8-5-2026 The Return of Dawn Becker-Durnin

Title: Beyond the Building Codes: Insurance, Risk, and Resilience with Dawn Becker Summary: Jim (Safety FM) welcomes back insurance industry veteran Dawn Becker (VP, Acrisure) for a wide-ranging conversation on risk, liability, and safety. They open by revisiting the Champlain Towers collapse and other structural failures (parking garages, aging infrastructure) to discuss how building loads, materials, and deferred maintenance create hidden liability. The conversation moves into insurance fundamentals — adequate coverage limits, third-party litigation funding, negligence vs. gross negligence, and roof/shingle claims — before shifting to wildfire and storm resilience, covering Firewise communities, defensible space, chimney inspections for a log cabin, and lessons from California and Florida communities that engineered their way around disaster. A major thread is AI's growing role in insurance and safety: drone roof inspections, AI-driven underwriting, and the risks of over-trusting AI outputs (including a live demo showing AI gave technically correct-but-context-wrong safety data). Both speakers agree AI is a useful tool but can't replace human judgment, field experience, or in-person relationship-building. They close with personal stories — teaching kids entrepreneurship and safety habits (fire exits at hotels), a favorite "lucky find" story about solving a work problem with a random book, and reflections on how AI and interpersonal connection intersect in the safety and insurance professions. www.safetywars.com. www.jamespoesl.com https://www.nfpa.org/Education-and-Re... Music: Pond5.com Licenses Falling, 25821615, Eric B. USA National Anthem (Star Spangled Banner Use), 155546928 Supernova Music Matrix, 166797566, Encomia Music: Safety Warriors, The Music of Safety Wars Volume 1 (c) copyright 2026 James Poesl