Articles by Patrick Wraight

Patrick Wraight, CIC, CRM, AU, is director of Insurance Journal's Academy of Insurance. He can be reached at pwraight@ijacademy.com.

Why Working at Home Brought New Risks for Agencies, Clients

In some recent Academy of Insurance classes, I’ve been asking people about their working situation. Most of the people I’ve been talking to transitioned for a while to the work from home space, and many are still there at least …

Managing Risk by Training Restaurant Employees

Restaurants are risky businesses. They take more cash than you would think. They take more time than you want to invest and have more problems than anyone wants to deal with. Many restaurants struggle with keeping employees. The work is …

5 Questions to Ask Customers Considering a Family Farm Business

According to a March 2020 article by the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, agritourism operations in the U.S. generated more than $700 million in sales in 2012. People are taking their family farms and (alongside farming) making them destinations for people …

COVID-19 and Employment Practices Litigation

As soon as the first community was shut down to slow the spread of the coronavirus or the first announcement of a safer at home order by a governor, some of us saw the storm of suits coming related to …

One Catastrophic Failure to Manage Risks

Wednesday, January 6, 2021, was a historic day in the US. It could have been historic because the US Congress was voting to certify an election. That happens every four years. Most of the time, it’s with little fanfare, but …

3 Reasons Thanksgiving Dinner is Better Than an Insurance Policy

It’s my normal M.O. in this blog to write a policy language, holiday edition this time of year, but this year I’d like to shift gears. For those who hate change or get hives at the idea of change happening, …

4 Items to Look at When Choosing Health Benefits

It’s that time of year again. No, not the holiday season, although some of us will be able to gather this year for something close to our normal holiday celebrations. I hope you can. No. It’s time for us to …

3 Ps to Consider When Managing the Risks of Assisted Living Facilities

Assisted living facilities provide a necessary service to our aging population, but operating them comes with risks. When you consider that they are designed to provide care for our loved ones in ways that many of us are not able …

Commercial Property and Virus Exclusion

There is much being made about coverage for business income losses related to COVID-19. It seems that new lawsuits are filed daily, while the tally of lawsuits that are being dismissed continues to rise. It appears that in many jurisdictions, …

4 Facts I Learned Watching the Strems Trial

One of the unexpected consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic is that I found myself able to watch a live courtroom proceeding from the comfort of my desk at home (work). The idea of this was totally fascinating to me because …