For years, insurers have operated around a familiar rhythm: a claim occurs, a policy responds, and the insurer puts things right. It’s a model that has served the industry well for decades. But today, that rhythm is being disrupted. The world insurers operate in has become more volatile, more interconnected and more unforgiving of downtime.
In this environment, the greatest value insurers can offer is not simply to put things right after an incident but to help ensure the incident never becomes a loss in the first place. This shift is redefining the very nature of insurance. The industry is shifting from a response mindset to a resilience mindset. And at the centre of this shift sits technology, particularly platforms like Zinc, by Zinc Systems, built to detect incidents earlier, coordinate a rapid response and provide the operational intelligence needed to prevent repeat events.
Why resilience has become a board-level issue across
Across the UK property and commercial landscape, the demand for resilience is accelerating. Workers increasingly expect safe, well-managed environments; more than 70% say workplace safety is a key factor in their satisfaction. Commercial tenants now rank resilience among their top considerations when choosing space, with over 65% citing it as a priority.
At the same time, rising incident costs are putting real pressure on insurers and insureds alike. Escape of Water (EoW) alone now costs the UK insurance market between £1.8 million and £2.5 million per day, with the average incident at around £9,500 and rising. For large commercial buildings, a single event can easily exceed £1 million.
It is no longer possible to view resilience as a luxury or a specialist add-on. Market expectations, financial demands and regulatory scrutiny have made it fundamental.
The Governance shift: From good practice to regulatory expectation
This evolution towards resilience is being reinforced by governance and regulation. Under UK corporate governance principles, directors have a clear duty to identify, manage and mitigate foreseeable risks to people, assets and operations. The UK Corporate Governance Code, alongside directors’ responsibilities under the Companies Act 2006, increasingly frames resilience as a matter of oversight rather than operational detail.
That expectation is becoming more explicit through legislation such as Martyn’s Law (the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill). Once enacted, it will impose a statutory duty on owners and operators of publicly accessible premises to assess terrorism risk, implement proportionate mitigations, and demonstrate preparedness. While not an insurance regulation, its impact on insurers is unavoidable. Poor preparedness will directly lead to increased exposure, claims volatility, and liability risk.
Also, the Workers Protection Bill encompasses several key pieces of legislation aimed at enhancing worker safety and rights:
Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010): Effective from October 2024, this bill strengthens protections against sexual harassment by placing a new duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent such harassment.
Liability for Harassment: The Worker Protection Bill also introduces provisions that make employers liable for harassment of their employees by clients and third parties, creating a positive duty to prevent such incidents.
These bills reflect ongoing efforts to improve workplace safety and protect workers’ rights.
For insurers, this represents a structural change. Governance, compliance and operational resilience are converging, and technology is the connective tissue.
