The New Blueprint for Loss Control

Loss control has evolved well beyond inspections and post-loss recommendations. Today, it plays a critical role in helping insurers anticipate emerging risks, strengthen underwriting decisions, and deliver greater value to brokers and insureds.

At Munich Re Specialty, that evolution is driven by a combination of deep technical expertise, collaborative partnerships, and innovative technology. By leveraging AI to uncover deeper claims insights, sharing practical knowledge through industry education, and working alongside underwriting and claims teams, the organization’s loss control professionals are building a more proactive, data-informed approach that helps prevent losses before they occur while supporting long-term profitable growth.

A Foundation Built on Three Pillars

Munich Re Specialty’s loss control team operates on three core pillars: expertise, stability, and partnership. The team comprises specialists who deploy technical, real-world insights to underwriters and pricing teams through quality reviews, practical webinars, site assessments, and collaborative projects designed to reduce claims and improve underwriting outcomes.

“We serve as real-world experts uniquely positioned to provide technical risk management and underwriting support,” Mike Midgley, Head of Loss Control at Munich Re Specialty – North America explained. “We focus on stability by implementing loss control efforts that reduce claims volatility and support profitable underwriting decisions, complementing Munich Re Specialty’s solid financial position.”

The third pillar—partnership—defines how the team delivers value across the organization. “We function as a knowledgeable and highly experienced embedded partner alongside underwriters, claims, actuaries, and product development teams,” Midgley said.

Specialized Expertise Across Multiple Sectors

Mike Midgley, Head of Loss Control, Munich Re Specialty – North America

Despite being a small group, the loss control team has built deep expertise across multiple areas. The team includes specialists in property and casualty, along with niche areas like healthcare—including long-term care, hospitals, facilities, and life sciences.

“My background is in healthcare, so I ensured that when I took over the department, we had someone with deep healthcare knowledge to lead underwriting submission reviews, training, and education for our insureds,” Midgley said.

The team’s expertise extends to construction, where a former contractor brings hands-on knowledge to construction and general casualty business. In the public entity space, the team benefits from the experience of someone who previously served as an administrator at a school pool in Washington.

“We focus our attention where the business is and where we tend to have the greatest success,” Midgley said. “That happens when we partner closely with our underwriters, identify trends together, and determine how we can support the business they’re writing.”

Embracing AI to Uncover Hidden Patterns

Technological advancement has become a cornerstone of Munich Re Specialty’s loss control strategy. The team partners closely with the claims department to extract lessons learned from incoming claims, using artificial intelligence to dive deeper than traditional categorization allows.

“A claim might be categorized simply as wind damage, fire, or in healthcare contexts, a pressure injury or fall,” Midgley explained. “However, AI allows us to dive deeper and uncover the underlying complexities that drive these losses. This granular insight enables us to develop targeted training and education for our underwriters and the industry at large.”

The organization has embraced AI across multiple applications. On the property side, the team is using AI to analyze accumulated survey data, identifying trends and accuracy patterns across different account types. Another project incorporates analysis of information from property surveys to confirm building and site data or flag areas needing clarification from broker partners—such as square footage or number of stories.

“We’re on board with AI and continue to identify new opportunities to expand its use throughout our organization,” Midgley said.

Education as Industry Service

Munich Re Specialty’s commitment to sharing expertise extends beyond its client base through an extensive webinar program. Since 2020, the team has been producing quarterly webinars in healthcare, with offerings expanding to public entity topics as well as property.

The response has been remarkable. A recent webinar on medical record documentation basics drew over 500 registrations and close to 350 attendees. Another webinar addressing new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requirements for hospital board involvement in patient safety generated nearly 1,000 registrations with almost 600 attendees.

“What’s important to me is that these webinars are not exclusive to our insurance company or even our brokers,” Midgley said. “I’ve made it a commitment from the beginning to open them up to anyone interested in listening, and we’ve promoted them on LinkedIn to reach a broader audience.”

The team identifies webinar topics by gathering feedback from insureds and monitoring industry trends. Recent topics have included revival statutes for public entities, with a law enforcement liability webinar scheduled for fall.

The Higher Purpose: Saving Lives

For Midgley, the most rewarding aspect of loss control work extends far beyond insurance metrics. “One of the biggest reasons my colleagues and I get into loss control—and stay in it—is the relationship building with brokers and insurers, combined with the education and insights we can provide,” he said.

But the impact goes deeper. “We are genuinely helping to create safer environments and promote risk education practices within organizations that can prevent injuries,” Midgley said. “My background is in healthcare, and I’ve witnessed real life change within organizations that implemented my recommendations over the years. It’s gratifying to know we’ve had an impact—and in healthcare specifically, we can be saving lives.”

The potential life-saving impact extends across industries. Property recommendations encouraging preventative maintenance in accordance with manufacturer specifications for solar panels or electrical systems, for example, have prevented adverse events that could lead to serious injuries and death.

“Ultimately, loss control is about helping to save lives,” Midgley said. “That’s what it comes down to.”

Building the Next Generation

This higher purpose resonates strongly with younger professionals entering the industry, according to Midgley. “When you’re interviewing candidates, you can tell immediately whether they understand and embrace your mission, vision, and values—or whether they do not,” he said. “The vast majority of people I encounter do get it.”

Passion for the work is an absolute requirement. “That’s how you succeed in this business and leave your legacy,” Midgley said. “From my perspective, passion for what you do is an absolute requirement, and we actively screen for that when evaluating new talent.”

The ideal educational background depends on the class of business. Property professionals typically have backgrounds in engineering, construction, or the trades. In healthcare, many carriers employ nurses. For risk engineering services—handled by sister company HSB—a technical background is essential.

Munich Re Specialty works with interns most summers, many pursuing degrees in risk and insurance or business, with occasional hires from actuarial science or computer science programs.

“I encourage anyone genuinely interested in loss control to identify a specific area of interest and gain hands-on field experience,” Midgley said. “The best loss control and risk engineering professionals are those who have worked in the field, developed practical experience, and can translate that knowledge back to underwriters to inform sound decision-making.”

Looking Ahead

While Midgley hasn’t seen significant talent gap issues — positions posted last year were filled quickly — he anticipates potential challenges ahead as experienced professionals with hands-on field experience age out and fewer young professionals enter these disciplines.

“At that point, we may need to rethink how we work and explore how AI could play a larger role,” he said. “We are not quite there yet, but this is something I am thinking about and anticipating future needs.”

For now, the focus remains on the three core pillars that define Munich Re Specialty’s loss control approach: expertise, stability, and partnership—a foundation Midgley believes represents the key to delivering value across the organization and, ultimately, helping save lives.

To learn more, please visit https://www.munichre.com/specialty/north-america/en.html.

This article was produced by the R&I Brand Studio, a unit of the advertising department of Risk & Insurance, in collaboration with Munich Re Specialty. The editorial staff of Risk & Insurance had no role in its preparation.