Business Insurance recently hosted a free webinar on protecting people in the age of terrorism. The panel of experts discussed business continuity and recovery plans, communication and chain of command, disaster drills and evacuation plans, partnering with local public agencies, and assessing risks and hazards pertinent to one's business, among other things. Interestingly, approximately 75% of the attendees at the webinar indicated that their companies had business continuity plans and corporate communication systems in place for emergencies.

Some noteworthy points made at the webinar:

• Unlike other insurance lines, exclusion for or limitation of terrorism losses in the workers' compensation insurance line is not permitted by any state; therefore, workers' compensation insurers are vulnerable because of the compulsory nature of workers' compensation coverage in the event of a terrorist attack.
• In the event of a catastrophic loss due to a terrorist attack, employers need answers quickly; therefore, it's best that they know the answers to certain workers' compensation issues before an event occurs, e.g., who is going to respond with payments for medical costs and lost wages, what is considered the "workplace", what is "in the course of employment", do deductibles and retentions apply per event or per injured worker, do agreements on other lines of insurance have an impact on workers' compensation issues, will workers' comp and employers' liability policies cover employee injuries resulting from a terrorist attack, will there be enough limits to pay for all the claims, are limits an issue for self-insured employers, etc.
• Some employers are monitoring employees that are traveling by using iJET, which is an intelligence risk system to monitor risks as they occur. See http://www.ijet.com/index.asp
• 90 percent of Marsh's clients that purchased terrorism coverage did so as part of the property policies rather than a stand-alone coverage.
• As workers' compensation coverage is escalating, more businesses and entities are considering risk retention options.

For more information on this Business Insurance webinar, go to http://www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/page.pl?pageId=229