Survey finds gap between employment practice liability coverage and events

Only 22% of 769 North American companies surveyed had employment practice liability policies, even though 34% of firms experienced and 25% expected to face in the future a management liability event, a Chubb survey found.The ‘2007 Chubb Private Company Risk Survey’ canvassed 300 private companies in Canada and 469 in the U.S. on:the frequency and costs of management liability events; the risks companies anticipate encountering over the next year; the insurance policies and company risk management practices in place to guard against management liability risks; and why companies do or do not have risk mitigation policies in place.Up to 31% of companies surveyed believed their exposure to management liability risks is low or zero, Chubb found. And 26% mistakenly believed that the risks are already covered in an existing policy.The number of Canadian companies (34%) that reported facing greater litigation incidents was greater than their U.S. counterparts (24%), the survey found.When it came to cyber-theft risks, the purchase rates for insurance and frequency of events between Canadian and U.S. companies was largely parallel, but the average cyber-theft loss in Canada was $202,600, four times the average U.S. loss of $50,457.