This article is written and provided by Granite Insurance Agency.
Our baby is growing up! We are about a year and a half in to the official launch of our new outfitters & guides program, and things are going splendidly. In case you missed it, let’s get you up to speed on what the last 11 years have looked like:
While Granite Insurance Agency has been in existence for almost 100 years, we’ve had a specialization in the nationwide adventure & entertainment realm since 2014. After exploring the insurance market thoroughly, and after working with many different carriers who write policies for inherently risk industries, we found ourselves wanting more:
Why can’t we do more to customize the policy to our outfitter’s operations?
Why can’t we see “behind the curtain” on how insurance rates are determined so we can advise our clients on pro-active and cost-saving measures?
Why can’t we be creative with solutions for common problems the industry faces?
Why does the entire outfitter industry get penalized with higher insurance rates when another outfitter is the one who had a claim?
We weren’t satisfied with the answers that the common insurance carriers were giving, so we decided to forge our own path forward instead of settling for the status quo.
2015-2024: Years of Building
Most insurance agencies can only dream of accomplishing the construction of a customized program like this. The Granite Insurance Agency leadership team poured a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this project over the course of many years. There were setbacks, there were small victories, there was heartache – what a journey to build things up over time! Finally, we got to a point of leverage and size where our custom program for the outfitters & guides industry was feasible.
Early 2024: The Launch of “EUM”
In February of 2024, the EUM program finally went live. It was so hard keeping things secret all these years while things were in (very, very slow) progress! We could finally share the news of the new program and begin receiving outfitter feedback.
Not all outfitters are a match for the EUM program – we do still work with many other insurance carriers to ultimately find the best “home” (coverage & price fit) for our clients. But for those outfitters who do meet the program’s minimum eligibility requirements, it’s often been the right match.
The EUM program has been set up in a way that protects the clients within it. While the general outfitter population is seeing higher insurance rates from their generally accessed insurance carriers, the EUM program is insulated from that. It sets a minimum threshold for risk mitigation, and only accepts outfitters that have met or exceeded those minimum thresholds. Because of this higher standard of acceptance, the outfitters in the program will ultimately suffer fewer and less severe claims, which will allow the EUM program’s rates to stay more level with each year’s renewal. More claims and bigger claims mean the carrier has to raise insurance premiums; versus having fewer and smaller claims will help the carrier maintain insurance rates.
Outfitters have been especially excited about the unmasked rate structure of the program. Once an outfitter has been accepted in to the program by meeting the minimum risk management threshold, they will fall into one of three different rating tiers. The better risk mitigation they have in place as an operation means the better insurance rates they will receive from the carrier (“Tier 1”). If they have an acceptable risk management program but don’t take things above and beyond, they will still receive pretty good insurance rates but there is room for improvement (“Tier 2” or “Tier 3”). This structure puts the power of choosing your insurance rate into the outfitter’s hands – we can look at the tier structure together and find areas where you are in Tier 2 or 3, and discuss exactly where there is room for improvement to get to Tier 1. This leads to conversations like “if you choose to do ‘x’, your insurance premium would reduce by ‘$y’” – which answers the age-old insurance question we’ve received so often from clients!
Here's a simplified rating tier example to help paint the picture, and there is a unique rating tier constructed for each different type of adventure the EUM program accepts:
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No guides have medical training
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At least 1 guide on each trip is CPR/1st aid cert’d
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At least 1 guide on each trip is minimally WFR cert’d
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All guides are WFR cert’d
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Late 2024: The First Advisory Sessions
We see it as absolutely crucial that this program is advised by and guided by outfitters who are the experts in their own operational risk. Otherwise, you wind up with misguided situations or a rate structure that doesn’t actually reflect increased or decreased risk. Outfitter feedback is our compass!
In late 2024, one spring/summer/fall season after the initial program launch, multiple virtual advisory sessions were held with hundreds of outfitters all across the country. Advisors included outfitters who had already entered the EUM program as well as outfitters who hadn’t yet joined the program. We received so much incredible feedback from everyone who was generous with their time and their expertise. Outfitters provided feedback on things like:
What should the rating basis be for insurance (revenue? allocated user days? participant count?)
What constitutes a ‘lower risk’ versus a ‘higher risk’ operation? (with targeted conversations for varying types of outfitter offerings)
What should or shouldn’t be included in the revenue number that I report for insurance renewals?
Which pro-active risk measures should be rewarded with better insurance premiums?
What should minimum risk thresholds look like for the program?
What ages are appropriate for various types of trips? (example: should a 6 year old be taken on a class IV multi-day river trip?)
…and SO much more. My writing hand is still sore from trying to keep up with all of the feedback.
After the outfitter feedback sessions, there were many meetings with the EUM program underwriter to overhaul and improve the tier rating structure for 2025. Each year, the program will be reviewed and tweaked just like this. “Settling” isn’t one of our strong suits - we are constantly seeking ways to improve!
2025 & On: Fine-Tuning & Adding Resources
We will continue to host outfitter advisory sessions each year moving forward. It’s pivotal to get feedback from industry leaders who represent a variety in geography and a variety in outfitter operations. The program’s fine-tuning will never be “over”!
But why call it done there? If we’re aiming to reduce risk and reward the outfitters who go above and beyond in reducing risk, how else can we support them? We recently launched a new exclusive resource that is free to our clients, called “Risk Advisor Konnect”, with hotline (phone or email) access to experts in 4 fields:
Safety & OSHA Compliance & Support
Claims Guidance & Support
These are a few areas of expertise that our outfitter clients are often seeking, and now they have a complimentary hotline right to the answers. We’ve already experienced tangible examples where the HR guidance has helped outfitters avoid lawsuits from employee discipline/terminations. And the claims expert is a wizard who (regardless of if you call her directly or not) we’ll involve in each of our client’s large or complicated claims moving forward to ensure that our outfitters have an all-star advocacy team.
We’re so proud to be leading the outfitter industry’s insurance landscape, and are grateful to the outfitters who have provided the astounding amount of feedback which has shaped this program.
Do you have thoughts to share? Maybe ideas for future outfitter resources, or perhaps you would like to participate in our next round of outfitter feedback? Please reach out - we can’t do it without you, and we’d love to hear from you!
Ruthie Rivers is an Adventure & Entertainment Risk Consultant on the Granite Insurance team, working solely with adventure outfitters. In her previous life, Ruthie herself was an operator in the outdoor adventure world, which gives her understanding and insight into running an operation and into employing risk mitigation strategies. She is passionate about adventure and believes in the importance of what outfitters do: Making outdoor recreation accessible and cultivating a love for the outdoors in the everyday person is a vital role in protecting the future of our wild lands! She is honored to play a small part in supporting that effort.
Granite Insurance serves hundreds of Adventure and Entertainment clients across the nation and offers all insurance lines pertinent to the adventure industries they serve, including General Liability, Umbrella, Property, Inland Marine, Commercial Auto, Participant Accident, and Worker’s Compensation among others. Ruthie can be reached at rrivers@graniteinsurance.com