By Diane Mika
Vice President, Director of Risk Management Education
Berkley Design Professional, a Berkley Company

At its simplest, insurance can be described as “a piece of paper and a promise.” Customers buy a
piece of paper (an insurance policy) and the insurance company promises to pay in the event there
is a claim.

It’s no secret that professional liability claims against architects and engineers can be expensive—both to the insurance company (cost of resolving claims and paying damages) and to the policyholder (paying deductibles). In addition to the hard costs of resolving a claim, design firms must also absorb the soft costs: lost staff time, lost opportunities, diminished relationships and increased future insurance premiums.

Therefore, the key to mutually assured success is mitigating claims. That’s where BDP Risk® comes in!

Our risk management education program provides relevant learning from the practitioner’s perspective coupled with the wisdom of decades of experience in the insurance industry. Based on a solid understanding of what factors and situations lead to claims against architects and engineers, our BDP Risk® training resources, materials and courses are designed to teach effective practices and strategies that can be put to immediate use to help customers avoid risk and reduce the frequency and severity of claims.

BDP Risk® Success Points

For our brokers, BDP Risk® attracts new customers and increases customer retention. For our policyholders, using BDP Risk® improves business practices—and completing courses reduces claim frequency, enables them to earn AIA and RCEP approved learning units and professional development hours, and qualifies them for a 15% risk management education rating credit on their premium.

User-Friendly Intuitive Platform

BDP Risk® is an easy to use platform that offers custom content of more than 300 articles, whitepapers, guidebooks, videos, tools and templates, 32 on-demand courses and six learning plans.

Whether you are looking for information, answers, sample contract language or learning units, BDP Risk® is the place to go.

Award-Winning Program

In the past four years, Berkley Design Professional has won five coveted Brandon Hall Group awards for excellence. (Brandon Hall Group operates the largest and longest running awards program in Human Capital Management.) Our past awards have acknowledged the effectiveness of our custom content as well as our successful efforts to attract and retain customers with specialized, impactful education. Our 2022 Bronze Award for “Best Customer Training Program” recognizes BDP Risk® as a learning program that helps our policyholders understand the nature of professional liability risk, identify areas of improvement, adopt strategies, implement tactics in daily business operations, and reduce the frequency of claims.

The BDP Risk® model has proven effective for both Berkley Design Professional and its customers, delivering “Mutually Assured Success” over the lifecycle of the customer relationship:

Discover the difference for yourself! Learn more about BDP Risk®.

About the Author

Diane P. Mika is a learning and development specialist with 25 years’ experience in A/E professional liability insurance. Since 2014, she has led the development of the award-winning BDP Risk® Learning Management System and the creation of risk management resources and education programs to help engineers and architects improve their business practices and mitigate loss.