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I’m Brian Wallace, Head of Aviva Risk Management Solutions.  I’m spending some time gardening this week to the sound of Jimi Hendrix playing in the background (“Little Wing” what a great song!) and thinking how well Rangers will do in Europe next season…In case you’re wondering I’m actually on holiday this week but I wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity like this was I?! Guest blogging for Janice and John, I’m up for that and the chance to put some thoughts down. Anyway, I like relaxing in the garden, getting away from it all……..but it’s funny how your mind works even when relaxed………….

‘What will people want to hear from me?’ Usually when I talk about my team, I mention things like ‘adding value’ or ‘offering support’ through our training & consultancy and risk management services. All good stuff of course, but we never really talk about ‘saving lives’.

But we have saved lives.  So too have the many brokers who provide risk management advice and support to their clients.

So when we as insurers ask for the right kind of guards to be present on dangerous machinery, we save lives. When we call for the licences of prospective drivers at work to be checked, we save lives. When we insist that laws covering fire in commercial buildings are complied with, we save lives. And when someone takes on board our suggestion to fit a sprinkler system, we save lives.  That’s serious stuff.

And why am I mentioning this? Two reasons really. The first is to remind us that as an industry we do something we can be proud of, and I mean it. I’d stop short of saying insurers are heroic – we’re not nurses, doctors or fire-fighters after all – but we can be life-savers all the same.

The second, and perhaps most important reason, is to remind us to DO MORE risk management.

I had the opportunity to talk to some rising stars of the broker world at the recent IT Pack event in London. It was great to be able to discuss with them the importance of risk management for their clients. Risk management – I’m a realist…it’s not a subject this audience would usually find interesting but they really seemed to understand the need not to just identify risks but to look at someone’s business as a tangible thing that needs protecting.

We’re really proud of the work we do, and also the superb results we’ve helped brokers achieve on our NEBOSH courses (you can’t be over-qualified!) and how relevant they’ve been with helping their clients.

If you’d like to find out more, check out our website – www.aviva.co.uk/risksolutions or email me brian.wallace@aviva.co.uk

Well I think that covers everything for now so back to the garden for me, some more Jimi Hendrix and dreaming of Rangers success in Europe next season………………

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The It Pack is a series of discussion events for brokers that have fewer than five years’ experience and are ambitious and enthusiastic…they’re the ones to watch for in the future! If you want to register yourself or want to nominate someone you know, just click here.

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