The firm said it intends to hire more than 60 seasoned engineers this year who will focus full time on helping clients prevent boiler and machinery-related (B&M) losses.

One of the world’s largest commercial property insurers, FM Global, has signalled plans to drastically increase its engineering workforce in order to focus on prevention risk management 

With a strong economy demanding more work from aging equipment run by operators who are approaching retirement, the firm said it intends to hire more than 60 seasoned engineers this year who will focus full time on helping clients prevent boiler and machinery-related (B&M) losses.

“Equipment breakdown is now rivaling fire losses in frequency and severity, which puts businesses at risk of short-term disruption and long-term financial harm,” said Brion Callori, senior vice president, engineering and research at FM Global.

The new engineering cohort will bring the number of FM Global loss prevention engineers dedicated exclusively to major equipment (such as boilers, turbines, generators, transformers, chemical vessels, compressors and pulp-and-paper processing machines) to more than 250.

FM Global’s total headcount of loss prevention engineers and scientists is now approaching 1,900, underscoring its focus on research and engineering-driven risk management to help businesses be more resilient to disruption.

“We’ve invested a lot of resources in analyzing equipment risk, improving our predictive capabilities, and assessing risk at client locations,” added Callori. “By expanding our team, we’re deepening our commitment to boiler and machinery loss prevention to benefit our clients.”

Equipment breakdown accounts for 28 percent of losses across all industries (based on FM Global’s gross loss dollar amount). FM Global’s expanded B&M engineering team will focus on several key risk improvement priorities, including:

  • Serving new industries – Expanding service to more industries including a wider range of corporate campuses with central utility plants
  • Adding new risk assessment metrics – Providing clients with loss expectancy figures in local currency (e.g., dollar amounts) for each property improvement FM Global engineers recommend.
  • Expanding industrial control systems service – Broadening loss prevention engineering, including cybersecurity, to encompass the software and hardware that controls clients’ industrial systems.

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