Insurance

3 Months Ended

Jan. 31, 2021

INSURANCEWe use a combination of insured and self-insurance programs to cover workers’ compensation, general liability, automobile liability, property damage, and other insurable risks. For the majority of these insurance programs, we retain the initial $1.0 million to $1.5 million of exposure on a per-occurrence basis, either through deductibles or self-insured retentions. Beyond the retained exposures, we have varying primary policy limits ranging between $1.0 million and $5.0 million per occurrence. To cover general liability and automobile liability losses above these primary limits, we maintain commercial umbrella insurance policies that provide aggregate limits of $200.0 million. Our insurance policies generally cover workers’ compensation losses to the full extent of statutory requirements. Additionally, to cover property damage risks above our retained limits, we maintain policies that provide per occurrence limits of $75.0 million. We are also self-insured for certain employee medical and dental plans. We maintain stop-loss insurance for our self-insured medical plan under which we retain up to $0.5 million of exposure on a per-participant, per-year basis with respect to claims.

We maintain our reserves for workers’ compensation, general liability, automobile liability, and property damage insurance claims based upon known trends and events and the actuarial estimates of required reserves considering the most recently completed actuarial reports. We use all available information to develop our best estimate of insurance claims reserves as information is obtained. The results of actuarial reviews are used to estimate our insurance rates and insurance reserves for future periods and to adjust reserves, if appropriate, for prior years.

Actuarial Review Performed During the First Quarter of 2021

We review our self-insurance liabilities on a regular basis and adjust our accruals accordingly. Actual claims activity or development may vary from our assumptions and estimates, which may result in material losses or gains. As we obtain additional information that affects the assumptions and estimates used in our reserve liability calculations, we adjust our self-insurance rates and reserves for future periods and, if appropriate, adjust our reserves for claims incurred in prior accounting periods.

During the first quarter of 2021, we performed a comprehensive actuarial review of the majority of our casualty insurance programs to evaluate changes made to claims reserves and claims payment activity for the period of May 1, 2020 through October 31, 2020 (the “Actuarial Review”). The Actuarial Review was comprehensive in nature and was based on loss development patterns, trend assumptions, and underlying expected loss costs during the period analyzed. The Actuarial Review again demonstrated that the changes we have made to our risk management programs continue to positively impact the frequency and severity of claims.

Based on the results of the Actuarial Review, we decreased our total reserves for known claims as well as our estimate of the loss amounts associated with incurred but not reported claims (“IBNR claims”) by $14.4 million during the three months ended January 31, 2021; $11.4 million of that amount relates to prior years. During the three months ended January 31, 2020, we decreased our total reserves related to prior year claims by $6.6 million. We will continue to assess ongoing developments, which may result in further adjustments to reserves.

Insurance Related Balances and Activity


(in millions)	January 31, 2021		October 31, 2020
Insurance claim reserves, excluding medical and dental	$	498.6	$	504.9
Medical and dental claim reserves	18.3		16.6
Insurance recoverables	70.2		70.1

At January 31, 2021 and October 31, 2020, insurance recoverables are included in both “Other current assets” and “Other noncurrent assets” on the accompanying unaudited Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Instruments Used to Collateralize Our Insurance Obligations


(in millions)	January 31, 2021		October 31, 2020
Standby letters of credit	$	141.4	$	143.6
Surety bonds	85.7		82.6
Restricted insurance deposits	0.7		0.7
Total	$	227.8	$	226.9