News Releases

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ACE UK has launched a self assessment tool for its clients in the retail sector to enable them to gather detailed risk information from multiple sites and to compare these against best practice benchmarks for a range of exposures.

The AAA Self Assessment Tool has been developed by the ACE Global Engineering Network (AGEN) for retailers with a number of different locations, such as supermarkets, DIY stores and electronics and white goods retailers. It is ideal for retail chains comprising just a few locations through to much larger enterprises with significant numbers of outlets.

Its aim is to help risk managers, or those responsible for insurance programmes, to obtain risk information across different categories of exposure including management controls, security, fire protection, special hazards, employers and public liability.

The online tool also enables a retailer’s individual local shops to provide information on aspects of the company’s operating procedures and loss prevention programmes by utilising a simple questionnaire via a dedicated website. Risk managers will then be able to access consolidated information or drill down to an individual location’s data, allowing an assessment of each location’s compliance with the company’s risk management procedures. This can then facilitate the implementation of a programme of risk improvement if necessary.

Ratings are provided for the exposure category areas using 'A', 'AA' & 'AAA' to demonstrate the retailers level of performance against each category of risk assessment

Commenting on the launch, Paul Brooke, Supervising Engineer at AGEN said: “Our considerable expertise in the retail sector has given us unique insight into its standards of risk management. One specific trend we have observed is a consistent failure for some property risks to meet best industry practice. The AAA Self Assessment Tool will help risk managers to tackle this issue head-on by making the identification of exposures and the pinpointing of deficiencies easier.”

In addition to the AAA Self Assessment Tool, AGEN has published a retail industry fact sheet which provides an in-depth analysis of property risk management issues. The fact sheet includes an overview of special hazards associated with the sector, industry trends, loss information and property loss prevention recommendations. It also includes a benchmarking chart showing the industry average rating for each of 21 categories typically reviewed during an AGEN survey.

In May this year, ACE UK launched ACE Retail, a comprehensive insurance product providing cover for traditional risks and also new and emerging exposures such as environmental liability and data and network security failure. Pat Drinan, Director of Corporate Risk commented: “We have been delighted with the success of ACE Retail since launch and the AAA tool further enhances our position as the leading insurer specialising in risks faced by large to medium companies in this sector.”

ACE Global Engineering Network

The ACE Global Engineering Network creates strong, long term relationships with clients, focusing on cost effective and proficient solutions to their risk management challenges.

Through their in depth loss prevention training backgrounds and industry expertise, ACE engineers are experienced in evaluating a wide variety of risks and complexity of exposures. Industry expertise includes telecommunications, electronics, food and beverage, pulp and paper, printing, healthcare, chemical manufacturing and manufacturing risks.

Our specialist team is driven by account and field engineers delivering high quality and effective loss prevention services. We have engineers in key strategic locations around the world who are familiar with international standards as well as local codes and work practices. This proves invaluable in helping clients establish and maintain operations in traditional and emerging markets.

For further information please go to: www.aceagen.com

About ACE

Part of the ACE Group, ACE European Group comprises the operations of ACE Europe, ACE Global Markets and ACE Tempest Re Group. ACE Europe provides a range of tailored Property and Casualty, Accident and Health and Personal Lines solutions for a diverse range of clients. ACE Global Markets (AGM) is ACE’s specialty international business, underwriting through ACE’s Lloyd’s Syndicate 2488 and ACE European Group Limited. Specialty lines include excess and surplus lines business, Marine, Aviation, Energy and Political Risk as well as Property, Financial Lines and Accident and Health. Additional information on ACE European Group can be found at www.aceeuropeangroup.com

Celebrating 25 years of insuring progress, the ACE Group is a global leader in insurance and reinsurance serving a diverse group of clients. Headed by ACE Limited (NYSE:ACE), a component of the S&P 500 stock index, the ACE Group conducts its business on a worldwide basis with operating subsidiaries in more than 50 countries. Additional information can be found at: www.acegroup.com.