A word from the Director, Insurance

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1 1 A word from the Director, Insurance Welcome to the winter edition of the SAICORP for There has been plenty happening with some of the main activities being as follows. Most of our client agencies have now provided their annual Insurance and Risk Management Questionnaires using our new RiskConsole system. While there have been the usual teething problems associated with new systems, they have been quite minor with most client feedback being positive. SAICORP appreciates the prompt completion of questionnaires as this assists us to meet our deadlines in preparing the annual insurance premiums as well as provide us the time we need to fully prepare our underwriting information for consideration by reinsurers as part of the annual reinsurance renewal. Timely and accurate submissions by client agencies also improves the efficiency of claims processing and enables prompt finalisation of claims and associated payments. As mentioned in the last SAICORP, SAICORP s insurance broker, Aon Risk Services recently facilitated workshops with SAICORP s Underwriting team and two clients looking at their business interruption risk. The purpose of the workshops was to determine whether the clients had an adequate understanding of their business interruption risk, to quantify this risk and determine any risk management strategies. Feedback received from the workshops indicated that the clients found them useful and enabled more informed assessments of the potential impact on revenue, the extent of additional costs incurred and the amount of time involved to recover from a catastrophic event. Feature articles for this edition include: AON Risk Engineering Property Surveys Network Security & Privacy Risk Management Training SAICORP Staff Profile - Micelle van Oss Cot Safety Standard AS/NZS :2013 Darryl Bruhn (Editor) SAICORP Staffing There has been a number of recent changes to staffing with two people being welcomed by SAICORP. Lis Prosser is transferring from the Industry Assistance Contract Management section of SAFA into our claims team as a Senior Claims Officer. This movement is part of the arrangements to backfill for Jenny White while Jenny manages the Building Indemnity Insurance program. Our legal team has also seen some changes with Amanda Young coming in to replace Shaun Clough who has moved across to Public Trustee. Amanda has extensive legal experience within the South Australian Government environment and we are pleased to have secured her as Shaun s replacement. Tim Burfield Director Insurance

2 2 Property Risk Engineering Surveys Another program of property reinsurance surveys comprising 14 sites was recently undertaken by risk engineers from SAICORP s appointed insurance broker, AON. Representatives of Vero Global & Risk Managed (Vero), the lead insurer on the S.A. Government catastrophe property reinsurance program, were also present at most of the surveys due to their financial interest. The major hospitals (excluding the Royal Adelaide Hospital surveyed in 2012) were a focus of this year s program. Another new facility surveyed this year was the Rail Stabling and Maintenance yards located at Dry Creek. This facility replaces the ageing and unsightly facility located on the site where the new Royal Adelaide Hospital is being built. The need for refueling will decrease as the electrification of the rail network progresses. The new facility provides a far superior environment for maintenance and servicing of the rolling stock. Most have undergone significant redevelopment and refurbishment since last surveyed which is reflected in substantially increased asset valuations. Dry Creek Maintenance Workshop Queen Elizabeth Hospital - North East Building The second stage of the redevelopment of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital has recently been completed and includes new buildings as well as extensive refurbishment of some of the original buildings. The Lyell McEwin Hospital was included on the program for the first time and is also in the midst of a significant redevelopment. Rail stabling at Dry Creek

