Risk Management
Our Mission
The mission of Risk Management is to actively protect the present and future assets of the City of Suffolk, thereby helping ensure its financial integrity and enhancing its ability to provide the services needed to maintain a high quality of life for its citizens. Therefore, the City of Suffolk is committed to a comprehensive Risk Management Program for the preservation and protection of its human, physical, and financial assets.
Our Objectives
- To provide to the extent possible an exposure-free work and service environment for employees, citizens and visitors.
- To protect and preserve City assets and work force; wherever possible, against losses which could deplete City resources or impair the City’s ability to meet its legal obligations to provide services to its citizens.
- To institute all practical measures to eliminate or control injury to citizens, employees and visitors; loss to property or other loss producing conditions.
- To implement sound business practices of risk financing that protect the City against catastrophic loss.
- To administer claims against the City ethically, efficiently and in the best interests of the City.
Our Responsibilities
Risk Management is responsible for mitigating and managing the City’s exposure to risk. This involves leading, engaging, and supporting key stakeholders in taking steps toward preventing mitigating potential negative impacts from events affecting the C-O-R-E (safety compliance; operational; reputational; economic/financial) risk exposures the City faces.
The City of Suffolk achieves this by managing the City's self-insurance program, purchasing insurance to protect its assets, actively managing liability and workers' compensation claims, and implementing safety and loss control programs.
Methods used to implement these goals include:
Property & Liability Insurance
Property & Liability Insurance includes but not limited to:
- City Owned Building & Contents
- Special Property Risks
- Boiler & Machinery
- Automobile Physical Damage
- Automobile Liability
- General Liability
Required Insurance
The City of Suffolk has certain minimum insurance requirements for contractors, vendors, events, and use of city property. Contractors and vendors providing services to the City must furnish Certificates of Insurance.
Risk Management also handles requests for Certificates of Insurance.
All contractors/vendors must have the following minimum insurance limits:
- Comprehensive General Liability, including bodily injury and property damage, $1,000,000 combined single limit per occurrence
- Comprehensive Automobile Liability, including bodily injury and property damage, $1,000,000 combined single limit per occurrence
- Workers' Compensation, following Virginia statutory limits with the Alternate Employer Endorsement WC 000301
Other lines of insurance coverage may be required for certain types of exposure and limits of liability may vary depending on the type of contract.
Additionally, the City of Suffolk must be shown as “additional insured” on all general liability and automobile liability policies that would allow a claim to be made directly against the policy.
Safety & Loss Prevention
The Safety & Health programs are established with the express intent to coordinate and monitor City operations in order to reduce accidents, losses, and associated costs. These programs include building inspections, program audits, establishing safety policies and procedures, and a robust safety training program.
Workers' Compensation Insurance
The focus of the City of Suffolk’s Workers' Compensation program is to assist job-related injured workers in receiving immediate and quality medical care, to administer workers' compensation claims from the initial injury until the closing of the claim, and to safely return lost time employees to productive employment.