Management liability claims takes deeper root in global institutions

The rise of professional and management liability due to global harassment and abuse claims is a leading cause of loss and risk among global organizations, according to the 2018 Clements Worldwide Risk Index.

The survey released in Lagos in an event held in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria found that 17 percent of the organizations surveyed shared they were subject to a lawsuit or litigation within the last six months, with industries such as international schools (28 percent), government agencies (25 percent) and government contractors (29 percent) the most impacted by this loss. 

Twenty-seven percent of NGOs and UN agencies reported that they had suffered a significant loss from professional and management liability.

The focus on professional and management liability risks, which also includes gender pay gap and duty of care, by NGOs and international schools are new to the top featured losses and concerns of the survey, and threaten the quality of education and services provided to students and beneficiaries of their care.

This coupled with emerging threats such as natural disasters, which cost the world $306 billion according to Swiss Re, nearly double the cost of 2016, and legislation posing greater challenges to program and school operations, data protection and infrastructure, make life challenging for these industries.

“Having worked in this business for over 30 years, I thought that nothing surprises me anymore, but we did not anticipate seeing such a surge in management liability claims and for it to be such a huge loss for our primary two segments – NGOs and international schools,” said Dan Tuman, president, Clements Worldwide.

“In today’s social climate, these trends make a clear case for organizations and industries everywhere to take steps to adapt their policies accordingly and prepare for the unexpected as no one is immune to risk.”

And while respondents have shifted their attention to other losses besides political violence, more than 35 percent of respondents still express worry over increased threats of political violence and disruptions from elections or political environment, up from 27 percent last year. More conflict seems likely given the existing civil wars in Syria and Yemen, Al Shabaab in East Africa and Al Qaeda in West Africa.

Modestus  Anaesoronye