How HDI Risk Consulting is rising to the challenge of Coronavirus

In times of crisis, HDI Risk Consulting (HRC) is ready and able to support clients across the globe with their risk management needs.

It is often said that it takes a crisis for true change to come about and the change brought on by the coronavirus pandemic is no exception to that statement. At HDI Global SE (HDI), we have mobilised quickly to understand how technological innovations and tools can support our clients to safeguard the wellbeing of their companies and people, whilst continuing to marry this with the personalised touch our teams are renowned for.

Our HRC colleagues work hand-in-hand with our underwriters, clients and brokers to understand the needs and requirements in any given scenario. The importance of this relationship is demonstrated by the high take up of additional risk consulting services by clients who already rely on us for our specialised insurance coverage.

As the Covid-19 pandemic has evolved, we too have had to change the way this hand-in-hand approach manifests in a time when close proximity and movement is restricted. Our updated approach to remotely surveying client’s sites is already proving advantageous and is enabling us to continue servicing client’s needs despite the current restrictions.

Our new approach sees our risk engineers working with risk managers to complete a series of desktop exercises to add as much context to each case as possible. We do this by first taking the time to review the latest survey we have on file and sending a bespoke Remote Survey Plan questionnaire to site to complete ahead of the survey. This ensures that risk engineers have the necessary information, data and context ahead of completing the survey and our clients time is prioritised on exploring and understanding the more complex areas of their sites.

Clients are already benefiting from this new approach, which has allowed HRC to continue providing loss prevention engineering services during these challenging times. We have already trialled the new approach with a key client in Coca-Cola European Partners PLC (CCEP).

Matthew McEwan, Risk Manager at CCEP, had this to say about our new approach: “Every crisis should drive opportunities for innovation and new thinking. This mantra has been embraced by our HDI Account Engineer, Balvinder Singh Sohi, having recognised key challenges and limitations around conducting physical risk surveys, the continued need for dialogue and engagement with our facilities to address Risk Engineering/Loss Control matters, resulting in the formulation of Virtual Risk Surveys. This initiative has already been put to use in multiple sites across Belgium and Iceland with great feedback, levels of engagement and opportunity to update our risk profile, all conducted in a professional and agile manner ensuring nominal disruption to our operations whilst delivering mutually beneficial data updates on risk recommendations. As Director, Risk Management for CCEP, this progressive partnership approach has been well received at all levels and I am sure that, as and when we return to a ‘new normal’, Virtual Risk Surveys will continue to form part of the service delivery of HDI alongside more traditional Physical Risk Surveys to support CCEP’s PDBI Risk Engineering/Loss Control programme.”

Remote surveying is just one example of how HDI/HRC has moved quickly to ensure that we maintain a high level of service to our clients using innovative tools despite the unusual times we now find ourselves in.

If you would like to find out more about HDI Risk Consulting services, please visit our website or alternatively to contact Phil Wall, Head of Risk Engineering UK, Ireland, Scandinavia & Africa directly CLICK HERE, leave a message and youTalk-insurance will pass yoru enquiry on.

Authored by HDI Gobal SE