3 3 Network Security and Privacy SAICORP is always evaluating new and emerging risks to ensure the insurance coverage it provides to Government Departments is as comprehensive as possible. One such risk is network security and privacy. The increasing reliance of organisations on electronic data has magnified their network security and privacy risks and provided new opportunities for cyber-crime. Cyber-attacks can take many forms, including monetary theft, extortion and theft and/or destruction of data. There are also many potential sources, including organised crime groups, competitors and disgruntled employees. As well as financial losses, impacts such as reputational damage and reduced organisational capability should be considered. Risk Management Training SAICORP is providing free information sessions on Risk Management targeted at all levels of management in the S.A. Public Sector that have risk management responsibilities. Session Details Maximum of 25 participants each session. Wednesday 14th August pm to 3.30 pm Tuesday 20th August am to am Registration Please register by ing details of preferred session date and time to: Venue State Administration Centre, Level 1 Training Room, 200 Victoria Square, ADELAIDE When considering their cyber risk management, agencies should:- identify and understand the specific risk exposures they face and decide how to deal with them protect the critical information that they hold monitor their IT systems continuously for breaches of their system protection; have a tested procedure to contain, recover and learn from incidents. Network security is an enterprise wide risk and all areas of the agency need to consider the risk from their perspective. Client agencies should undertake risk assessments of their exposure to cyber-attacks and ensure that appropriate measures are in place to reduce the opportunity for successful cyber-attacks to occur. SAICORP would be happy to assist in facilitating these risk assessments. Session Summary Provides a concise overview of the Risk Management Standard ISO AS/NZS Provides a concise overview of the Government of South Australia s Risk Management Policy statement and the implications of this policy for managers in the S.A. Public Sector. Explains the key considerations for agencies when developing a risk management framework that will maximise the contribution of risk management to creating sustainable value and driving organisational performance.

4 4 Michelle van Oss, Business Analyst Michelle initially joined SAFA in 2011 to assist with the procurement and development of a new insurance system for SAICORP. Prior to joining SAFA, Michelle was the manager of the Program Management Office for the Attorney- General s Department. Michelle also provided project support for various projects including a significant corporate organisational change program called Make a Difference. After a year off for maternity leave for her first child, Michelle rejoined the SAFA project team who were now implementing the new insurance system for SAICORP. Michelle s knowledge of the insurance system requirements made her an obvious choice for the role. It also suited Michelle as it gave her the opportunity to be involved in the project right through to completion. Michelle has extensive project management experience in the areas of information technology, change management and business process improvement in a number of environments, including a period in the change and transition project team at Shared Services SA. Other project management experience has been in local government with the City of Onkaparinga implementing the Council s corporate reporting system and managing various projects to implement changes to online services and mobile computing. Michelle s experience includes two years living in London working in a variety of roles in banking and finance but mainly for Citi Bank. Of course working in London provided Michelle with the opportunity to travel and to see the world. Michelle travelled extensively throughout the UK and Europe before going on to visit Russia, Africa, South America as well as the USA and Canada. While there were many highlights, the standouts were the African safaris, trekking to Machu Picchu and skiing at Whistler in Canada. Michelle now enjoys spending time with her family she has a 19 month old daughter that keeps her entertained. Michelle enjoys walking her greyhound Coco and is in training for the City to Bay run in September. Michelle s project management skills, while honed in the workplace, are used in her personal and family life as well as when pursuing other interests including professional cake decorating. Michelle is really enjoying being back at SAFA and can be contacted on or by michelle.vanoss2@sa.gov.au for assistance and guidance with the new insurance system.

5 5 Cot Safety: Preventing Infant Suffocation During Sleep Everyone (including the American Academy of Paediatrics) talks about the need for firm mattresses to prevent infant suffocation, but no one previously defined what is firm enough. There have been four excellent international studies identifying overly soft sleep surfaces as hazardous. However, until joint committee CS-003 of Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand took an active interest in this sadly neglected issue, product designers, health promoters, and productsafety regulators had no guidance at all on what constituted a firm enough infant sleep product. Following Research & Development in South Australia, a joint standard for the minimum safe firmness of infant sleep surfaces (AS/NZS :2013) was published in April The relevant product standards committee in the United States is planning to adopt the Australia/NZ approach by the end of this year. The test developed in South Australia is essentially instantaneous. It can be readily applied in both laboratory and commercial (retail) settings. A cheap, portable apparatus of defined weight and shape is placed on the tested mattress, and the degree to which it sinks into the mattress is noted. On average, the products that fail the test present a three-fold excess risk of fatality compared with the products that pass the test. For assessment of infant sleep products at childcare and at home, an informal test has also been invented, using some common household objects. For further information, advice is now available online at: Firmness-of-an-Infant-Mattress-to-Prevent-Asphyxiation Ron Somers Director, Epidemiology SA Health and Ageing "Too soft to be safe!"