Re: Liability (Oxford) Ltd

Applications

Knowledge
Re: Liability (Oxford) Ltd undertakes research to assess the current state of scientific and legal knowledge on issues affecting liability exposure, mitigation, injury prevention, and public policy. Of particular importance is information concerning events, which may constitute a trigger in the context of an insurance policy. Areas in which we provide advice on liability include: personal injury, loss prevention, environmental issues, state of knowledge (causation, duty of care, diagnosis, prognosis, emerging liabilities etc.), policy triggers, risk management and rehabilitation.

Applications of Knowledge

Underwriting
A more complete knowledge and understanding of the risk reduces uncertainty and enables more reliable underwriting decisions to be made; benefiting both the insurer and the client.

Claims Handling
An in depth understanding of the scientific and legal issues is vital for the handling of many insurance claims. We provide advice on the implications of this knowledge for the resolution of insurance claims. We also advise on the use of rehabilitation in the management of health related liability claims.

Regulatory requirements
FSA Guidelines to insurers make specific mention of the expectation that insurers will keep up to date with emerging and changing liabilities, especially those with the potential to create significant long term impacts on financial stability. The Guidelines do not say how this is to be done but state that changes in scientific knowledge and legal standards should play a part. Inspectors will be expecting to see evidence of how this monitoring and assessment is being done in each insurance company underwriting liability business. They will want to see that company strategy is efficient in responding to these issues.

Politics
Occupational and environmental risks are managed by several government departments. Each takes its own view of the scientific evidence relating to causation, standards for the duty of care and mitigation of loss. Where their standards have an effect on liability exposure it is essential that these are understood by liability risk managers. Occasionally it is in the interests of our clients to challenge the basis of accepted legal constraints, new regulations or advisory best practice.

Sales and Marketing
Insurers and Insurance Brokers are constantly looking for ways to provide value added services to their clients. Reliability provides reports and consultancy on some of the key liability issues affecting insurers clients, enabling insurers to advise clients on ways to minimise the likelihood of loss. In addition our assessments of the changing risk environment provide the information that insurers need to identify new underwriting opportunities.

Updated: Thursday 20 November 2008 17:33