopher Goetcheus, a spokesman for Liberty Mutual Agency Markets, told National Underwriter that Hawkeye-Security program was adopted from Indiana Insurance, also a Liberty Mutual subsidiary.

He said Indiana Insurance has been conducting best practices seminars on school safety for a few years now. The Indiana program, offered in six states (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee), offers a safer school seminar that includes "Childhelp's Good Touch-Bad Touch" to address sexual harassment issues, "Safe Havens International" to help schools develop crisis plans, and "Safe Hiring Solutions," a drug screening and employee background check program.

Hawkeye-Security Insurance is offering the programs in six states: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin (private schools) and Missouri (pending regulatory approval). The program is also offering insurance coverage for response, expense and loss from a violent event with aggregate limits of $300,000 with optional limits of $500,000 and $1 million.

Mr. Goetcheus said other subsidiaries within Liberty Mutual are "looking at these models to potentially bolster their school programs."

Darwin Professional is offering school violence crisis management coverage as an "optional enhancement" to its educators professional liability policy.

If there is an act of violence, the policy pays for crisis management expenses, including public relations, for both the insured representatives and the victim's family as well as for post-event costs.

It is available to a range of public and private institutions including colleges and universities. All institutions must have an emergency response plan, but the plans are not approved or controlled by Darwin.

The program is distributed through the company's exclusive program administrator, Professional Governmental Underwriters Inc., a managing general underwriter based in Richmond, Va.

Ned Daly, vice president, underwriting, for Professional Governmental, said the program was introduced in response to customer inquiries after the violence on the Blacksburg, Va., campus of Virginia Tech in April that took the lives of 32 people.

The program will be limited to the insurers' appetite for small to medium size institutions, said Mr. Daly, and pricing is based on the number of students and employees involved. He emphasized that this is not a stand-alone product but can be added to existing professional liability programs with the insurer.

Willis also said today that it is offering a security risk management program for public school districts grades K-12. The program helps districts improve their response to a violent crisis and examines the potential costs involved in the aftermath of an event.