By Simon Iliffe, Unimutual Risk Manager

Welcome to the first edition of “Simon Says” in this, the year of the dog – the ‘Earth Dog’ to be precise. After the first four months of the protection period, some might say the dirty dog. Unfortunately, the cost of spoilage losses so far this year is up there with the worst on record, rivalled only by storm events and flooding. The dog is already dirty and wet, let’s hope it avoids singeing its fur on any fires as well.

On a brighter note, a big thank you to all those members who took time out of their busy schedule to support the mini seminar series last year. Hosted by Zurich, the seminars covered a broad range of subject matter from flood preparedness, aluminium composite panels, and solar panels, to cyber risk management and the Internet of Things. They were extremely informative sessions, and the venues and lunches were first class.

It’s been a busy start to 2018, with January and February packed with a range of planning, administrative, and investigative tasks. There are a few new checklists on the drawing board, the risk engineering program is up and running, and the TCE program hasn’t cooled down – in fact, things are hotting up.

Indeed, there’s never a dull moment. So, what’s on the cards for 2018?